Polymer Clay Daily

Pungent polymer

Prague’s Pavla Cepelikova calls this necklace her Spice Bazaar and its autumn colors made me stop for a longer look. Her Flickr gallery is full of exercises in caning and construction. She’s gravitated to setting stones in polymer in novel ways as in this Smokey Quartz.

Pavla is a quick study and she breezes through techniques (look at all the necklaces in her gallery) while giving them her own distinctive stamp of dense pattern and intense color. This Saffron Addict likes her spices pungent.

Traveling polymer…and you can ride along

In preparation for my November trip to Nepal, I’ve been immersed in creating easy, fashionable polymer patterns that I can teach the women in the Samunnat project. The tour will be led by Australian polymer artist Wendy Moore.

I stand on the shoulders of many polymer artists who have taught me their tricks and tips over the years. You’ll find a little Toops, a dash of Korringa, a bit of Benzon, hints of Voulkos, a touch of Tinapple and more in these new designs.

You can be among the first to test out my crazy quilt/gypsy bead, bangle, and bowl designs in a class I’ll be teaching online on Craftcast on October 19 at 8:00 p.m. ET. Proceeds from the 90-minute class will help support the Nepal project. Sign up!

I’m anxious to report back to you on how Samunnat and other women-centered projects affect lives. Check out The Girl Effect (here on Facebook) to learn more.The videos are stunning.

To have polymer artists involved in efforts for change is exciting. Thank you for your help.

Good news travels fast

If you want to watch how fast information travels around the globe, count how many variations on Alice Stroppel’s scrap cane you’ve spotted in the week she introduced it.

Since last Friday’s post we’ve watched examples pop up from the US, UK, Israel and beyond. The photo at the right is from France’s CreaSof who has skillfully integrated the technique into brooch designs.

Here are a few more you might enjoy:

I hope your weekend is filled with good news.

On a tangent

From their base on the west coast of Mexico, Dan Cormier and Tracy Holmes are about to go off on a new tangent and unveil their next big idea. Join their mailing list (it’s free) to see what all the fuss is about. All I know is that they’ve been working hard and they’re giddy with nervous excitement.

Cultural icons

A Barb Feldman iphone brooch sits on the window sill in my studio. It reminds me how much polymer and Apple are entwined in my experience. Seeing this cultural icon played back as a cane slice usually makes me smile.

Today the brooch is a reminder of how technology and our craft and my family grew up together and what a debt we owe to Steve Jobs.

Stroppel’s polymer strudel

Before you tidy your polymer workspace for the weekend, consider trying a clever trick from Florida’s Alice Stroppel. She’s added a short (and free) video of her Stroppel cane on her website.

Colorful cane scraps layered between thin sheets of high contrast background produce new random patterns that give the scrap new life.

We had fun trying this at our recent conference where scrap was plentiful. These brooches were a late night collaborative effort by Alice and her table mate Meisha Barbee as they cleaned up the leftover bits of the day.

May your weekend be filled with colorful random bits of fun!

Polymer with mystery and surprise

When Laurel Swetnam wore this study of polymer cone shapes the other day you couldn’t miss the movement of the shapes and vibrancy of the colors against her blue shirt. The oranges and yellows added an unexpected pop.

Mystery and surprise in our work have been a topic of conversation that we’ll explore on PCD as soon as I get home and get settled.

Laurel’s a Portland artist who’s delving into color studies. You may recognize this design from Maggie and Lindly’s book and Laurel’s taken it in a direction that’s entirely her own. Laurel shyly admitted that she’d put a few of her works online so you must visit and welcome her. (Mari was bowled over with your visits and kind comments yesterday.)

I’m missing all of you and will be happy to return to my daily ritual of scrolling through what’s new in your art world. I hope your weekend offers a bit of mystery and surprise.

Fishing expedition

Alice Stroppel’s fat colorful fish were a hit in the slide swap. Their caned and metallic-leafed bodies made them both fanciful and believable. You’ll find Alice’s joyful canes and faces on her Etsy and home site as well.

As much late night work as swaps require, it’s worth the effort when the results are as bountiful as these. It was a Christmas morning experience.

The fish are an appropriate icon because being with a group of experienced polymer artists makes my work like shooting fish in a barrel! The network is a bit temperamental but with any luck I can share more with you each day.

If a post is missing, blame it on the mountains and come back later.

Fabric inspirations, software samples

Carol Simmons shares a kaleidoscope software program that she uses to sample colors and try out designs. (Kaleider is for PCs only and offers a free trial.) Carol rotates and recombines student Nettonya Ryane’s polymer slice for amazing effect.

These colors are taken from Nettonya’s favorite fabric. Carol talks about the value of looking at fabrics for color inspiration. Many of us don’t sew and feel guilty about collecting fabrics for the simple pleasure of looking at them. No more guilt.

Carol swears she’ll work only in earthtones in Colorado. Maybe she’s cleansing her palette! Pictures from Colorado as soon as the network is more stable (apparently our group crashed it).

Kato’s new mission

Donna Kato posted these New Mission pieces yesterday to great acclaim on her Facebook page. One comment called them “…stunning and vaguely mystical.”

Donna admits that these designs were based on 10-year-old prototypes that she’d forgotten about until someone saw them in the background of a photo and inquired. Now she’s wondering what else she forgot about that she can resurrect! It’s always fun to see what Donna’s up to here and here.