France’s Sonya Girodon created these two multi-media fish, Franky and Rose, with paper mache bodies then gave them wire fins and dazzling scales made of polymer veneers.
They’re mounted on an 8″x8″ painted wooden frame where they wait for a wall to swim on.
Just a couple of happy fish to start your week.
Let’s close a sunny week with a sunny brooch from Canary Islands’ Pilar Rodríguez Domínguez (Amatista). I snagged this from her Instagram a little while ago and kept returning for another look.
That’s a sure sign that there’s something interesting going on. The canes (available on Etsy) have a stained-glass quality about them. There’s a sensual, sinewy feel too.
It takes a moment for all the blends and colors to register. It must be the fine dark line between elements that makes these bright colors read so well.
Figuring out what makes a piece of art grab us is part of what we’ll be looking at over at StudioMojo this weekend. You’d be surprised what you can learn by taking the time for a closer look. Join us.
There’s a lovely luminosity about these most recent hearts from Kentucky’s Ron Lehocky. The gold dots popping through watery colored layers lead us to summer’s end.
Because Ron builds his hearts from lots of others’ scraps, it’s hard to know the provenance of the bits and pieces he uses. His heart brooches are lovely collaborations between other’s scraps and Ron’s magic.
He’s close to making 50,000 of these for his Kids Project that receives all the proceeds from sales.
Did I mention that Ron’s on Instagram now? Be sure to follow him. He’s also teaching at ClayOutWest in late September.
California’s Marie Segal whips out all the Cernit metallic, opaline, translucents, and opaque clays to create this simple sampler of dotted domes on Instagram.
Innies, outies, mokume-sliced and Skinner-blended. What’s not to love?
Now if we can only get Marie to label which colors she used! So hard to choose among all the colors and effects.
Utah’s Jana Roberts Benzon unveiled her most recent series of delicate florals and fans. If you look back at earlier work you can see how she’s refining her fluttery petals.
Jana started out as a floral designer and that love of natural elements and attention to balance and color still influences her creations.
She buries the wires in the clay and on the earrings at the top right, she winds a polymer thread around to cover the join.
California’s Meisha Barbee has been having some summer fun. You might not recognize these leaves as hers but she’s pushing her boundaries.
Meisha uses mokume gane veins interspersed with textured leaf parts imprinted with the tread on her shoe.
Go back on her Instagram and you’ll see the decorations for her summer glow-in-the-dark party.
Meisha’s having fun! Do you have some fun built into your schedule this week?
If you’re fed up with jewelry and tiny formats, take a tip from Australia’s Nicole Boucher (BlueMallee) and slap some layers of color on a straight-sided form to make flower cups!
Layers of bright sunflower petals stack up over a graduated background. She piles on leaves and flowers with delightful energy. Her sculptural composition is topped with a decorative edge and brushed with a wash of dark paint to enhance the details.
Who couldn’t use a creation like this to hold tools or utensils? Nicole will introduce her new series at her gallery.
Over at StudioMojo, we’ll be looking at how to keep moving when your heart doesn’t wanna. How do you loosen up and let the clay do the talking? Come on over and explore with us.
Patterned links chase each other around in this necklace by the UK’s Caroline Casswell. Rainbow colors blend into each other.
This necklace is part of Caroline’s display at Wave 7 Gallery in Wadebridge Cornwall.
The links are sturdy and there’s something fun about this play of color and pattern. But of course, it takes planning and skill to make the blends flow so smoothly. See more in this series on her website.
Philadelphia’s Vanessa Dunn (XENIASTUDIO) calls these her Wave earrings. She’s paired up with a Philly-based ethical clothing company who had their model wear her abstract polymer earrings in a shoot.
Her earring designs blend beautifully with Voloshin’s breezy billowy cotton designs.
Vanessa sprinkles shots of her earrings on models throughout her Instagram to great effect. Photos on models say much more than a straightforward description.
She sells on Etsy.
Our eyes gravitate to hot colors when the temperature rises. These beads from Germany’s Monika Busch (Efmoni) sizzle.
Bits of extruded ovals probably leftover from other projects stand out on a big-hole black tube bead. Nothing fancy here but very effective.
Students at the reformatory said that their large campus was eerily quiet during a recent heatwave. The best way to beat the heat was to remain still in front of a fan. Multiple showers provided a brief respite. Not much clay work got done.
