Hollow how-to

Arizona’s Amber Radosevich was all about bugs – making caterpillars, arachnids, butterflies and such in polymer.

When she started experimenting with translucent polymer, her work took a turn to amber and imitative glass. She’s come up with some innovative methods and clever solutions for making hollow beads and she’s not done playing yet.

If translucent beads have been calling you, take a look at her tutorials. I bought one tutorial to test and now I want to know all her tricks. Headpins? Disks? Bumpy beads? She continues to turn out tutorials. Here’s her Etsy shop and her Facebook page.

Hope you didn’t have other plans for the weekend because you may be distracted.

Polymer stained glass

Illinois’ Marji Purcell lets the light shine through the kaleidoscopic canes she made using Carol Simmons’ technique. (Here she is learning Carol’s process.)

For her own version, she uses Premo translucent in each of the canes that forms the master triangle. Each component cane is wrapped in black.

As she assembles the circles, Marji varies the orientation of the slices from the master triangular cane to change the resulting circular patterns. Hanging in her window, these mandalas resemble stained glass. A while back she entered her brief translucent clay video in Polyform’s tip contest.

Looking at these calming artworks, it’s not surprising to learn that Marji is a certified meditation instructor, a retired art teacher and the owner of Sumner Street Studio in Wheaton, IL. Her story of finding her studio is one you’re sure to enjoy.

Polymer headpins

Looking for diversion? How about polymer headpins like these rustic, antiqued ones from Missouri’s Ginger Davis Allman?

Ginger even offers a tutorial for her headpins, connectors, charms and other beads if you want her insider tips. She moves between grungy and romantic looks, abusing the beads until they look just right.

Ginger gave a clear explanation and comparison of translucent clays in an earlier PCD post and you’ll want to catch up with her more recent faux glass experiments.

Be warned, she’s having so much fun and writes so well that you may end up spending more time on her pages than you anticipated. Of course you’ll want to check in on her Facebook and Etsy sites too. And best of all, her husband offers a handy photo template for that troublesome new Flickr layout.

Polymer crossovers

Canada’s Claire Maunsell worked in hot glass for twenty years and she reflexively handles polymer as if it were hot and liquid. These beautiful hollow pods are created using a technique that Claire explains in the upcoming Global Perspectives book which is full of new names, exciting concepts and scads of pictures.

Artists who crossover from glass, textiles, ceramics and sculpture are perhaps the most exciting part of our global story.

While you wait (the book arrives in July), enjoy Claire’s rough yet sophisticated glass-meets-polymer work on her Etsy shop (where she’s busy adding items), her Zibbet shop, her blog and her Flickr pages.