Forced blooms

Odile Marchais and Nikolina Otrzan team up for early spring flowers on PolymerClayDaily.com

France’s Odile Marchais uses techniques she learned from Croatia’s Nikolina Otrzan to make these stylized springy brooches. Nik teaches a surprisingly simple way to fill unusual shapes with air, keeping them light yet strong.

The childlike design of spring Odile’s flowers reminds us of the spring flowers we’re forcing to bloom at this time of year.

Nikolina Otrzan gathers her inchies into a brooch on PolymerClayDaily.com

In Nikolina’s most recent post, she shows how to make use of those “inchies” that lots of us have collected from various classes and events. She picks out a few favorites and gathers them into a great looking pin.

Goodbye to 2018

Tory Hughes brooch entitled The Path from Nothing to Something hints at the themes of her works on PolymerClayDaily.com

In 2018 we said goodbye to Tory Hughes, one of the polymer community’s true pioneers. This piece entitled The Path from Nothing to Something hints at the ethereal, celestial themes that appeared in Tory’s works.

To close out the year, enjoy one more walk through her Santa Fe studio and savor the richness of her work. We will miss her.

Dreaming in color

Cecilia Leonini dreams in color on PolymerClayDaily.com

What is it about the Dreaming in Color brooch by Italy’s Cecilia Leonini that feels calm, happy, and dreamy?

The gradation of her colors is masterful and the floating shapes (drawn and painted, I’m guessing) feel 3D.

The edges flip up to reveal hot red underneath. There’s texture in the base layer and a black shadow on the edges. Super cool and totally dreamy.

You’ll find her on Facebook and Etsy.

Keep going

Meisha Barbee's pushes forward to a new retro brooch on PolymerClayDaily.com

California’s Meisha Barbee began this brooch with a slice of stripes in her wonderful colors. I might have stopped there but she wanted to push on.

She was fond of her silicone trivet with a bubble pattern (strange in-process shot) so she made a mold of it and used that mold to create a mokume gane pattern on top of the stripes which looked weird to my eye.

Meisha kept going and added random balls with her Etch ‘n Pearl tools. Better, but I wasn’t loving it.

Stretch, make a border, bake over a lightbulb and wow! A retro pin is born…along with a lesson about following your vision.

So I’m back to daily posting, refreshed and wiser and following my vision thanks to a month of being with friends who know the importance of following theirs.

Settled and safe creating

Juliya Laukhina's cosmic mokume gane on PolymerClayDaily.com

This cosmic-looking mokume gane brooch from Moscow’s Juliya Laukhina stopped me in my tracks. Turns out, a while ago Juliya’s home caught fire and she and her family moved to another place. She’s finally feeling settled and safe.

“The tragic mood has already passed, everything will be fine. I will sculpt here, but it takes time while we settle down. A beautiful night like this I wish to all. Sculpt, create, create! It is not so important that others buy or not, appreciate or not, it is important for the tranquility of the soul to create something,” she says.

Juliya’s Instagram and Etsy are full of pieces that reflect her gratitude and tranquility.

No-fail petals

Carol Blackburn's no-fail graphic pin on PolymerClayDaily.com

UK’s Carol Blackburn creates stripes and patterns from scrap that have been all the rage. She’s developed simple steps that result in mod and textile-like patterns. See them on Facebook.

Some of the results she fashions into flawlessly constructed boxes. For those of us who need easier projects and instant gratification, she offers designs like these graphic Pinwheel Pins. Don’t you love a no-fail design?

Balancing act

Maybe this complex piece from Russia’s Olga Lednova appeals because it mirrors the weekend. There’s a lot going on! Houseguests, friends, family, work!

Note the textures, colors, graduations, patterns, layers and a slight shift in size. If we’re very lucky, all the things we balance in our lives come together as well as Olga’s.

See more of Olga’s balancing act on Instagram and Flickr. She’ll be teaching at this year’s Polymer Week.

Small piece, big story

Colorado’s Phyllis Pollena-Cahill mixes her media in this polymer and copper brooch.

Phyllis Polema-Cahill stacks up patterns in a small graceful brooch on PolymerClayDaily.com

The patterns flow into each other and keep your eye darting between the variations in the layers that cup forward. The copper accents hint at even more complexity.

It’s a delight to take in this big story in a small space. Nice start to the week, eh?

Find more of Phyllis’ story on Instagram, Facebook, and Flickr.

The polymer olympics

Circle pins from Olympic experimenter Nikolina Otrzan on PolymerClayDaily.com

A few more circles and Croatia’s Nikolina Otrzan (Orson’s world) could be building her own polymer Olympic logo with her Texture Play series of circle pins!

Let’s hope she’s building a tutorial to show us how she achieves the painterly textures and loose patterns.

Nik is certainly in the Polymer Olympics when it comes to pushing the boundaries. She’s created 26 rich, dense tutorials, each with an AHA moment that comes from ceaseless playing around. Keep a close eye on her on Facebook.

First time jitters

Martina Burianova teaches Coarse Pebbles for the first time on PolymerClayDaily

Czech Republic’s Martina Burianova taught her Coarse Pebbles class in Geneva in March for the first time (if I’m reading the translation right).

Martina incorporates wire and works some hollow magic. She adds a variety of crackles and textured surface treatments for a very contemporary look.

She was nervous and excited and had a marvelous time. Go here for the full story. Isn’t it reassuring to read about nervousness that ends happily? See more of her work on Facebook.

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