Help Samunnat take the next step

Angels in flowing sari silks from the ladies of Samunnat Nepal on PolymerClayDaily

A flock of angels will flutter through PCD this spring as we raise travel funds for the 3 Samunnat women who will visit the US in October for training and market development.

Gita, Pramila, and Kopila are anxious to meet face to face with those who have supported them and watched the Nepal project grow for 11 years!

The angels are elegantly draped in repurposed sari silks. Each artist has given her celestial creation a personality, tucked a special message for you under the bodice, and folded it into a gift bag.

Each costs $50 and will be mailed free in the continental US. Ron Lehocky is spearheading the effort. Make your checks out to Ron Lehocky. Mail to: 1763 Casselberry Rd, Louisville, KY 40205. Contact him at rlehocky@bellsouth.net

If you’d like to support Samunnat in other ways, you can click on the Paypal donate button next to the angels in the right column on PCD and make a donation in any amount. The ladies share their excitement on Instagram. Learn about Samunnat in a nutshell here.

I’ll be escorting the visitors and will talk about our plans, ask for your suggestions and help in upcoming posts. With your help, we can do this!

Note: Ron’s address is correct now!

Wrinkled polymer

On Facebook, Ponsawan Sila shares her texture trick for these playful beads. She wraps the base beads in crepe paper and gives the paper a twist to create the illusion of wrinkled fabric. Then she applies the circles of color.

Ponsawan Sila wraps and rolls on PolymerClayDaily.com

Whenever I’m exasperated with the rush of silly stuff online, I think of people like Ponsawan who moved from Indiana to Thailand. She stays in touch! She’s still one of the gang sharing her creative sparks with all of you. It’s good to be reminded that these connections can make our lives better. Thanks, Ponsawan.

Earrings just for fun

Breezy and bright from Barbara Jarman on PolymerClayDaily

These colors, favorites of California’s Barbara Jarman, speak to us this Monday morning.The blues and purples remind us that spring violets and bright dandelions will soon burst out on the lawn.

Barbara spent twenty years as a commercial artist and the last ten as a multi-media jewelry artist.

How unworried and unselfconscious Barbara’s compositions are! No matchy-matchy. Nothing precious and perfect. Her breezy lightweight polymer earrings are created to delight the wearer.

Roaming the workroom

Gail Bor creates arty paper-bead style polymer beads around dowels on PolymerClayDaily.com

Finding out what’s catching on, what’s trending is one good reason to attend polymer events in your area. Chunky wrapped beads formed in the paper bead style and baked around varying sizes of wooden dowels popped up at Clayathon. This particularly striking one is from Gail Bor. Its free and easy style and colors look great with any wardrobe.

Like lots of polymer artists, Gail makes pieces to wear and doesn’t show much of her work online.

Late at night, when everyone clears out of the workroom, I roam with my camera to capture works in progress. The cluttered workspaces offer great insight into each artist’s methods and thought process. In this week’s StudioMojo you can wander the conference with us and pick up new tools and ideas. Sign up now to join us for the inside scoop this Saturday.

Believable polymer

Helena Bogosian makes us float in clay on PolymerClayDaily.com

What is it that makes this detail from Helena Bogosian’s clay illustration so calming?

The shapes and shades of the water are quite believable and soothing. The goldfish glide unperturbed through the water. The cat floats through the scene unaware. It all looks effortless.

Helen is terrific at reducing the scene down to its essential elements for us and you can watch the steps on her Instagram. What most of us want to ask is, “How do you come up with these remarkable scenes?” Illustrators are an entirely different breed of polymer artist, don’t you agree?

Flowers with a snug fit

Lisa Haney's flower box holds treasure securely on PolymerClayDaily.com

Another Clayathon find. This small treasure box is from Virginia’s Lisa Haney. Her Skinner blended flowers stand out in colorful relief on the dark blue background and are highlighted with paint.

Look inside and you’ll see the flowers repeated there.

Lisa is proud of the way the lid seals tightly on the all-polymer container. No loose lid here!

Lisa’s mostly on Facebook and Pinterest where she gravitates to 3D vessels and floral scenes.

Festive giveaway

A small switchplate? A buckle? Canadian Pat Ghadbane explained that this 2 1/2″ x 2 1/2″ maple leaf was one of her sought-after scarf pins that Pat made to give away as swap items and use as poker chips.

Who doesn’t love a useful little memento? Especially one as well designed as this one? Pat’s chunky variation of Nikolina Otrzan’s pixie cane celebrates our guests from the north in a festive shower of confetti.

See more from Pat on Facebook and Flickr.

Saying goodbyes

The passing of innovator artist Tory Hughes on PolymerClayDaily

Thank you for the hundreds of messages, prayers, memories, and good wishes you sent Tory Hughes that comforted her in her final days. She died on Sunday.

This piece entitled The Path from Nothing to Something hints at the ethereal, celestial themes that appeared in Tory’s works. To learn more about this polymer innovator, teacher, and coach, visit her website and search historical information about her on the PolymerArtArchive.

She inspired many and will truly be missed.

Pieced together

Cara Jane Hayman's faux wood heart on PolymerClayDaily

Undeterred by two canceled flights and a torrent of rain, I jumped in my car and headed to New Jersey’s Clayathon. With any luck, I’ll arrive in time to take a few pictures for this week’s StudioMojo.

From my pieced together road trip, I offer you one pieced together faux wooden heart from Cara Jane Hayman. Have a grand weekend!

DNA in polymer

Joan Israel tests her own DNA on PolymerClayDaily.com

New York’s Joan Israel envisions her DNA like this large painting. That’s the effect that polymer has on many of us.

It seeps into the bloodstream and invades the brain until every molecule of us is pulsing with color and jumping with patterns.

If you visit her Instagram you’ll see how she sketches out her designs for bottles and paintings and then executes her vision with cane slices.

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