This lovely picture of Kathleen Dustin’s World Traveler earrings is only half the story.
You’ll have to go to her Instagram or Facebook to see where she was working. Scan the comments to see how many others with restless hands work in their cars on their laps or with the glove box as a work surface.
That’s what I call being driven!
Here’s another helping of Australian goodies from Perth’s Lisa (Miss Peppy Handmade). These birdie earrings are made from Skinner blends stacked in alternating layers of light-to-dark. Carving reveals the underlying colors.
A bunch of Aussie artists gathered together for a Stronger Together giveaway. As they explain, “We don’t have to think of each other as competitors, we can also be each others’ best advocates, cheerleading squads, sounding boards. We are stronger together because empowered women empower other women.”
And the best discovery is that we have until July 21 to sign up (add your comment) for their giveaway. Uh-oh, you have to have an Australian postal address. Bummer, but an uplifting project nonetheless.
A visit to Bonnie Gilmore’s Hatching Sparrows led me to the mother lode of Australian polymer artists. We may have to mine this all week.
But I digress. These merrily collaged earrings are from Fee’s Pickled Ginger though they’re mostly sold out.
Flat thin cutouts of leaves and feathers are bunched with brightly patterned narrow slivers that hang from a dot.
It must be like wearing a moving abstract painting.
Australia’s Kate Lee Foley gives us sweet innocence with pastel gradations on bell earrings. Flat two-sided cutouts with curved edges wrap around and overlap to form a soft cone shape.
Circular holes cut out of the polymer let light through as the earrings dangle. Simple and sweet.
I couldn’t help myself. I spent a perfect summer day claying with friends in the neighborhood (more on that this weekend). I indulged my love of polka dots and paired them with my Matisse obsession. Soon I’ll have some to sell.
Follow Lynda Gilcher’s instructions for precise extruded dots. It requires two passes through the extruder.
Extrude each color through a circle die to get consistently sized round logs. Wrap sections of the extruded logs with your background color (I used white). Then extrude that wrapped log through a square die. Assemble the squares into a cane.
Tomorrow it’s back to looking at your work instead of mine. Sometimes you need a playful diversion.
If you could take any class, what would it be? You can hop around the globe virtually and find some marvelous adventures in polymer.
Just for kicks, I scrutinize my dream classes and try to imagine how I’d make these beauties. My current favorite is Spain’s Fabi Perez Ajates who’s teaching at Polymer Clay Carnival Australia in August this year.
What a roster of polymer luminaries! It doesn’t cost anything to daydream and look! It could happen!
But then I’m already hosting a fab class with Bonnie Bishoff right here in the heart of very affordable Ohio! Your dream class could be closer than you think!
Belarus’ Kseniya (SolarBird) ties up the week with these pale tidy knots of extruded ribbons of clay. She makes them into both stud and drop earrings that you can see on her Instagram.
The twists look simple but you know that getting them just right requires dexterity and more than a few tries to get the hang of it. Lovely summer accents.
The folder of finds for StudioMojo is bulging with links tracking artists delivering works and setting up shows plus a tutorial or two. I’ll sort it all out for Saturday’s newsletter. We’d love to have you in on our weekend conversations!
These swirl earrings from Russia’s RockyHollow on Instagram mix soft blends of color with lively patterns. The pinwheel-like patterns lead your eye around in circles.
There are lots more mixes on her Russian site.
Gently coaxing triangles into swirls was a challenge when I tried it recently to make a bowl following Christine Kaczmarek’s instructions. Making earring-sized-patterns will require more practice. But isn’t that a happy look?
France’s Del Roussel (EnRibambelle) has been experimenting with Fimo’s new Leather Effects clay on Instagram.
These 3-layer earrings make a lightweight feathery look for summer. I’m guessing the imitation leather is easy to cut and has some distinct characteristics that give it flexibility and texture.
Ginger Davis Allman (BlueBottleTree) reviewed it and Klio Tsaliki shows how she’s sewed it on Flickr. The EU artists and a few early adopters are whetting our appetites for this new variation of clay.
It’s Memorial Day in the US. These red, white, and blue polymer flipflop earrings from Texas’ Paula Kennedy are the perfect accessory for the local parade.
Paula usually creates much more intense and complex projects (like this silver and polymer micromosaic feather necklace) but on a day like today, it’s hard to resist cute.
You decide how serious or silly, how simple or complex you want your work to be.
