Polymer Clay Daily

Sculptural effect from inclusions

Big hollow polymer beads with inclusions are the latest creation from Christine Dumont who is also the founder of the popular European Voila Web site.

In the new beads small fluted “ossocopia” are embedded in the clay, with the tips of their horns protruding or with concave saucers recessed into layers of color, the newest twist in her sculptural approach to polymer beads.

Christine has been teaching workshops online and in several countries. Her butterfly beads flutter all over Europe. She’ll be teaching at Polymer Pamper Play in the UK in March. I hope your weekend is filled with lots of pamper and play.

Beads that speak for themselves

I was looking for polymer that was springy and required no explanation since I’m fresh out of words.

Luckily Silvia Ortiz de la Torre posted this necklace that fit my requirements precisely. If Google translator is accurate, this is Silvia’s rendition of beads from a tutorial by fellow Spaniard, Natalia Garcia de Leaniz that appeared in the new From Polymer to Art magazine (the Blue edition). They’re super textured and built on cores of crumpled foil to keep them light. Silvia uses eye-catching graduated color on the base beads.

Let me know if I botched the translation. The beads are exuberant in any language!

Big beads, big art

These Ford/Forlano polymer beads were bought by collector Daphne Farago in 1999. She gave her collection to the Museum of Fine Arts Boston in 2006 and the Big Beads appear in the new book, Jewelry by Artists.

The Big Bead series is still ongoing and both Dave and Steve create them, giving each bead character yet working toward a unified design. Steve says, “Dave’s beads play with opaque and translucent cane slices to add depth to the surface, while my beads are always opaque and very graphic, emphasizing a variety of textures contrasting baked and re-baked clay layers.”

These early necklaces were all-polymer. Steve adds, “The clasp is a screw-type brass clasp, covered in clay, with a technique that Pier Voulkos used and taught. The beads are formed over an aluminum foil core, another ingenious Voulkos innovation.”

Ford/Forlano have also posted a stunning picture of their latest Hydro-Top pins in which patterns in the formed metal (by metalsmith Maryanne Petrus) are repeated and expanded in polymer.

Tube debut

After a year of experimenting with hollow polymer tubes, Ford/Forlano are debuting their latest creations with more here.

Steve says, “For months, I’ve been playing with the form, and emailing pics to David in Santa Fe for his reaction. Mostly, we agreed that there was an interesting, if creepy, wormy quality to the early incarnations that we finally overcame with more practice and experimentation.”

Those of us who have followed this duo for a few years may detect a return to the cartoon quality of their early works. The inside out color adds a dash of intrigue.

Feichtinger’s twists

Austria’s Carina Feichtinger shows us her latest variation of the polymer clay mobius designs that have been floating around. Her fabric image transfers, metal clay accents, and distinctive palette combine for a sophisticated look.

Carina’s been twisting and connecting strips in interesting and innovative ways. Peek over her shoulder at the new work on her website and her Flickr page.

Maunsell’s transfers

Maunsell"s circle transfer beads

These soft-focus egg-shaped polymer beads are signs of spring from Claire Maunsell. The effect is achieved with transfers of her artwork applied to a light pearl base. She swears that dark transfers are tricky but always work on warm soft clay.

Her latest hollow lentil transfer beads at the right were commissions that look like barely decipherable mysterious relics.

Maunsell's transfer relic beads

Claire’s friend, Genevieve Williamson, led me to these new works. Read Genevieve’s post about “Making the Jump” from metal to polymer. It’s the most eloquent explanation of the lure of polymer that I’ve read in a long time. Both friends switched to polymer (from glass and metal) when they found themselves without functioning studios.

Have a sunny weekend.

Miniature polymer abstracts

Wells polymer Trailbone

In these new beads from Berkeley’s Selena Anne Wells the color comes from small surprise vintage glass cabochons embedded in black or faux ivory polymer, stained and buffed to look aged. Her mastery of simple and intricate sculptural and texturing techniques is impressive.

Wells Vertical Night polymer bead

Digging deeper into her Flickr history gives you a peek at her other interests – masks, faces, kaleidoscopes. Though she doesn’t reveal much in words, her art tells an engaging story.

She calls her small pieces miniature abstract wearable art.

Polymer color shifts

Let’s take a break from the red/green palette and traditional designs that surround us this season. Here are three lovely reminders from other areas of the color wheel.

Start with the deep rich palette Heather Powers used for her Garnet Kiss beads on the Art Bead Scene blog. Move to Jana Roberts Benzon‘s complex and bejeweled Enchanted Garden brooch, the latest of her dimensional jewelry creations. End with the colorful, abundant swirls on Vera Kleist’s (BeadingVera) rustic disc bracelet. They’re all refreshing to the eye.

Diffendaffer’s re-entry beads

Grant Diffendaffer begins his new textured tube beads by making blanks. He explains that, “Any time I’ve been away for a while from the practice of making beads, I find I need an easy re-entry to get things moving again in the studio. These beads are perfect. I roll out a batch of core beads to start with. It’s a straightforward task with zero creative demands.” A good Monday tip?

The depth and texture that Grant achieves are the result of texturing and carving the color layer applied to the blank base beads. His style is agressive, sculptural and distinct. You can see more textured tube beads on his Etsy shop and his Flickr stream. Thanks to Leila Bidler of Germany for the link.

Perspective

Seeing the pictures from Heather Campbell’s show opening put her polymer clay/mixed media artwork in better perspective for me. Judging from the visitors standing beside works in her exhibit, the art is much bigger than you might have envisioned. The pictures are stunning and the show is impressive. Congratulations, Heather.