These beads from Belgium’s Carolina Pazos Michel (malospazos) use extruded canes as embellishments in a fresh way. She adds strips of extruded canes on top of subtle blends. Not satifised with that, she shapes the beads into flat donuts and tops them off with cherry-like rounds in the center.
Her combinations are a riff on Bettina Welker’s retro cane and have a spontaneous vibe that energizes them.
Scotland’s Melanie Muir shifts coastlines and colors with her new Reggae series. Named for its color palette, this new necklace is built on hollow forms.
Melanie has also posted some new shapes and three-dimensional pieces that reflect her studio view of Ebb Tides and Rock Pools and Whirlpools from her studio on the coast.
Her flawless finishing work brings out the best features of her designs and colors. For the most complete view of her world (and her shape templates) go to her Facebook page.
Enjoy your weekend!
It’s not easy to create polymer skulls with style but two chic versions caught my eye. Richelle Hawks of Shipwreckdandy definitely has a pirate’s eye for treasure.
These stamped and painted beads could be mixed with some jewels to make a darkly fashionable piece. Here she is on Etsy. “I also sell used and rare books and write articles and essays about esoteric, occult, and cultural topics at various online venues,” she explains.
Lynn Lunger usually steers clear of themed beads but she makes an exception for skulls. “I like to use a minimum of manipulation, preferring to quickly provide just enough detail to – although odd with this subject matter – bring the face to life,” she says. She also makes head pendants and admits that heads and skulls appeal year round. Here’s her Etsy site.
Heather Powers shows us how handy the falling leaves can be. “I used translucent clay and stained the polymer with color so they glow in warm fall hues when held up to the light,” she says of her newest collection.
Check out the similar headpins she made as well as her other nature-inspired designs.
If it’s almost fall, you know that the holiday season can’t be far behind. The ladies of the Samunnat project have already created polymer creche scenes dressed in Nepali finery. Wendy Moore will temporarily abandon her post as shipper for the Samunnat Etsy site and head for Nepal soon. So start your shopping now! And have a festive weekend.
Vancouver’s Joan Tayler has made polymer whistles for years. This leaf shape is a new design. Look at all the others on her Etsy shop.
Don’t you think it’s time for Joan to write a whistle tutorial? I sure would like a lesson…and I’d pay good money to avoid the problems that she’s already worked through. If you feel the same, leave a comment and maybe Joan will take the hint.
Lori Wilkes’ was one of six polymer booths at the local show and I spotted this new necklace. The beads looked African to me but she swears that she was following an Italian influence. Either way, kewl. She revealed that tool used to distress these beads is a fine wire dog brush.
Lori has a book coming out in October that may satisfy readers who complain about how artists getting started in polymer can be deluged with confusing and conflicting information. Lori’s book, The Absolute Beginners Guide: Working With Polymer Clay, is from Kalmbach Books and it’s available for pre-order on Amazon. Sample a few pages here.
Spotting polymer at artfairs is one of my favorite games. The others I found yesterday were Kim Arden, Valerie Wright, Annabelle Fisher, Greg and BJ Jordan, and River Wolfe. Hope I didn’t miss any.
Montreal’s Vickie Turner makes Urban Urchins that are hollow and graffiti-covered whereas Lynda Moseley’s from last week were the green sea variety. What is it with urchins?
Vickie’s polymer sea creatures have migrated to the city. Her blog tracks her plans and sketches and you can follow her journey from the beach to the city. She’s still playing with the shape.
It’s instructive to look over her shoulder as an artist mulls over work in progress. Watch as she labors on Labor Day.
I’m off to an art fair.
Helen Breil’s free String Bead tutorial may keep you busy this weekend. This necklace is dusted with mica powders, sealed with spray and filled with pearls.
Helen extrudes the strings and forms them into faux wire that can be shaped (and reshaped) into slinky cages into which you can tuck other beads.
In most places it’s still warm enough to extrude with ease over the end-of-summer holiday. On her website she offers a slideshow that guides you through the process that you can tailor to create your own designs.
Thanks to Helen for providing our entertainment. And check out her texture stamps too.
Winnie Poh comes to us from Moscow (I think). These clever folded beads are cutout and stamped stars whose points are folded up on themselves.
Her site is chock full of ideas that are well executed with a very Russian feel. Hair ornaments and smoothly finished hollow pendants are mixed with video game and cartoon figures.
Let’s hope there’s a Russian translator among you who can fill in the blanks about this young artist.
Lynda Moseley’s Faux Sea Urchin Spines were inspired by a necklace in Heather Powers‘ new book, Jewelry Designs from Nature during a weekend of experimentation as Lynda cleaned out her inspiration box.
She found a sticky note on page 82 in her copy of the book. “Find some of these,” it said. “I had never seen the spines in olive, and Heather’s are also a lot bigger than the ones I have,” Lynda explains. She made a new batch in polymer.
Lynda’s experimenting is often fruitful as you can see from her Etsy shop. On her blog she explains other designs she’s dug out of her inspiration box.
