Colorado’s Jainnie Jenkins gives her polymer beads a spring twist. She coats the solid colored clay with mica powders which are scrubbed off after baking to give the quirky shapes more depth and dimension.
Jainnie usually appliques and textures small pieces onto polymer. This shape represents new growth! Spring blooms in unexpected places this week.
A bit of sunshine and the UK’s Pippa Chandler is already envisioning a hamlet of beach hut beads.
Her tiny polymer cottages measure 2cm high x 1cm wide with caned doors and windows and textures accentuated with acrylic paint.
With the kids back in school and the house quiet, Pippa’s muse hid for a while. Read her blog to see how she coaxed inspiration out of hiding for this little seaside adventure.
Three years ago I moved to a smaller community with no polymer clay guild. I decided the next best thing was to join the local bead society. I knew nothing about peyote stitch or making wrapped loops but hoped I would learn some new techniques that would enhance my polymer pieces.
Conversely the beaders were unfamiliar with polymer and I felt like I was an ambassador for the medium.
In the past two years I’ve conducted several beginner workshops to the growing number of beaders and metal clayers interested in trying it out. I love how the exchange has worked both ways.
While those that know my work are aware I’ve had an interest in buttons and incorporate them in my work but now my stash of beads has grown exponentially. These two pieces from my Flickr site show the influence of my beading friends.
guest post by Helen Breil
These Embrace beads by Steven Ford and David Forlano showed up in a recent blog post about how their work touches on themes similar to those in the Art Nouveau period. They share a focus on organics and a sense of movement as illustrated in these luscious new beads.
A slideshow about the Racine Art Museum gala is up for your enjoyment. In my excitement I simply pointed my phone camera (somewhat shakily) and started snapping. Please forgive omissions and silliness.
A comprehensive recording of the event, the panel discussions and events will be available in the future. Pieces from the exhibit are thoroughly documented in the companion book. And the exhibit itself will be open to you until February 5. In the meantime, enjoy my hastily assembled 3-minute snack.
A video conversation with Pier Voulkos will be part of this weekend’s StudioMojo newsletter.
This oversized wrapped bead pendant from Germany’s Veronique Hoffman really caught my eye. Its huge hole, subtle metallic coloring and straightforward construction add up to an appealing nonchalance. Nothing you’d expect and everything you need.
Speaking of nonchalance, I casually listed a link wrong yesterday. My bad. Please follow this link to the Samunnat project website.
One more touch of red, white and blue to celebrate the U.S. July 4 holiday. This one comes to us from Anastasia Arinovich in Belarus and reminds us how the big world that polymer artists share sometimes feels like a small neighborhood.
Her mint and chocolate version of these beads may appeal to your eyes and your taste buds. Her peony earrings could have been picked from bushes in your yard.
The link comes to us by way of Belarus’ Anna Anpilogova.
Roberta Mohar’s garden is full of polymer vegetables – including pumpkins!
In an earlier PCD post we admired her Hokkaido pumpkin-shaped beads and she’s just uploaded a beautiful tutorial (in English and Slovenian) for you to enjoy. It’s worth the wait for the download.
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The shape reminded me of Moroccan pouf ottomans and I promptly tried it for my own new beads below. Lucky for us we can now pick up the finer points in her free tutorial.
Her latest crop of garden flowers is most easily viewed on her Flickr page.
Roberta’s story about how her husband fabricated a motor for her pasta machine will make you appreciate thoughtful husbands and the easy access some of us have to equipment. Got a motor (or a thoughtful spouse)? Go hug it.
Slovenia’s Roberta Mohar gives a new twist to familiar techniques with her large flattened spiral extrusion beads. Her pumpkin-shaped beads are cleverly formed from three balls of clay that have been folded and joined.
Roberta brings her own sensibilities to otherwise standard methods of bead making. Look closely at her Flickr and Facebook offerings and you’ll see new life breathed into familiar techniques.
Melanie West has revived her appetite for beads. She’s added a hole and modified the shapes of her squid, cicada and cephalopods that usually become bangles.
The new creations retain her unmistakeable undersea aesthetic.
Explaining her “two steps back” approach, Melanine says, “I have found that sometimes going back to a form that comes easy (i.e., simple round balls with holes in them) helps coax out a sleeping muse.”
And speaking of muses, we’ll post the winner of the “Creative Sparks” giveaway here this afternoon.
Sydney artist Leonie Simpson gathers a few simple polymer shapes into what she calls her Knuckles Necklace. Its bright solid beads all bunched together look right for today.
The long drops she labels her Spring Rain series. This Summer Wedges necklace looks casual and chic too. Follow more links to Leonie on Facebook.
