Ice in the pasta machine!

Melissa Terlizzi finds ice in her pasta machine on PolymerClayDaily.com

The start of this polar bear plaque was an icy-looking piece of clay that Melissa Terlizzi loved as it rolled out of her pasta machine. Perfect chunky glacial accident! All it needed was a big furry animal!

“The sheet of clay behind the bear is my favorite part of this piece. I loved the raw edges and organic shape, so I just left them that way,” she says.

Melissa mounted the piece on a silver-leafed wood panel treated with a crackle finish, and tiny silver microbeads which all sparkle! See the final version on Facebook.

In our hemisphere, this chilly scene seems just right.

Lured by complexity

Learn complex geometry from Jana Honnerova on PolymerClayDaily.com

Czech Republic’s Jana Hannarova can’t stay away from complex, layered, lustrous patterns. When she’s really excited she challenges herself with hollow forms and translucent clays that reveal even more complexity. The reticulated necklace here can be worn three different ways.

It’s a good thing it’s Friday because you may need some time to examine Jana’s Flickr, Instagram and Facebook galleries of work. Join her Facebook workshop group if you’re interested in the online workshops she will offer this year.

On Saturday you can join us over at StudioMojo where we suck up inspiration from all kinds of concepts, tools and eye candy that floated by during the week. Your year is off to a great start and StudioMojo keeps the momentum going. Try it!

When interests shift

Kathy Cannella changes her groove on PolymerClayDaily.com

Kathy Cannella has a distinctive sense of color and a fondness for geometrics, mosaics, and veneers. But I don’t really know much else about this Santa Fe artist. It’s nice to bump into folks who hide out on Flickr or lurk quietly on other social media.

Look through Kathy’s Flickr pages. She’s been creating quietly and competently for several years and last fall she turned more active. She changed her groove. This is all conjecture on my part, of course, but I like to theorize and whatever happened looks positive.

When you examine your work, can you point to when something shifted in your life, an event happened or a direction changed? What would you like to shift in your art this year?

Heat from Bali

Robbin and Warren Moeller-Smith's contemporary primitive colors on PolymerClayDaily

It’s below zero here but it’s a lot warmer where Warren and Robbin Moeller-Smith (ebu Robbin and ebu_jewelry) are putting these earrings together in their open-air studio in Bali. If you’re feeling a chill, Warren and Robbin’s Instagram photos will warm you. They’re getting ready for their annual trip to the Tucson bead show next month.

They have so many materials from the beach at their fingertips that Robbin doesn’t often feature polymer prominently in their contemporary primitive jewelry. But sometimes she needs to get her hands on color she can manipulate. Warren creates the findings.

You may enjoy this interview with them (StudioMojo 2016) in which they explain the ins and outs of living and working on Bali.

Trickster polymer

Leila Bidler celebrates in stone with a touch of tribal #polymerclaydaily

We might as well stretch this holiday weekend for one more day with Leila Bidler’s Kokopelli, the Native American trickster god. Leila’s carved imitative stone gives New Year’s a touch of tribal. The how-to pictures on her Instagram show her methods.

Party’s over. It’s time to get busy again but no reason you can’t slip a memento like this in your pocket to remind you of what good times you intend for the year.

Polymer party decorations

Lizzie Campbell's party decorations on PolymerClayDaily.com

The UK’s Lizzie Campbell (Clay Disarray) shows us how little polymer it takes to throw a party. This polymer illustrator knows that a 3D sign always looks festive and brings in the new year right!

Lizzie’s campaigning to get FIMO listed as a vegan product again. Check out her change.org petition. And of course, her profile picture is a polymer one. Here’s her work at a glance on Instagram.

Let’s share a virtual toast to 2018!

Party animal

Anna Nel’s pooch is ready to party! You can’t mix colors much hotter than his. His eyes look wildly faceted. Are they made from a cane?

Could he be a polymer relative of those wonderful Oaxacan wood carvings from Mexico? He might be scary if he weren’t so obviously ready to bark in the new year.

Enjoy Anna’s knock-out colors on Instagram and Facebook.

One more holiday weekend filled with food and football and then we can get back to business as usual. I don’t know about you, but I’m ready to get back to work.

Join StudioMojo on Saturday morning for a quieter, calmer, chattier entrance to 2018.

Ending the year with a gem

Celine Charuau ends the year with a new start on PolymerClayDaily

Celine Charuau (grisbleu) admits that her latest brooch reminds her of Totoro, a character in a popular 1988 Japanese animated fantasy film. Her micro mosaic and silver piece has already prompted lots of enthusiastic comments on Facebook.

The tactile shape and delicate petals continue earlier design directions. The mosaic is a new feature that fits nicely with Celine’s aesthetic. The big photos on her Flickr pages allow you to get in for a close look at her metal construction and the tiny patch of mosaic. What look like delicate and mysterious designs are supported by sturdy and serious construction.

Celine’s is an end of the year gem.

Polymer that grew faster than expected

How Boe Holder's succulents took off on PolymerClayDaily

The popularity of Boe Holder’s sculptures took her by surprise. “I made them for myself, but they ran away with me. I can’t make them fast enough,” says the young UK mixed media artist (thiswaytothecircus) of her popular polymer mini succulents.

They come in sets of five and each set is cleverly named after one of more than 2,000 varieties of cacti. See more on Instagram and Facebook.

Boe’s latest is a collection of slightly less mini jungle islands like the one shown here that contain the same Seussian aesthetic. Succulents are all the rage and it may help that you can’t kill these delightful polymer versions.

Body length necklaces

Bonnie Bishoff goes long on PolymerClayDaily.com

Her body length necklaces are the last of Bonnie Bishoff’s Twelve Days of Jewelry series on Facebook. Her angular tube beads are longer than what might seem reasonable but they’re appealing and eye-catching in such a long piece.

Bonnie adds a few thin heishi beads between the tubes to make them join more gracefully. Each tube is covered with random veneers in a palette of blues and greens.

The wheels in my brain kick into gear and I can’t help but ask myself, “What if?”

What’s your “what if” idea for 2018?

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