These bracelets from Ukraine’s Lela Todua (Leland) have an urban tribal vibe.
Big hole tube beads strung on thick rope or multi-strand cording make them a favorite for both men and women.
The beads are polymer stamped with ethnic patterns or graffiti art highlighted with paints.
Catch up with Lela’s rough and ready look on her Etsy store and on Facebook.
This is one of Lindly Haunani’s sample bracelets for a July master class which is aptly named Incredible Almost Edible Color.
The curved tube smoothly fits the back of the wrist with the bouquet of folded petals and leaves stretching across the front. Designed like a wrist corsage, I’m betting that this is comfortable to wear. (But not edible.)
Registration for the 6-day Master Class Camp intensive sessions opens today. The July 8-13 classes in Laurel, Maryland, feature some of polymer’s most accomplished artists. Follow Lindly on Facebook as well.
Craftcast snatched Staci Louise Smith for an online class as soon as she saw Staci’s faux fossils and painted talisman necklaces. Tonight online Staci will paint and crackle, wire wrap and string an ecelectic mix of fashionable fun while she describes each step.
Oh, this will be fun. Register here to watch live and play the recording again when you need a refresher.
Leather is all the rage and Russia’s Anna Bragina is all over mixing polymer with leather.
Seeing the photo of her bracelet layed flat makes it more understandable and the magnetic clasp is very au courant.
The slight flare of the four polymer squares help them hug the wearer’s arm. Go to Facebook, her sales site and Flickr to get the complete picture.
Jot Wednesday evening down on your calendar for the Craftcast Organically Speaking class with Kelly Russell. It’s a polymer clay/metal clay media melange.
Check out Tammy Dye’s all-polymer version of the Anna’s bracelet. Tammy will be revealing her secrets at the L’Atelier Polymer Clay Workshop in Indiana June 14 to 16. Early bird prices are still in effect. Register here.
Bring out your Spring Palette as Carol Beal (BeadUnsupervised) does with this Kandinsky-like bracelet.
You can see what she’s cooked up for spring on her Flickr page and on Etsy. Carol mixes her media in delightful ways.
I’ve been unsupervised all weekend and am not quite ready to return. Talk amongst yourselves.
There’s nothing like reading about snowy Vermont to get you primed for the season–unless it’s an article about Celie Fago in snowy Vermont.
The online issue of Woodstock Magazine is free. Flip to page 54 and you’ll see Celie in her studio teaching a class how to make one of her polymer bangles that’s loaded with rings of stone and beaded wires.
The bracelet jangles with a collection of circles made from precious metal clays.
Celie mixes her media and I cheer when I find polymer holding its own in her rich melange of metals, beads and found objects. Browse her Etsy store, her blog and her Facebook page.
Melanie Muir has upgraded her site just in time for her debut at the National Museum of Scotland in Endinburgh on November 29 and 30. Her tools, coaching, and workshops are easily accessible in one neat presentation on the updated site.
Melanie was selected as one of a handful of artists to share her techniques, processes and inspirations by Craft Scotland for their Meet Your Maker events.
The selected makers will talk informally to the public, demonstrate their work and show working pieces. Melanie will also teach a workshop at the museum.
“I am constantly inspired by the colours and patterns that surround me at my coastal home in Nairn, in the Scottish Highlands,” Melanie says. This cuff is part of her Rock series and is entitled Beach Net.
A shot of orange might brighten your day! This dose of color is from Russia’s Maria Belkomor.
She punches out circles of polymer from a thin sheet of Skinner blended color and stacks the baked heishe-like disks into a beautiful ombre strand. Have you calculated how many she needed to cut out for these bracelets? Time consuming? Yes. Beautiful? Yah!
In a recent post Maria explains how she designed a similar necklace in a cockatoo palette – from sketch to stringing.
Her colors sing and she has unending patience for repeating patterns. The best overview of her work is on Pinterest and you can see even more on Flickr.
Florida’s Sherri Kellberg puts us in a valentines mood with her hearts bracelet. She makes polymer look vintage using layered metallic finishes.
She applies 18K gold leaf to the textured tops and edges of the hearts and stamps love letters on the backs.
Layers of verdigris and turquoise patinas add richness to the metallic effects. Pearls and glass beads wired to the brass chain make the celebration of love jangle.
Inspired by a fabric bracelet she saw on Pinterest, Sylvie Peraud sketched out a similar design using polymer with a buna cord hinge and closure. She refined her design, trying varying color palettes and textures.
On this one Sylvie used extruded strings and roughly textured trims. She backs the piece with black polymer.
Sylvie generously documents her process on her blog. It’s reassuring to see how time spent on Pinterest can be the source of new ideas and works.
See more of Sylvie on Flickr and CraftArtEdu…and of course, on Pinterest.
Minnesota’s Jan Geisen knows how to make shapes comfortable with each other and just by looking at her Flickr gallery you start to understand how shapes on top of shapes can work harmoniously.
On this bracelet overlapping circles are cleverly constructed on bases that snuggle between larger ovals. There’s a soft ease to the colors and patterns as well. See more on Etsy.
Jan’s a photographer and there must be some architecture or engineering in her background as well. Have a comfortable weekend.
