Polymer Clay Daily

Summer bouquet

Karen Pasieka gathers the flowers from her garden on PolymerClayDaily

Ontario’s Karen Pasieka has gathered the blooms in her polymer garden into a bright bouquet on a 4×4 tile. See what varieties of flowers she has in her studio garden on Instagram.

Her creation may remind you to run outside and admire summer’s bounty while you can. Karen has returned to her studio to get ready for the fall and holiday shows.

It looks like lots of you got back to the studio this week. StudioMojo is full of links to new works as we try to wring every bit of summer creativity out of this month. We’d love to have you join our Saturday newsletter where we chat about all the fun stuff we couldn’t cram into PCD. 

Polymer or glass?

Peggy Rose gets great depth with Meg Newberg's method. Or is it glass? on PolymerClayDaily.com

Spokane’s Peggy Rose, one of Meg Newberg’s subscribers, sent in her version of Meg’s newest cane inspiration. Looks like Peggy got it right!

I sometimes gush about Meg’s “cane brain” but you know she’s onto something when her followers can come up with their own versions like this.

As I read about Peggy on her FB I saw that she’s a lampworker too. I’ve messaged her to verify that this is polymer. What’s your guess?

Summer palette

Anna Nel's colors take you to the beach on PolymerClayDaily.com

If you’re looking for sunshine and summer colors, head on over to Anna Nel’s site.

Anna Nels grasshopper bodies on PolymerClayDaily.com

This beachy combination of layered luminous beads on a necklace wire has become the header on her Facebook.

On Instagram, you can see a whole range of her work and let the colors wash over you.

Anna’s working on some grasshoppers and the canes at right will make stunning bodies.

Roosting after 100 days

Pamela Carmen's birds come home to roost after 100 days on PolymerClayDaily

Florida’s Pamela Carmen winds down her 100 Day project with a few more birds. Can you imagine the menagerie she’s accumulated in 100 days?

The neutral palette is a change for Pamela. Tropical colors are more to her liking and she applies slices over most any form she can find.

You’ll find her transforming vessels and found forms on Flickr and Instagram. She changes her style according to what the shape calls for. If you’ve been thinking about covering items, her work will educate you.

Go deep with translucent


Meg Newberg goes deep with translucent canes on PolymerClayDaily.com

Meg Newberg has been on a translucent jag with her Polymer Clay Workshop monthly tutorials lately. If you like canes, Meg’s monthly dose of new ideas via email can fuel your cane brain at a very reasonable price.

You can glean some translucent ideas from her YouTube video (no audio) but you’ll need the written tutorial to get a complete load of goodies. Little translucent canes go a long way and Meg shows you how to stretch their usefulness.

I’m on vacation this week and while I thought I could keep up on the road, I was mistaken. Sometimes you just have to back away from the machine. No promises for the rest of this family week. 

No-fail scraps

Silvia Bordin makes a summery Stroppel with leftovers on PolymerClayDaily.com

Italy’s Silvia Bordin flips a Stroppel cane into summer mode by using white as her color for the solid layer. If you look through her Flickr photos you’ll see any number of variations on Alice Stroppel’s theme.

Has it really been seven years since we started tracking the Stroppel effect?

Maybe June will begin with scrap week since I’m currently fixated on playful pieces from discarded patterns. Because scraps are so disposable, working with them reduces the pressure to make a masterpiece.

And when you’re not so driven to make the perfect piece a spontaneous piece sometimes jumps out.

So we start the week with unpretentious scraps, formed with a cutter and strung on hemp. Thanks for teaching us not to take things so seriously, Silvia and Alice. Ease into the week with some no-fail scrap time.

Queen of it all

Alice Stroppel spotlights women in her work on PolymerClayDaily.com

Florida’s Alice Stroppel is cooking up some workshops that focus on women. “I wasn’t able to make the wedding, OK I wasn’t invited. But I do feel like the Queen of it All in my own mind. A new cane, more queenly women to come,” says Alice

Alice Stroppel spotlights women in her work on PolymerClayDaily.com

Look for black and white with echoes of Picasso. “Here comes a workshop or a series,” she predicts.

Women are standing out this year. How could you feature them in your work?

Find Alice on Instagram and her site.

Mixing sunshine and polymer

Monika Busch makes buttons into a warm weather fashion statement on PolymerClayDaily.com

Germany’s Monika Busch (Efimoni) shows us how she mixes polymer and pleasure.

Monika used cane slices turned into buttons which she sewed onto the fabric straps of her flip flops for a warm weather fashion statement.

I’ll be reporting from a very warm Phoenix on StudioMojo this weekend, mixing polymer and pleasure and exposing my usually-protected Ohio toes to their first taste of sun this year. The newest batch of tutorials and trends may boost your mojo into action. I hope you’ll join us. 

Polymer in the air

Emily Squires Levine's trees go to Washington on PolymerClayDaily.com

Emily Squires Levine’s dense and colorful Magical Copse bowl will be among the artworks for sale at the Smithsonian Craft Show in Washington DC April 26-29.

She joins a select group of polymer artists in this premier crafts show. From over 1000 applicants,120 are chosen to participate. We’ve come a long way from hippie beads to welcomed participants in fine crafts. See more of Emily’s works on Flickr.

At StudioMojo, the weekend behind-the-scenes newsletter, we marvel at where artists are showing and where we may end up next. If your art needs a shot of inspiration and a push toward new possibilities, join us!

Delicate botanicals

Paris’ Cécile Bos (11prunes) worked as a biology researcher before she happened on polymer. Her approach to caning is small, as you might expect, and resembles textile design. You can catch the drift of her thinking from this photo collage on her website.

Blocks of small designs on a matching background are created and then combined into a repeating design.

The finished patterns are quite delicate and small, just the right size for her delicate pendants and long thin tubes. She’s on Instagram and Facebook.

Mid-week is the right time to think about changing directions. Cecile has opted for smaller and more delicate works.