Polymer Clay Daily

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.

Stokes’ Winterfair works

Ohio’s Grace Stokes‘ polymer clay work is featured on the promotions for our big Winterfair show in December. You’ll find her newest works, elegant combinations of metal clay and polymer, on her Crafthaus page.

Because group sites have made it so easy to upload photos, many artists are updating their profiles and adding new work to their page within the group instead of freshening their individual formal sites. The upside is that we’re seeing new works faster.

I count seven polymer artists in the show program. Looks like a good year.

Belcher’s calming polymer creations

Judy Belcher has been preparing polymer clay samples for an upcoming class and she’s posted them on her Flickr page.

I’m loving her calm, precise patterns and monochromatic color palette after this week’s wild creative rides. We need these deep breaths to restore us.

But Judy’s not altogether calm. She adds surprise and dimension to the pieces with applied cane slices and juxtaposed patterns. The tiny colored o-rings used as spacers add another touch of excitement. Thanks, Judy,

Vanden Broeck’s metal techniques in polymer

This colorful bangle by Belgium’s Moïse Vanden Broeck traps extruded canes between two polymer clay plates. Moise brings a metalworker’s eye to his polymer work as in this additional bracelet design and these rings.

He also explains how to create a cutter tool using rotary blades which is an update on the original tube bead cutter by Elise Winters.

Nice to have a few mental exercises to get us in shape for the studio week ahead.

Wilder declares independence

Wire-wrapping has been on my radar all week. Here’s one more in Dee Wilder’s (Malodora) Butterfly Wings polymer clay bracelet – a riot of colors, beads and wire combined into a noisy, noticeable bracelet.

Dee credits a workshop with multimedia artist Mary Hettmansperger and a tutorial from Deryn Mentock for leading her to wire work. Dee’s sites show a wealth of dramatic works that range in tone from exhuberant excess to careful extruded and turned shapes to constrained micromosaics.

In an Etsy interview Dee explains that, “I feel for the first time that I have reached a level of competence where I can control my materials. I’m not just trying to duplicate techniques and processes. I’ve never [before] stayed with a medium long enough for that to happen. I am able to visualize a finished piece and execute my vision. That might not mean much to most crafters and artists, but to me it is a giant breakthrough.”

Enjoy Dee’s shower of colors like the Independence Day fireworks we’ll see this weekend!

Another look at polymer deviants

tetris_beauty_spot

This tetris bracelet (based on the computer game) from Ukraine’s BeautySpotCrafts lured me into the Deviant Art site. Her gallery is full of unusual polymer clay designs (check out the piano key theme) and following BeautySpot’s links will lead you to other treasures like the gallery of Meella (Camille Young).

Newspaper earrings

My web connection is down today and I’m hitchhiking on a friend’s network. Start your week with a bit of exploration. I’ll wait for the repairman. Thanks to Lindly Haunani for helping me out with today’s link.

MacLeod’s new multi-media designs

Sharon MacLeod has resurfaced with some stunning new bracelet designs on Crafthaus and on her new Etsy site. It’s an innovative and inspired use of materials.

Sharon explains, “Working with an unexpected combination of materials, I create jewelry that starts with my own graphic art that I print on thin paper, which is then meticulously laminated to various sizes of small tubing, and then assembled with a variety of materials including polymer clay, glass, metal, rubber and plastic.”

See an earlier post about Sharon’s work here.

Shriver’s new designs

This photo that accompanied the description of Sarah Shriver’s February class shows polymer clay “petal bracelets” that depart from Sarah’s earlier works. She’s been perfecting her intricate kaleidoscope canes and celtic knots for nearly twenty years. You can see her early works in the PolymerArtArchives and on her web site.

These new designs move in a looser, larger, more colorful direction. I’d like to show you more but these are the only photos I could find. Guess you’ll have to take one of her classes in California or catch up with her in Spain, Portugal or France this spring.