One tool, one day

Julie Picarello allowed herself only one imprint tool for these Lunar Flowers. She haunts hardware stores looking for metal parts that leave unusual marks and shapes. For this exercise Julie challenged herself to move out of her comfort zone and design in 3D in a more loose way than usual for one day.

” I threw all caution in the wind, and distorted and manipulated on purpose. It was a strange feeling, and I might even have whimpered a little when I forced myself to cut a hole off-center. But by the end of the day, I was hooked on these simple little components,” she says.

She admits that she’s returning to her beloved imprinting technique, “But it feels good to have dipped a toe in uncharted waters, and lived to tell the tale.”

Her new works also include crackle surfaces and patterned edges that haven’t appeared before. Have you ventured beyond your usual depth lately?

Cheers! Holiday polymer

Traditionally Staci Louise Smith makes small gifts for lots of friends and family at Christmas. This year, after three days playing in the studio, she had gifts and a new line of polymer wine stoppers.

These will definitely be added to next year’s show inventory she says. Of course, wine stoppers aren’t just for Christmas, in fact, these have a beach air about them.

Staci shares her method (and lots more pictures) on a blog post and on Facebook.

She joins the two elements by drilling a shallow hole in the top of the cork and the bottom of the bead. Then she inserts a 14g wire, joining bead and cork. She epoxys both ends of the wire.

The intense carving and soft shaping of these beads shows how much thought and effort she’s put into her small gifts. And sharing them with us is generous as well. Staci’s friend, Karen McGovern, sent the link along to make sure we wouldn’t miss it.

Matryoshka polymer

The winter chill makes these bundled beads look especially right. These babushkas are from France’s Sophie Arzalier (Cristalline) who’s been refining them for several years.

The cane covered beads are built over Ultralight cores and measure 2″ x 1.5″. Some become beads, some rings or brooches that remind us of the traditional folk Russian matryoshka nesting dolls. They’re available through her store. They warm us up.

How do you roll

Did you make paper beads from magazines and glue when you were a kid? Do you have a soft spot in your heart for these easy beads in polymer?

Margit Boehmer recently rolled these lovely chalked and textured versions. You can see her latest ones here and buy them on Etsy.

I dug out Dayle Doroshow’s versions from 2011 for you to examine too. Dayle used her scraps, flattening the rolls with stamps as a last step and then adding a contrasting color wash.

All that you need are tall triangles of flattened polymer. Wind each triangle up from wide to narrow around a rod.

Paper beads in polymer are easy and great for holiday projects, no matter how you roll.

Polymer clayhem

UK children’s book writer and illustrator Jon Burgess has been exploring patterns on the computer and following the fascination for some years. He hit upon polymer only recently and reserves one day each week for that work. He calls his disheveled Thursday studio clayhem and you can visit it here.

He says of his rustic organic beads, “I love using polymer clay for its ability to resemble or echo all kinds of natural materials. It allows unusual forms to emerge, creative trains of thought to be followed, and textures and surface treatments to be applied at will.”

Jon’s computer designs become image transfers that turn into tiles, coasters and beads. “I find it very satisfying to see something physical and tangible, like a ceramic tile with my design on it rather than it being a virtual idea on a screen. Somehow my designs make sense as tiles and coasters. It’s as if that is what they always wanted to be,” he explains.

You can see more of his work on Etsy, Flickr and Pinterest. Selena Anne Wells sent the link to Jon along.

Moving polymer

Jeanette Kandray has been working in polymer for over 15 years. She’s been a go-to person for the Columbus, Ohio guild and we’re sad to see her go.

But even as she prepared to move to Pittsburgh, PA to be near family, the guild benefitted. She destashed her studio and showered guild members with supplies. Tonight the guild will say farewell.

In recent years Jeanette found her voice, developing the Shadow Cane (shown at right) and refining her own crackle technique (above) that you can read about in her free tutorial on the Sculpey site.

Our art usually reflects our life. Surrounded by packing boxes, Jeanette began making polymer drawers and boxes to match her beads and pendants. Now she’s looking forward to making bigger boxes and venturing away from jewelry. Here she is on Flickr, Pinterest and Etsy. Thanks, Jeanette!

Free I Love Tools

Sign up now for the sixth edition of I Love Tools on Craftcast next Wednesday (September 17) at 7:30 PM. This free webinar includes me and five other instructors talking about our latest cool tools – new from manufacturers or rediscovered from your kitchen. (You’ll be surprised at what you can do with a coffee grinder!)

Prizes, coupons and an evening of fun. Can’t make it at that time? Register to receive a recap and notes from the session.

Outback polymer

Western Australia’s Debbie Crothers is venturing farther and farther into the outback. Or so it seems.

These are some of her latest polymer creations using all sorts of inclusions and something familiar but unnamed. What are you guessing?

Some of the beads are carved, painted, textured. The shapes vary and the colors are pure Aussie.

Debbie says that the more grungy the beads get, the better she likes them. She’s unearthed them for upcoming Art in the Outback workshops.

Study them more closely on Facebook, Flickr and see what she’s teaching on CraftArtEdu. She’s pinned all over the place on Pinterest.

Striped surprises

Neat and tidy stripes from Israel’s Vicka Bahana start the week. She leaves a segment of contrasting base bead peeking out from under the striped cane slices.

With just that slight surprise, an otherwise plain bead gets a whole new outlook.

Her Bengal bracelet gains a sophisticated touch from the curved corner beads with their shiny end caps.

Vicka sells her work on Etsy and Marmelada. You can find her on Facebook too.

Could your work benefit from a slight change or a hint of surprise?

Weathered facets

These Weathered Polymer Bicones from Germany’s Margit Bohmer are faceted then colored in a way that makes them look like stained glass.

The colored facets are a new twist in Margit’s signature rainbow palette. She’s also added the weathering that she learned in a Staci Louise tutorial.

More and more we see techniques mutating across boundaries. You can be proud to be part of such a sharing community.

Here’s Margit’s Etsy shop.

Bursting beads

My eyes skitter over the pictures online as I emerge from my vacation fog. I don’t know when I’ll catch up and settle into a routine.

The photos that broke through the fog today are very small delights. Eriko Page’s beads are sweet and succulent. This California artist was trained in Japan and you can feel the influence.

Instead of carefully covering a base bead and hiding it under cane slices, she arranges luscious petals around a solid color bud, making her beads look like exploding blossoms in a polymer garden.

Eriko’s sleight of hand gives the beads a distinctive look that you can enjoy here. Here’s an interview with her from FireMountainGems that tells you more.

Note: In yesterday’s post I missed mentioning Claire Maunsell’s class at Gallery Freisleben…there are a few spots left for you lucky ones.

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