Polymer flower mashup

Malgorzata Wawrzynczak (moiko) wears a modern corsage on PolymerClayDaily

Poland’s Malgorzata Wawrzynczak (Moiko) mashes up Nikolina Otrzan’s methods with her own silkscreens to create a series of flat flower brooches with a mod twist and rusted finish.

Cutouts allow the fabric below to show through.

Gosia heads off on her own toward other flower and shapes. Those tab (half oval) shapes are popping up in more and more designs.

If you want to see what other ideas are catching fire for the fall, join us over at StudioMojo this Saturday when we’ll make sense of the designs and products that are showing up in the shows and exhibits.

Hitting the sweet spot

Pondering how Carol Beal works without supervision on PolymerClayDaily.com

Kansas’ Carol Beal (beadunsupervised) hits a sweet spot with this layered pendant. What grabs you? The glowing color? the intersecting lines? The overlapping shapes? Note how the cording color is repeated in a slim sliver on the edge of one layer.

The red stripe finds its way to very small bead at the bottom. Distress on the edges adds an allure too.

Don’t you love the idea of working “unsupervised” with only your very arty self suggesting what to try next? It works for Carol as you can see on Instagram and Flickr.

Summer polymer report

Genevieve Williamson’s latest blog posts read like a charming and fun-filled “What I did with my summer” report for the start of school. She includes sea glass, shells and rock souvenirs from the beach. Check out her Buoy Necklace inspired by a family vacation.

Genevieve’s muse is calling for more carving, more distressing and she’s itching to get back into the studio. The surfaces on these Fragment Drop earrings on Etsy have gotten smaller and more interesting. It’ll be a busy fall for JibbyandJuna that you can follow here.

Summery polymer

Florida’s Barbara Bechtel paints and distresses her polymer beads so that they fit more easily with the old things she loves. She explains that, “I love thrift stores, estate sales and auctions. I like to share and sell my finds. Sometimes, I even put my little mark on them by making them into new things for others to enjoy.”

These recent watercolor beads are painted and sanded to achieve a nostalgic, summery look. Her worn shell beads in polymer give the same vibe.

To learn more about Barbara, read this month’s interview on ArtBeadScene and browse through her Etsy shop.