Polymer Clay Daily

Drawn squiggles and dashes

Mouna Cadra has a keen eye and steady hand on PolymerClayDaily.com

This dish from France’s Mouna Cadra waves gently on the tabletop. Its vertical patterns make your eyes trace up and down the lines.

Mouna cured the white clay and then added the designs with pigment markers. The thought of drawing on baked polymer sounds refreshingly uncomplicated, It must be a challenge to draw those squiggles and dots with precision and without smudges, however. Read more about Mouna on her site and Facebook.

Speaking of things being harder than they look, I’m off to Pittsburgh’s Into the Forest weekend and will compile all my snapshots and first impressions into a report for tomorrow’s StudioMojo. I hardly know what to expect! Join us to see the results on Saturday morning.

Polymer fly on the wall

Gesine Kratzner’s Blobhouse characters provide a whole kennel of wall pets, monsters that dangle from the ceiling and tabletop critters.

You may recognize your own friends and neighbors in her current series of People and Their Pets.

Enjoy Gesine Kratzner's odd assortment of polymer pets on PolymerClayDaily.com

If you could use a good laugh, visit Gesine’s Instagram, and her Etsy. She’s also made a rollicking fun Advent calendar for the past two years. Let’s hope she’s planning one for 2017 that we can follow.

Gesine’s Fly on the Wall shows me what I’ve always wanted to be. In fact, I’ll be your fly on the wall at this weekend’s opening of the Into the Forest Exhibit in Pittsburgh.

Stamped and stacked polymer

Wendy Moore stamps wisdom on a brooch on PolymerClayDaily

Australia’s Wendy Moore does a bit of self-talk with this four-layer brooch. We’re all braver than we believe, stronger than we seem, and smarter than we think.

That’s a good thing to remember on a Wednesday. It’s amazing how much wisdom can come from a little polymer, some light textures, and a few stamped phrases.

Wendy’s in Nepal working with the Samunnat women and testing all three of those thoughts. Follow her visit on Instagram.

Oddfae step into the light

Dawn Schiller's characters go all chromatic on PolymerClayDaily

Usually, Dawn (Dee) Schiller’s goblins hide in seashells, peer out of watch cases and dribble down candlesticks.

Her newest Chromatic Goblins step out into the California light and proudly reveal their colors.

Does this signal a change in attitude for Dee and her OddFae? They’re so proud of themselves. Follow her on Facebook and see more on Etsy.

Sometimes when you’ve had a change of heart, you can’t stop it from coming out in the clay.

These beads weren’t made for wearing

Fabi Ajates' beads climb up the walls on PolymerClayDaily.com

Need a break from jewelry or have a bare spot on the wall that could use a spot of color? Cruise through the blog of Spain’s Fabi Perez (ConTusManos). There may be other uses for your favorite beads.

Fabi gathers fancy colorful polymer focals and builds them into bouquets mounted on painted wood. Some are featured in framed windows or made into knobs.

If a bowl or a box is more to your liking, she’s full of ideas. Here’s her Flickr.

Yes, Fabi makes great jewelry but she shows us how to branch out to decorative items for more variety.

Salads and polymer

Jane Cox turns simple wooden kitchen utensils into special gifts on PolymerClayDaily.com

The UK’s Jane Cox (JaneLovesCreativity) turns simple wooden kitchen utensils into special gifts.

She winds comfy colors of extruded polymer strings around the handles, smooths the clay and polishes it to a shine after curing.

Imagine a friend smiling as she stirs dinner or serves salad with the spoon that reminds her of you.

There’s plenty of time to create these before the holidays, right?

We’ll be peeking into Tory Hughes Santa Fe atelier this week on StudioMojo. See how she surrounds herself with samples of luscious colors before she begins. Join us!

 

Shish kebabs are hot

Ashley Hicks glamorous shish kebabs sell out on PolymerClayDaily.com

These Table Totems from the UK designer Ashley Hicks look as refreshed and silly as I feel. One fan calls them glamorous shish kebabs. His variety of polymer shapes are stacked on rods and perched on painted wooden bases.

Here’s an in-process shot. He seems to relish the love/hate responses from his commenters.

Ashley makes much larger, resin sculptures with the same vibe. Carried by trendy London decorating stores, his works are often sold out. Follow him on Instagram and his site.

I missed you PCD readers in October but our separation was a good thing and I’m happy to be back home. 

Swapping with style

Joan Tayler's ball chain idea makes swapping fun again on PolymerClayDaily

Ohio neighbor, Nancy Nearing, traveled to Vancouver to visit her daughter and to meet up with Joan Tayler who has a thriving polymer business at the Granville Island Public Market (and on Etsy).

Joan sent PCD readers a super new idea for small art to trade and collect.  If inchies and totems and bowls have lost their swap thrill in your group, consider her new method.

She recommends baking beads directly on short lengths of ball chain (1 1/2″ or so). Sandwich the chain between two slices of cane or devise your own style.  Join the individual pieces together with connectors and make them into necklaces, bracelets, keychains, whatever.

Joan made all these beads on this sample. Beads coming from far and wide might look very different.

Once your group agrees on a color and size of ball chain, you have an easy swap. Brilliant, eh? Thanks, Joan and Nancy!

StudioMojo heads west! Travel along and see who we run into. Join us!

 

 

Polymer transformations

Sona Gregoryan transforms textures on PolymerClayDaily.com

These new hoop earrings from Sona Grigorian transform into a pendant. She’s not sharing the process yet but this queen of deep, layered textures has a YouTube channel full of her tricks and tutorials.

Sonya is inspired by Gaudi’s organic Spanish architectural forms. She mixes those shapes with memories of her Armenian roots and religious traditions to create her own mysterious and distinctive style.

You can quickly keep up with her evolving aesthetic on Instagram and Facebook.

How has your style evolved and transformed?

 

What goes ’round

Patricia Roberts-Thompson reinvents the wheel on PolymerClayDaily.com

This pendant by Patricia Roberts-Thompson is the result of her playing with Samantha Burroughs’ Oyster Watercolor tutorial. Its loose circles and watery colors make your eyes dive right in.

Patricia added distressing powders to her color combinations and enlarged the design adding a bail fabricated from the same batch.

Samantha admits that she developed her clever tutorial by studying Maggie Maggio’s Watercolor Torn Paper instructions from some years back.

No criticism here! I enjoy the resonances from years back and smile at the progression. Ideas get updated, rejuvenated and taken in new directions that keep our craft healthy and vibrant. It’s also great to see each artist credit her source. Thank you for playing nicely and showing such good manners.