Polymer Clay Daily

Hot weather, hot colors

Hot colors are in Monika Busch's forecast on PolymerClayDaily

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. 

Monday wake-up call

Jana Lehmann's action-packed pendant starts the week on PolymerClayDaily.com

Germany’s Jana Lehmann is on a roll. Her newest pieces include extruded strings, dots, stripes, textures, gradations, cutouts, dangles. Oh, and did you notice the closure that’s also a design element?

Jana packs this piece with action for your Monday wake-up call. Feast your eyes on other juicy examples on her Instagram.

Mix and match playful bangle


Valérie Bodino-Nazet builds a wonky, fun bangle on PolymerClayDaily.com

France’s Valérie Bodino-Nazet hits the spot with this mix-and-match segmented bangle to wrap up the week.

Black and white stripes are a no-fail pattern to break up the tiny flowered pattern, the black and white leaf-like section, and the graphic black and white piece with just a splash of florals. Here on Instagram.

It’s hard to tell if this is one solid bangle or if the bracelet is in three sections of tubes that stretch apart at the stripes. No matter, it’s a playful and slightly wobbly Friday treat.

If you’re in the mood for more treats, join us over at StudioMojo where the value of a playful approach to polymer art is one of the big keys to success. Come join us. 

How color controls the composition

Rocky Antonio small ring dish contains big colors and textures on PolymerClayDaily.com

Watching Australia’s Rocky Antonio (RockyBeads) assemble her compositions with little bits of clays and canes is soothing and deeply relaxing. She works on small objects (this ring dish is one of her larger items).

With judicious use of color and attention to placement, she keeps her small items from becoming too sweet or insignificant.

The muted purple background of this shallow dish holds all the bright colors together and the dimension adds interest. Watch her paint on polymer on Facebook or work with a needle tool on Instagram.

Rocky’s Matryoshka dolls from 2012  on PCD still tickle me (she built them on lockets).

City pride polymer

Tamara Shea speaks her mind and displays her pride on PolymerClayDaily.com

Baltimore’s Tamara Shea (BlockPartyPress) celebrates city pride with this polymer B’more pendant.

Tamara has created and sold her distinctive woodblock-look polymer graphics on Etsy since 2006.

Polymer is sometimes a great way to step up quickly and speak your mind.

Lightweight layers for summer

Carol DeJardine makes light layers for summer wear on PolymerClayDaily

Arizona’s Carol DeJardine (dejart_creations) makes her earrings as light as a feather for the desert heat.

Three or four thin layers of polymer in various palettes and graduated shapes swing freely from a jump ring.

The loose movements of the bright colors make them an eye-catching choice for summer.

Crawling into view

Gael Keyes creates beautiful bugs from scrap on PolymerClayDaily

Albuquerque’s Gael Keyes envisions fantastical bugs in polymer. Since her retirement from teaching last year, Gael has branched out into dolls and sculpture. It’s her bugs that keep crawling onto her Instagram and grabbing attention.

Gael collects her scraps and twists the colorful bits into Natasha canes. Sliced in half, matched, and shaped, these canes become wonderful wings, legs, and heads. She adds a few beads and wires for legs and antennae.

Insects come naturally to Gael and her bugs are quite beautiful. Scroll down her Instagram to see her fall and winter creatures.

Polymer flower mashup

Malgorzata Wawrzynczak (moiko) wears a modern corsage on PolymerClayDaily

Poland’s Malgorzata Wawrzynczak (Moiko) mashes up Nikolina Otrzan’s methods with her own silkscreens to create a series of flat flower brooches with a mod twist and rusted finish.

Cutouts allow the fabric below to show through.

Gosia heads off on her own toward other flower and shapes. Those tab (half oval) shapes are popping up in more and more designs. 

Malgorzata Wawrzynczak (moiko) wears a modern corsage on PolymerClayDaily

If you want to see what other ideas are catching fire for the fall, join us over at StudioMojo this Saturday when we’ll make sense of the designs and products that are showing up in the shows and exhibits. 

 

Summertime catch-up

Diana Crialesi spruces up her shop for summer on PolymerClayDaily.com

Rome’s Diana Crialesi (Archidee) has uploaded photos of her latest summer polymer jewelry.

She was so engrossed with making work, shooting tutorials and teaching that she fell behind in stocking her online store. Now she’s caught up and has added photos of the backlog to her shop and Instagram.

One look at her YouTube channel and you’ll understand what distracted her.

In the video, Diana assembles this bright piece (skip ahead to 11:00) with its t-bar closure and square opening on a turquoise silk cord. Simple and summery.

Polymer petroglyphs

Deb Harts debuts new Southwest inspired imitative inlays on PolymerClayDaily

Texas’ Deb Hart shows the start of these petroglyphs on Instagram but how she arrives at the small squares with caned petroglyph images in the middle is still baffling.

They are built into an extruded string outline. Wow, that looks labor-intensive. She’s releasing more photos of her progress on the new inlays as she goes.

Here, she shows a Zuni Bear petroglyph and a coiled snake. Maybe she’s gearing up for a tutorial about her newly developed methods.

See an overview of Deb’s Southwest and Native American-inspired sculptures and jewelry on Flickr.