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.
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.
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!
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.
Nothing says Valentines Day to me more than old-fashioned conversation hearts. Arizona’s Barb Handy (barbiesbest) makes an exact copy in polymer that’s hard to resist.
They’re perfectly simulated from the chalky colors to the pink ink to the typeface. Her charms are made 1/4″ thick and drilled either vertically or horizontally. Barb has it down perfectly.
Happy Valentines Day!
Wafer thin slices of cane float toward you from this latest wall piece by Alev Gozonar made during her art residency in Ayvalik, Turkey.
The combination of translucence and dimension keeps your eyes diving down to see what more there is to discover.
If you’re a cane fan, Alev’s selection of canes both colored and patterned may make you want to make new designs for your own supply.
Study Alev’s way with large polymer and mixed media wall art on her portfolio and on Instagram
One of the most significant leaders in our craft is not well. It’s quiet at Atelier Hughes in downtown Santa Fe, home to polymer pioneer Tory Hughes.
Tory has always been attuned to the power of friends’ energy and she let me know that she can use the best thoughts, prayers, and memories that we can wing her way.
While Tory very much values your support, to lessen her distress about missed calls she asks that no one text or call her. Notes mailed to her address (1437 Paseo de Peralta, Santa Fe, NM 87501) would be wonderful.
Two lovely friends, Annie Houten and Cynde Tagg from Albuquerque, are looking after Tory’s day-to-day affairs and can be contacted.
In case you’re not acquainted with Tory’s legacy, enjoy this virtual tour from October 2017 when the studio was strung with her latest mobiles and full of pieces from decades of work. The mobiles balanced and swayed brightly in the New Mexico breezes. I like to think of them catching the energies you send her now.
Laurie Mika’s encrusted polymer heart dazzles us with its layer of charms and Milagros. Can you imagine what her stash of glittery bits and bobs must look like?
And the leaves topping off her Peace heart are equally rich and sumptuous. A big ceramic base was wrapped with polymer and covered with jewels and treasures. Her metallic finishes, upcycled gems, and dark rich colors give her works a regal air full of meaning.
A class with Laurie is still on my bucket list. Yours too?
I’m not sure what hearts and love tokens will make it into tomorrow’s StudioMojo. At the end of the week, I open my own stash of links sent in, ideas stowed away, new tools and tidbits I’ve stumbled on. I layer them on and a theme emerges. It feels like the word equivalent of Laurie’s process. What emerges isn’t predictable but it’s pretty darn juicy and fun. Join us on Saturdays!
The slim profile and clear blended colors on Deb Hart’s twist ballpoint pens put them a cut above others.
These are class samples from her second session in the RainbowBlend series. She turns well mixed Skinner blends into design elements that stand on their own.
Her March workshop for the Arizona guild features tips for making cane inlaid sculpted animals with a definite Southwest flavor.
Deb is on a roll! See what she’s up to on Instagram and Etsy.
Yes, many of us are smitten with heart designs like this Unbind My Heart from Vermont’s Christine Damm (Stories They Tell).
Christine is on a 14-day run of love challenges. Her titles (Noir and The Complexity of Love, for instance) make you stop to think about her intent. She uses veneers and acrylic paint to illustrate her bound heart here.
Follow her daily valentine sentiments on Facebook.
