Polymer Clay Daily

Cane brain

Arizona’s Meg Newberg thinks canes. She posted this free video tutorial on YouTube featuring a clever 4-in-1 cane that intrigued me. Using a small amount of polymer and some simple cutters, she makes four designs in a hurry. Her video made the cane look so simple that I had to prove it to myself before sharing it with you. Ta-Da! Even my first hurried scrap cane worked.

Meg worked with children for a few years. She explains her return to polymer saying, “One day my mom brought out all the clay creations she had saved from when I was a child. All the joy and delight flooded back to me. Now I teach art to people of all ages, and I can’t imagine anything I’d rather do!” Read more about Meg’s story in this interview on Kater’s Acres.

Making complex cane design look simple is an art in itself. Meg sells her tutorials (she has several good ones) on Etsy.

Polymer fins and feathers

South Florida’s Pamela Carman upcycles ceramic sculptures and vases, covering them with complex polymer cane slices mixed with metal leaf. The result is busy, beautiful fish (this one is 14-inches long) and bright finely-feathered birds (this Chickeechirp is 6-inches long). Pamela says that she has a blast making these sculptures and it shows.

France’s Sonya Girodon sent in the link. Having a link to a Florida artist come from a French reader reminds us just how global PCD fans have become.

All-American polymer

Don’t you love these cheery polymer rag rug spirals that Utah’s Mary Ann Loveless uses to decorate her tin box? They look very all-American on a very all-American day.

It was a late night in Ohio and PCD may have missed sharing early coffee with you. My husband and I laughed as we enjoyed a car commercial this morning! Look, a pretty car! It was a relief not to have to hit the mute button to avoid a political ad.

Mary Ann’s Art Makes Me Happy blog may make you happy today.

Tweedy polymer

Israel’s Angela Barenholtz specializes in dots and dashes in polymer. Her tutorial shows you how to combine a rainbow of colors into pleasant tweeds that mix comfortably with the most riotous patterns.

With its bright, sunny colors, Angela’s Flickr site provides us with relief from the past several days of gray and stormy skies. I hope you’re all safe, warm and dry.

Fairy tale polymer

Julie Eakes has returned to her fairy tale canes, taking slices from her Beauty and the Beast and Red Riding Hood canes and making them into cylindrical pendants with polymer end caps.

Tiles with reminders about the stories hang from the bottom of each bead saying, “Beauty comes from within”,”Sweetest tongue has sharpest tooth” and “Wolves lurk in every guise.”

“I managed to get a cane slice to wrap around completely, working the tree and the bushes together to hide the seam which really looks cool up close,” says Julie.

See these and more of her recent cane portraits and elaborate frames on her site.

Restful polymer colors

These polymer beads from Russia’s Victoria Mkhitarian calm me down on a busy day. And they look mighty pretty with the PCD site colors, don’t they?

Sometimes when you’re tired and fresh out of brain cells, it’s good to go with your gut. Find something pretty and just say, “Ahhh.” Take a break and browse through Victoria’s interesting shapes and clever combinations.

Polymer swallows

Wallis swallows

This beautiful swallow cane from the UK’s Claire Wallis illustrates a problem she’s working to solve.

“I really struggle with translucent clays,” Claire explains adding that, “I find it very hard to slice the cane thin enough so that the translucent is clear not opaque. Plus I find layering the cane slice distorts it somewhat.”

These pendants represent one solution. She trimmed and baked thin slices of the large swallow cane. Then she pushed the baked slices into unbaked backgrounds. Voila! No distortion….but more sanding. Claire brings her painterly approach to caning with impressive results.

Polymer in progress

Wiggins desk

Mixed media artist Angie Wiggins is almost panicked about her inventory for the September 15, 43rd St. Festival of the Arts in Richmond, Virginia.

The in-progress shot of her desk (above) has me checking the map to see how long a drive it would be. Wait ’til you see the mouthwatering photos on her Facebook page of her huge Skinner blends, her layered silkscreens on polymer, her handmade paper bowls.

Her eggshell mosaics fit right in with polymer and her felted bowls stand on polymer bases. In her hands the media mix like old friends.

Wouldn’t you love to stroll through her booth on a crisp fall day?