These colors from Prague’s Pavla Cepelikova (Saffron Addict) vibrate against each other in the most interesting way as the strips of clay wind around in her Confetti brooch.
She promises that a tutorial is in the works. I’ll let my eyes figure out why the colors in her Manhattan brooch below stop me in my tracks.
In the meantime, visit her on Flickr and Etsy.
Note that there were a couple mistakes in yesterday’s Angel post (like Ron’s address) that have been corrected.
Lindsey Hansen (Vivid Clay) lures us into the week with a tempting cane design that fools the eye with its 3D illusion. She covered a straight-sided jar with the slices and replaced the lid with a cork top.
Using black and white, she layers and stacks blends strips of blended clay into a square cane.
Lindsey shared her step-by-step how-to photos on the Hooked On Polymer page on Facebook. Several HOP members tried it with success and Ron Lehocky sent us the link.
If cane-building seems too much for your Monday brain, you can purchase Lindsey’s raw versions on Etsy.
These mud cloth pattern Bogolanfini polymer bangles strike a balance between tribal and contemporary jewelry. The colors are perfect and the patterns are purposely loose and energetic.
Each bracelet is formed from two curved mud cloth-patterned tube beads and four spacers joined with a twist. Another version joins over a wider cuff.
They’re from Massachusetts’ Kathleen de Quince Anderson and she sells some of her polymer creations at the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington. See her signature heart box and most current works on Instagram.
Caner Carola Greiser (polymerclayshed) from Texas starts our week with a black and white background cane. Carola made the cane specifically to frame her moose cane.
But who wouldn’t welcome the sketchy dashes and lines of this composition to enhance a larger design? It has the look of a Norwegian knitting pattern.
Carola uses her designs to cover crochet hooks, card cases, pens, and other small items that you can see on Instagram and Etsy.
Florida’s Pamela Carman makes a mean Mason jar. This big floral one has actually been upcycled with one of those fancy liquid soap pumps.
The background for her flowers is textured white clay. Pamela’s big blooms allow her to create a quick composition without having to cover every inch of the glass jar with pattern.
She shows a bunch of them on Instagram if you’re in a handmade gifty mood.
If your mood has gotten grinchy and fed up with the pressures of the season already, join us over at StudioMojo where we help you keep your priorities balanced and your mojo bopping along.
Switzerland’s Sandra Trachsel says of her bracelet inspired by an Irish Quilt pattern, “It is actually not a cane, but striped patterns cut and burnished together.”
I was certainly fooled. You’ll have to read the descriptions on each of her photos on Flickr to be sure you’ve guessed the technique correctly.
Her olive green diamonds pendant may stump you too. She created the basic color pattern, positioned a silk screen over the color shapes and added paint in perfect register. Impressive, eh?
When my studio gets messy, you may note that PCD posts gravitate to neatniks and perfectionists who control the clay so well. The reason for my change in focus contains equal parts jealousy and admiration.
California’s Karen Lewis, (Klew) spent a day planning and mixing colors for this stylized horse. The cane is made of a custom blend Klew calls Fremo.
“My Fimo was quite aged – 15 years or more – and my Premo was fresh. My hands are very hot so creating my own brand is just right for me,” she says. Here are some of her hand tips.
This design by Klew pays tribute to the style of Laurel Birch with a combination of strongly defined areas and painterly backgrounds.
Customers were standing in line on Facebook, waiting to see how she’d use the figure in her distinctly southwestern pairing of stones and beads and spirited images.
Tomorrow’s StudioMojo contains an impromptu session with Carol Blackburn as she assembles one of her impossibly neat and graphic canes. She makes her methods look so simple. Join us.
There’s nothing juicier than a step-by-step from Loretta Lam to kick off the week. First, the sketchbook magic pulls us in. Then the jumble of companion canes brings color into the equation.
“I spend a lot of time on the palette. I know the feelings that I want to convey and it has to be just right. In this case – fresh, vibrant and youthful but still sophisticated,” says Loretta.
The naked bead forms seem dark before she brightens them with slices of patterns.
If you go to her Facebook page, you’ll find a slideshow in which she arranges and completes the necklace plus lots more pictures to encourage you to trot off to your workspace.
Loretta will be teaching her Designing with Distinction methods in Durfort, France in October and in Monza, Italy in September.
Just as I was admiring the speckled heishi beads in yesterday’s post, Croatia’s Nikolina Otrzan unveiled her new terrazzo cane tutorial for what she calls a Pixie Cane.
Artists from Pier Voulkas to Angela Bahrenholtz to Alice Stroppel and others have come up with methods of making multicolor terrazzos.
Nikolina’s variation is tighter, neater, more intense. I ran to my studio to see if I could do it. My first effort was satisfying even though I was working with too-soft clay. These blocks will make great veneers. Nik is planning another tutorial that will cover projects made using the patterns.
Caners will be pleased to achieve a random pixelated look that goes beyond a surface effect. Yesterday’s spattered beads from Marina Rios were created with what I’m guessing were low-fire enamel powders. You know how it is when you hit upon a method that’s right up your alley? I couldn’t contain my enthusiasm.
Nancy Nearing has played with polymer for 25 years. Two years ago she gave up her stressful day job, bought a tent and decided to go full bore into her art.
We’re neighbors and I can testify about how diligently Nancy services her seven galleries, produces for fairs, teaches and searches for new opportunities.
Still she makes time for coffees and guild meetings. Nancy is not a shy artist who works quietly alone. Her energy comes from groups so she rents space at the downtown Columbus Idea Foundry where she rubs shoulders with all kinds of artists who have kept her moving forward.
Her dramatic blossom bowls are one of her signature pieces. She’s found a way to securely adhere the layers of cane slices that form her bowls and she often tops each one with an air plant.
Look at Nancy’s new website, Instagram, Etsy and Facebook to see how much energy and talent she brings to her new job.
