Polymer Clay Daily

Polymer rocks!

The response to our polymer clay and wood works at the local artfair (a few more pix here) was rewarding beyond our expectations. An article in the local news prompted old friends and neighbors to come see what we were up to.

The debut of my polymer clay rock line (called the Wilma Flintstone collection by my husband) was so enthusiastic that even the little rock cairns I created to enhance the displays ended up being hot items.

They’re not just my rocks, of course. I blame Kim Cavender for first showing me some rock tricks, and Tracy Holmes for her west coast versions. Betsy Baker makes great pebble earrings and Tory Hughes is widely recognized as the creator of the finest faux. Thanks to all of them and many others for their inspiration.

Craynor’s faux African beads

Utah’s Cody Craynor sent me a link to his meticulously constructed polymer clay faux African chevron beads. Cody is refreshingly clear that his interest is only in the beads, not in making jewelry. He claims that his passion for beads began when he was transfixed by the color and clatter of a bead curtain in his parents’ 1970s bathroom. Take a look at his new site and work.

The mention of African beads derailed my daily research as I remembered earlier faux ancients. Here’s where the wayback machine took me:

• Jamey Allen’s folded beads (as seen on the Polymer Art Archive)
• Desiree McCrory‘s faux chevrons
• Klew‘s folded beads

Play-Doh video

I didn’t quite get the concept of last week’s Play-Doh/shaped cane breakthrough. I missed the part about Play-Doh only being used for a barrier layer with filler polymer layered on top. This video from ArtbyYonat answered all my questions. All reports are that the technique works.

Phillips’ faux flora and fauna

Lori “Tab” Phillips majored in ceramics and she brings a potter’s sensibility to her polymer clay faux ceramic beads and pods. Her palette is bright…perfect for spring…as in this chic and charming magic bean necklace.

If you take a look at her photo site, you’ll see how her eye gravitates to the same palette in nature.

Lori uses a strip of unbaked polymer as a bead board when she’s assembling a necklace. Pretty clever, eh?

This Kentucky artist is new to PCDaily (thanks to Darleen Bellan). You’ll want to keep tabs on her blog, her Flickr and her Etsy sites.

Davis’ faux fossils

Lynn Davis makes polymer clay faux ceramic beads like no one else. In her recent post she lets us peer over her shoulder as she finishes a batch.

Repeated painting and buffings give her beads a patina and hints of past lives. These faux fossils are particularly alluring and the use of links instead of holes in the beads makes them even more unusual. Her Etsy shop shows a great selection.

If, like me, you want to know how to get started, take a look at this polymerclayweb tutorial. Here’s an earlier post about Lynn.

Polymer eggs, snakes and more

Carol Simmons has been hatching plans to extrude metallic polymer clays in new ways. (Here’s the link to the large picture of the eggs. The regular link is acting contrary.)

These clay-covered eggs were a recent product of her experiments and she’ll be revealing her discoveries in a class at her studio in Ft. Collins, Colorado this Saturday. Here are earlier posts about Carol’s kaleidoscope-cane works and award-winning pendants.

Egging you on…

May 1 is the deadline for entries in Interweave’s Bead Star Challenge. The prizes are pretty nice (just ask Valerie Aharoni, last year’s winner). I notice that Valerie has tested Creative Imaginations’ Super Seal Spray on polymer with good results.

And at the Chelsea Flower Show in London, they’re looking for clay artists who can help them create a 30 square foot garden. Thanks to Justine for the link.

Check out this faux snakeskin! This Python version from Christina (ArtByLilin) won third place in this month’s Etsy faux challenge. Thanks Ronna.

Lotta links today! You sent in a shower of April tips. Does that mean May will bring flowers?

Project polymer runway

While I’m not much of a fashionista, I couldn’t help looking at the chunky crazy jewelry in the Fall 2009 Marni collection on Fashionologie. Imagine whipping it up in polymer clay.

Take a look at Marni’s jewels and then picture this…Marie Segal’s faux drusy (here too), Barb Fajardo’s flowers, with a few faux ancients from Velmachos and Yamamura. Help me out here. Who else can we recruit for our polymer project runway?

Thanks to Marie Segal for the new link to Yamamura. Here are earlier posts about Yamamura’s work and her Etsy site. (Kotomi offers her clever downloadable pattern for a DIY necklace display stand here.)

Jackson’s polymer ancients

At the local guild meeting Debbie Jackson brought this great polymer clay necklace she’d made. The mottled beads are done with a sprayed alcohol ink technique that she teaches (she calls them quail eggs). The other faux turquoise and scarab beads are so convincingly done that the entire effect is ancient and artful.

She has a knack for the imitative and the cultural artifact. Her book, Polymer Clay Jewelry, contains many of her best recipes.

I wish I’d taken a picture of Debbie who is growing a new crop of silky hair that looks quite trendy. Thanks to Jeanette Kandray who loaned me her camera at the meeting.

Note: I’m on the road (San Diego). Saw some lovely rocks on our long beach walk today. Great ideas for my polymer versions.

Real-looking polymer clay objects

This polymer clay lariat by Adams Schoolhouse reminds us that it’s time to break out the mittens. The variegated yarns look labor-intensive, very wooly, very real.

Speaking of looking real, check out the Australian “Making Sense” art exhibit that featured the work of artists who replicate benign objects and spaces.

Polymer artist Emma White explains that, “Sometimes the joke’s on me because people can’t tell the object is handmade (like the polymer clay post-it here), so they kind of don’t even see it.” Read more about Emma here.

Thanks to Susan Lomuto for the exhibit link and for making us start the week looking very carefully.

Polymer clay with spirit

These two artists look like they’re having as much fun with polymer clay as I am this week.

From France, we have Evelyne (les RéCréaTiONS de Chamade) who tries every trick in the book and adds her own quirky style to each piece. I wish I’d thought to decorate my keys as she has.

And from South Carolina, Alisa (Treasurefield) takes faux to a whole new level with her faceted gems of polymer treated to look like weathered wood. Her whitewashed pieces feel nostalgic and she dabbles in styles and techniques with abandon. Thanks to Barbara Forbes-Lyons for the tip.

I’m hoping that this vacation can restore in me the spirit that these artists bring to their work.

Davis’ faux ceramic amulets

I’ve admired Lynn Davis’ work but never featured her because I wasn’t sure what materials she was using. She mixes glass, stones, found items, metal, ceramic, polymer clay and more in her romantic pieces. Her faux is so pro that I was never sure what was polymer.

She says of her faux-tique amulets, “Some resemble white bisque fired clay, with wear and showing a lot of rustic aging. And others look like marble or limestone chipped off an old building, or parts from ancient grecian architecture.”

Recently Lynn’s been experimenting with faux lithophanes (she’s looking for an easier name) and writing about it on her site. You can add your two cents there.

Note: There’s a nice faux ceramics tutorial on Michael Johansson’s PolymerClayWeb site.

______________________________

My studio renovation should be finished soon. It’s been a great week. Thanks for all your comments and suggestions. Have an olympic weekend.