Polymer Clay Daily

Saving money with polymer bezels

Libby Mills is beaming because she discovered a way to beat the high cost of silver using polymer and she found a new seed bead and polymer design she enjoys. You’ll see a bit of extruded clay in this new series too.

Her black polymer bezels are deep and sensuously smooth. They feel like metal right down to the hammered edges. Like the other posts this week, seeing the back helps you appreciate the piece even more. Here’s another close-up.

The bunches of seed beads are sewn to felt at the bottom of the bezel. They sway as you touch them.

Libby agrees that get-togethers often spark new ideas and reignite our enjoyment of the craft….even though they may leave you sleep-deprived. Have a restful weekend.

Backstory

Jan Montarsi wrote in about his new Flickr group that specializes in the backs of polymer work and their stories….the construction, the obstacles, the solutions. Check it out here.

Snail shapes for spring

Snail shapes are in the air! Yesterday Fabi’s vessels from Madrid and today it’s Germany’s Margit Boehmer’s polymer sea snail earrings. Margit is all about bright rainbow colors and her Flickr pages are packed with them. Is it the spring rains that have brought out the snails? The link to Margit came from Randee Ketzel.

The Virginia group is settling into studio mode and gradually new works are being unwrapped from their travel boxes. Tomorrow I’ll uncover someone’s new treasures to share with you.

New ways for old shapes

Slovenia’s Roberta Mohar gives a new twist to familiar techniques with her large flattened spiral extrusion beads. Her pumpkin-shaped beads are cleverly formed from three balls of clay that have been folded and joined.

Roberta brings her own sensibilities to otherwise standard methods of bead making. Look closely at her Flickr and Facebook offerings and you’ll see new life breathed into familiar techniques.

Applying metallics

Maria Airoldi from Bergamo, Italy transforms bullseye polymer extrusions into fascinating African textiles by applying some sort of tiny metallic dots to the surface. They look like sequins but the same thing could be achieved with a metallic paint pen. You can see how Maria enlivens ho-hum beads with a dash of sparkle as you check out her Flickr pages

After seeing the twinkling mirrored mosaic magic in Philadelphia, I’m on the prowl for ways to incorporate sparkle into my work. Whole new worlds open when you take a stimulating class, don’t they?

Spring strings

The UK’s Susan Rimmer led me off track as I was searching for more inscribed beads to show you. Susan has an intriguing way of quickly making a tried and true technique her own.

These pendants covered with extruded polymer strings look like modern sea urchins and demonstrate how she tweaks our expectations. Her site is full of similar twists and turns.

I found Susan from Carol Simmons’ Finding Inspiration post. Carol’s Flickr favorites are a gold mine for color lovers.

Smokin’ extrusions

You may find it hard to believe but Sarah Shriver has never extruded polymer. Today I introduced her to the wonders of extrusion with a stainless steel extruder, adaptor and variable speed drill. Sarah shows her delight at her discovery.

She marveled and promptly included her results on one of the beads in the project she and Dayle Doroshow are working on. (Only one side on the bead is covered in this picture.)

You’d be surprised at how many of these polymer experts haven’t experimented with techniques outside their own. This week has provided them with an opportunity to be novices without embarrassing themselves.

Extruded whirlwinds

These tourbillon (whirlwind) designs are from France’s Miriam. I admired them last week and wondered how she’d done them.

Apparently I wasn’t the only one wondering because this week she posted a tutorial on Parole de Pate that shows her method step-by-step. “Bien sûr,” I say to myself (and hope that the phrase translates).

Whirlwind designs resonate with me as I quickly pack to leave town for a week. I’m hoping that one of my travel mates has something interesting packed in her suitcase that I can bring you tomorrow. The next few posts will have to come from our on-the-road adventures.

Learn to quilt with polymer

These new polymer quilt canes from Minnesota’s Jennifer Patterson are built from extrusions (with more on Facebook here). It’s fun to look closely and see how she assembles the shapes using marbilized clay that simulates fabric. The squares are further textured and shaped into beads and brooches.

The one on the far left above is a custom design commissioned by the Oregon Coastal Quilters Guild. The piece at the right is a famous Underground Railroad sampler design.

Click here to see how she stacks the long extruded strands of polymer. She sells extruder disks made specifically for quilt patterns. There’s a free Ohio Star Quilt tutorial on her site if you’d like to give it a try.

Who else is shouting “TADA”?

I’d forgotten what a relief it is to bring an idea to life.Tada! See my “in progress” shots here.

Joining the TADA365 project has kept me in the studio and off the computer. I’m getting ahead but falling behind!

I’m happy to show you the results of my first efforts, a heart bangle covered with extruded triangle slices. It’s a design that’s been rolling around in my head ever since I saw Melanie West demonstrate the method she developed for her bio-bangles.

The twinkle of the glitter in the “special effects” Premo that’s mixed in some of the colors doesn’t show in the photographs. It gives the piece subtle glitz. I was introduced to glitter clay by a five-year-old friend and love how Dayle Doroshow mixes it sparingly in her work.

Passionate contributions

Kerstin Rupprecht has perfected these extruded spirals. The edges of her clay cracks to reveal stunning contrasts. Blends flow from light to dark. What looks like a happy accident is no accident at all. Kerstin calls polymer her therapy and you can sense the meditative quality of her spirals. Though she has a website, she admits that it’s much easier to keep pictures current on her Flickr pages.

Kerstin is a special ed teacher near Frankfurt, Germany. “For me polymer clay is a passion but not a profession,” she explains. “I don’t sell my work – most of the time I give it as a gift to those I love or just keep it for myself.”

She started the first German group at Yahoo which later became the guild (polyclaykunst.de). The contributions of those who are “passionate but not professional” is what has kept our community growing. Randee Ketzel tipped us off to this one.