We can’t talk about artifacts without including Tory Hughes in the conversation.
Check out some of her Trebizond works and read about her class that teaches students to make a vessel of polymer amber with inlays from other simulated materials – a talisman for your own myths. If you’re lucky enough to be in the Santa Fe area, be sure to visit her during her upcoming Studio Shindigs.
“I make all kinds of artifacts,” says New Hampshire’s Luann Udell, “I imagine myself an ancient artist working in ivory and soapstone. I dream of giving these to people I love, people who wear them daily until they are worn smooth by the touch of human hands.”
These polymer faux stone masks kept calling me back to study them along with Luann’s ancient horses, bears, fish, birds and talisman. Resonances of both primitive and digital cultures come through as Luann retells ancient stories in our very modern medium – a cyber tribal effect.
“I tell stories with my art, stories to honor and encourage others who are making their own place in the world,” she explains. Check her links and see for yourself.
We start the week with a head-scratcher from Katrin Neumaier. How does she form her glass-like Firefly earrings? In the comments (in German) on her Flickr page she reveals that liquid Fimo is involved. She certainly starts our week with a mystery.
You may recall that we featured Katrin’s glass-like earrings on PCD back in February. The early ones were made using Pardo translucent polymer clay. Obviously, she wasn’t satisfied and kept experimenting to achieve an even clearer form.
I see some teaching in Katrin’s future, don’t you?
It feels as if you could brush warm ancient sand off these polymer treasures from Elena Sevva (here’s the correct link). Elena is from Ukraine and lives in Israel.
She wraps delicate wire around some of the amber-like beads and strings them on a leather cord to complete the effect. Stamped designs and scratches are accented with faux metallic and ceramic finishes. Look at them more closely on her Flickr pages.
I’m fully in vacation mode and PCD posts may reflect that as they appear little later and on a more leisurely schedule. Let’s all have some summer fun.
Soutache is a skinny flat decorative braid that is usually used as drapery trim or on military uniforms but lately it’s been showing up in jewelry. Polymer faux soutache turns up on the FaceBook page of Italy’s Olimpia Corvino in some interesting shapes.
Fans of polymer extruding will love trying this new twist. The link was sent in by Ronna Weltman.
My studio time has dwindled and my head is full of ideas. My fingers are itching to do something other than type. I’ll be cutting out a couple of days of PCDaily posts each week to get reacquainted with polymer.
There’s plenty here to explore. Just enter your desire into the search box in the right column and you’ll be surprised at what you find. Of course there are delightful videos and inside tips on StudioMojo every weekend for those who want to take our relationship to the next level.
Some of you have been asking what happened to PCDaily coverage of sculpture, dolls, miniatures and other non-jewelry art. It’s time you had a turn! Let’s start with Laurie Mika for the first entry in an entire week of 3D.
Laurie continues to raise the bar on color with her latest works. Her inks, foils, paints, and powders layered over stamped and textured polymer achieve amazingly luminous results. Look at some closeups here and here.
Laurie mixes her media, integrating recycled bling and found icons into her assemblages. A few choice words make each piece a jewel-like shrine.
The faux ivory beads, buttons and pendants from Selena Anne Wells could have been carefully unearthed from an archaelogical dig but they’re polymer and were dug out of her Berkeley, California studio.
Selena’s beads have a cyber-tribal resonance and a Mad Max appeal achieved with just a few cutters and basic shaping tools. Some are set with cabochons.
She’s posted a whole batch of faux ceramic and metal buttons with the same ancient feel on her Flickr site. Poke a bit of clay to see what treasures emerge from your studio this weekend.
Utah’s Cody Craynor has been on a mission. “I’ve basically been on a quest to create the perfect chevron bead. Why settle for sloppy beads?” he asks.
PCD last looked at his faux trade beads three years ago. His methods are mighty close to perfection and I’d like to know what he’s taught himself.
Let’s let Cody know that we’re watching and we’d love to learn from him. He says he’s never shared his methods (or met another polymer artist) but he’s open to the idea.
The “painterly” adjective is an easy one to attach to some works. But lately, “painterly” polymer has been pushed to a whole new level as in these Rustica Erosion beads.
Alison Sachs of BeadsByEarthTones paints, textures, scuffs, and swipes her beads into something more than you may have thought possible. “Down to earth and full of imperfect texture…like me,” she says.
Polymer is attracting more fiber artists, glass artists, ceramicists and, well, painters who bring very different expectations and sensibilities to our craft.
Thanks for piling on your comments to Dave and Steve yesterday. Speaking of painterly, I’ve looked and looked at this new collage from them and my head can’t quite take it in.
Hot colors help Oxana Volkova (Oksoon) warm up the winter in Moscow (check out the pictures from pancake weekend). This brooch is a mix of bright felt colors with a multicolored organic growth of polymer at its center.
A similar oval brooch (below) looks like it has a bit of Stroppel cane next to felt. But the felt is faux, a texture achieved by attacking the polymer surface with a toothbrush!
Oxana includes an intriguing hollow bead experiment in her Flickr pictures. And this star is one of my favorites too. So much to look at!
