Look at Libby Mills’ latest work and you’d swear she had a retro soul. She handles a ripple blade like she was born to it. This extruded cane slice could have been swiped from a Mad Men set.
The Skinner blends she starts with are thoroughly modern, however. Browse through her Flickr pages to see how she’s been building subtle, soothing blends into patterns that delight the eye and take you back to the 1960s. Here’s her post about her process.
Zuzana, from the Czech Republic canes and collages pendants in an increasingly interesting way. The thin buna cord accents running through the polymer bail on the top of this pendant fit right in with the rest of the design.
She nicely attributes her designs to her teachers and then takes flight on her own as you can see from her Flickr photos.
I’ve taken flight too. Checking in from the road and back home soon.
From this angle you can hardly tell what Julie Eakes is up to with her extruded polymer mosaics. If you tip the bowl a delightful secret is revealed.
Read about how cane ends from one face project propelled Julie in a more sculptural direction. Of course she encountered problems she hadn’t planned on and found there was no turning back once she started.
This one-of-a-kind bowl is 9″ in diameter by 3.25″ deep. She plans to go bigger next time.
Israel’s Yonat Dascalu brings us these sunny canes that look like crisp sun dress fabrics. What an inspiration it is to examine neat colorful canes that work. See more on her Flickr and Etsy sites.
If you’ve been eyeing the latest dyes and patinas from Swellegant, look at Heather Powers’ examples, color formulas and step-by-step how-tos for this new line. The effects are stunning and require some patience and persistence. Heather is sold on the product and her instructions may help if you’re considering them.
Careful, Heather’s sites are full of new beads and pretty things that may keep you online longer than you intended.
Bettina Welker’s clever extruded cane that was featured last week has gone viral already. Some of the most imaginative versions of Bettina’s tutorial showed up on the blog of tmariefrance (Marie France Tournat).
Marie used Bettina’s multi-colored extruded cane as a launch point for other experiments that you can browse through on her site and shop.
If you’ve never extruded before, this cane can give you instant success. Let me know if you come up with your own interesting versions. I’m going to have to try this too. You can use the off-cuts and leftovers for that other viral tutorial, the Stroppel cane.
Get out your polymer clay extruder (our warm weather will make extruding easier). Germany’s Bettina Welker has generously uploaded the instructions for her Pixelated Retro Blend Cane.
Bettina’s come up with an easy and clever method. I look forward to seeing your versions.
A touch of red, white and blue from Barbara Handy to put you in an Independence Day mood.
Happy Fourth of July! Party on.
Doesn’t this necklace from Cecilia Botton look charmingly simple? A no-brainer!
Extruded square black tubes of polymer are interspersed with shorter sections of tube that have been embellished with simple flower cane slices. The colorful slices pop out against the black background.
Cecilia is French and works in Hong Kong. As a fabric buyer she has lots of experience with what does and doesn’t work in patterns. Her web sites are a riot of experiments and playing with patterns in ways that catch the eye. See what she’s done with the Stroppel cane. When she’s not traveling, Cecilia gets up early to fit in some polymer work before she begins her job and it’s easiest to track her work on Flickr.
Giving myself a long weekend! See you here on Monday.
Bette Jo Hendershott offers a free and straightforward tutorial for creating tidy extruded canes.
Borders have a variety of uses and can easily be combined into more complex patterns. They’re handy to have on hand.
Sometimes the predictability of stack and repeat can make for pleasant polymer play. A little math and geometry fun for you. Thanks to Jeannie Havel and others who sent this link along.
“Stacker beads,” Amy Wallace admits, “are something I could make until the sun blows up.” This Cincinnati artist has been working on spirals since 1995 and offers a how-to tutorial on her Etsy shop. This necklace is one of her bright variations.
“For me, polymer clay isn’t about making the most complicated cane, it’s about creating inventive, spontaneous designs with hints of the past thrown in. Color is my second language,” she says.
Amy mixes seed beeds, fiber, paper, buttons into her art arsenal. Her blog is a good read with a free tutorial tucked in from time to time. Be sure to check out her polymer and seed bead embroidery and her freeform chevron beads on her Facebook page too.
