Polymer Clay Daily

Cold cut flowers

Jenny Patterson slices extruded flower canes after they are fired on PolymerClayDaily

Maintaining the shape of extruded polymer clay flower canes as you reduce them is nearly impossible. At a recent gathering, Minnesota’s Jenny Patterson reminded me of a clever workaround.

She extrudes her canes and slices them after they’re cured!

Jenny sells at big shows (she’ll be at the Balloon show in Albuquerque) so her production skills are well honed.

She cuts the cured extrusions once they’re cool or slightly re-warms them to make them pliable depending on the brand of clay. Try it both ways to see what your clay prefers. She punches a hole in each thin slice with hole punch pliers.

Her flowers are made using extruded stacks of disks of clay colors (a la Bettina Welker) with her own extruder disk designs.

We’ll be talking about several newly learned lessons (and cool new tools that make them happen) in this week’s StudioMojo. A week off the grid did my heart and my brain good. Come see why.

Stuck on cheeriness

It’s the dots and the unbridled cheeriness of these vases from Michigan’s Holly and Jake Klaus (Sun_sprinkles) that got me going.

It’s also because I also finally found an adhesive that will secure polymer like this in place. I know this because I tried to remove a polymer piece I accidentally glued a tile and could not, no way, no how.

I don’t recommend products on PCD so I’ll direct you over to StudioMojo for that info. Drop me an email if you’d like a free sneak peek.

Extrude and cane for the 4th

Tiffany of SmithAvenueClay waves the flag on PolymerClayDaily.com

Kansas’ Tiffany (SmithAvenueClay) waves the flag in her latest earrings on Instagram. Her designs are parade-worthy.

The fourth of July was made for extruder lovers and cane-making fans!

So squeeze out some stars and layer up some stripes!  It’s just around the corner!

Rebels in barbed wire

Maryam caters to the bold and rebellious on PolymerClayDaily.com

Do cowgirls (and cowboys) wear barbed wire earrings? Wait! Maryam (GraciousRebelDesigns) is from Philadelphia so she’s probably not aiming for ranching types. 

Maryam caters to the bold and rebellious on PolymerClayDaily.com

In fact, Maryam says she makes earrings for the brave and the rebellious. She started during the pandemic.

These polymer barbs and hoops are much more comfortable than real wire. They look quite convincing.

Come on over to StudioMojo this weekend where we continue to focus on upcoming artists with fresh perspectives. Gracious rebels are just what our community needs. In-person classes are being scheduled and clay is appearing back on the shelves. We’ve got the scoop you’ll want.

The joy of voting

Cynthia Tinapple refreshes stars and stripes at the polls on PolymerClayDaily.com

High fives to the dance parties and parades and celebrations at the polls. In the midst of terrible news, it felt good to be standing in line being proactive with lots of fellow voters.

I took apart a very old necklace to bring you today’s graphic. Isn’t it amazing how stars and stripes can be combined and recombined? Even the tail ends can be made into what looks like fireworks. There’s joy at the polls. Join the party.

Jumping through hoops

Cynthia Tinapple jumps through hoops on PolymerClayDaily
Cynthia Tinapple jumps through hoops on PolymerClayDaily

Extruding is my studio warm-up exercise. Polymer hoop earrings are selling like hotcakes and look easy enough. Since I’ve been peddling red, white, and blue all week, the palette was settled. I was off to try out hoops.

Lynda Gilcher’s repeat angle wedge extruder disks are perfect for striped canes. She does the math and each disk indicates how many you’ll need to make a complete circle. I assembled my 12 extruded wedge strips of color into a circle.

Insert the resulting cane back into the extruder to produce any shape you want. For the hoops, I extruded the cane through Lynda’s Arches #3 disk. Voila! Hoops!

The messy scrap is the beginning of a brooch (see Jana Roberts Benzon’s idea here). Something about this textured mess seems apropos of our current red, white, and blue. It needs an element that says 2020.

Did you notice that I slid right into tutorial mode? Friday is my day to scoop up the ideas and products that have floated by and turn them into juicy stuff for StudioMojo. Sometimes it’s a how-to, sometimes it’s a looky-looky. Come on over and see what’s in this week’s grab bag.

Big reveal cane

Robyn from Kaori shows us her first slice on PolymerClayDaily.com

My brain’s all mushy and there’s nothing better than this cane reveal from Australia’s Robyn at Kaori Studio to capture a tired mind. That first slice is the equivalent of a cat toy for caners.

Robyn from Kaori shows us her first slice on PolymerClayDaily.com

Robyn has pumped out one big batch of extruded dots! She has a baby so she works at night which accounts for the lighting. Doesn’t it make you want to try it? This is what we extruder types dream about. Watch her upcoming jewelry to see where this pops up.

Get the full slicing effect on Robyn’s Instagram (@shop.kaori). Now wasn’t that satisfying?

 

Ancient polymer faience

Mari O'Dell's Egyptian mummy beads on PolymerClayDaily.com

Don’t try to predict where your ideas will take you. Hop on Mari O’Dell’s magic carpet to see what I mean.

Mari’s journey started in the mummy section of the NYC Met Museum where she hung out as a teenager.

Recently she took my “Slots and Dots” online polymer class and reconnected with her Egyptian impulses. She learned to extrude narrow tube beads like those found in the layers of mummy wrappings. In Mari’s version, a scarab and beads dusted with metallics are interspersed with her imitative ancient faience tubes.

Beads are an ancient form of art and currency. Their echoes still ricochet around the globe. Please wait until the carpet comes to a complete stop before you leave your seat. Who says we can’t travel during a pandemic?

If you’d like to recharge your batteries, join us over at StudioMojo.