Polymer Clay Daily

Polymer in nature

Polymer has never played quite so nicely with nature as it does in Rachel Gourley’s hands. Her new website is a delight.

This Vancouver artist takes polymer rocks back to the seashore where they look completely happy. Her clay fungi and early shoots jump out of the surrounding wintry woodland foliage.

You might think that her alien artworks are complete abstractions but if you examine her gallery of photos, you can see that her keen eye is drawn to nature’s own bright palettes and outlandish patterns as she’s traveled around the world.

PCD has featured her before (check out these polymer sand dollars and 2004 spondylosis) and it’s great that she’s made herself a home on the web where we can visit her more often. Thanks to Lindly Haunani for the link.

Tribal mosaics

Liz Hall keeps refining her polymer mosaics and I can’t stop watching her progress. This brass cuff is part of her new tribal series.

Chips of iridescent polymer opal and faux wood pair up with black and white cane slices. Silver beads embedded in the black polymer grout add a dimensional touch.

Liz is teaching some of her tricks in a “Fillable Forms” class at the Cabin Fever Clay Festival next weekend (February 18) in Maryland. Registration’s still open.

Rifle through the sold items on her Etsy site to see what she’s been up to. These beautiful graduated polymer and pearl earrings slipped into the sold category before I could show them to you. Find more on Facebook too.

Love beads in polymer

Wendy Malinow’s Etsy site is already stocked with hearts for the coming season. Romantic, gruesome, wooden, beating, funny, anatomical…her polymer valentines run the gamut.

These entwined faux birch branches form a lovely pendant perfect for anyone with an outdoorsy, Portland sensibility. (Are you watching Portlandia?) Her bleeding thorn heart might appeal to more prickly sweethearts.

Wendy grew up in a household knee-deep in art projects. You won’t be surprised that one of her earliest art encounters was with “love beads” and she continues to share her fascination.

Hollow faux glass

Katrin Neumaier is hooked on Pardo translucent clay and she’s becoming expert at showing off its glowing properties with these brand new beads and watery earrings. Here’s her polymer beach glass from October.

The recent hollow forms make the clay even more delicate and ethereal looking as she pushes Pardo in new directions. We can look forward to seeing more of this faux glass trend in 2012.

Faux raku

You’ll want to look closely at Bettina Welker’s newest faux raku bangles and brooches. The densely crazed surface of her faux technique was achieved after much experimentation.

Her process is a further exploration and refinement of the ideas she developed for a class last summer. This will be a fun one to watch.

Let’s hope your weekend isn’t totally crazed! Bad pun but it fits.

Faux cones

This polymer pendant from Ukraine’s Svetlana (Rereshechka) makes a festive wearable garland of faux pine and cones, taking an organic approach to holiday jewelry.

Since I’ve missed many of this year’s shopping days, I’m less overwhelmed by the season and have a less jaded approach to decorations and festivities. It’s a nice turn of events.

If seasonal polymer doesn’t inspire you, Els VanHaasen’s experiments with pastel crayons may push you back to the studio to mess around with this painterly effect. See what she’s doing here.

Easy-does-it faux dichroic

Florida’s Sherri Kelberg was going with the flow and watching I Love Lucy reruns when she created this faux dichroic polymer pendant. “When I just lose myself in what I’m creating, it seems to come out better,” she says. The drawback of this unplanned approach to art is that the process may be hard to replicate.

Sherri remembers that this latest project “…involves layering, with translucent clay, rainbow foils, and pearl canes. After I bake the pendant and it’s hot out of the oven, I plunge it in a bowl of ice water. This seems to help with the clarity of the final product.”

Then she sands followed by a vigorous buffing with a microfiber cloth. A coating of resin completes the look. Her easy-does-it reminder is a good way to start the week. See more on Sherri’s Flickr pages, her Etsy site and on Facebook.

Birthstone polymer

October’s gemstone is opal, right? So why not continue our quest for a convincing fauxpal recipe? This one from Camille Young has me itching for a little exploration time in the studio. Her instructions are in the photo caption.

The number of Stroppel cane experiments appearing daily tells me that I’m not the only one who can’t resist trying a new technique.

If opals aren’t your thing, browse through Camille’s art folder. She’s one multi-talented sculptor, gamer and all-round artist.

Deceiving deco polymer

Polymer clay bezels have moved up a notch in sophistication lately. New metallic clays, gilders pastes and other surface treatments combined with convincing faux aging techniques make it difficult to tell what’s metal and what’s not.

The bronze beads and bezels on Elsie Smith’s site (Sweet2spicy) and in her Zibbet gallery have an art deco feel to them. You’ll want to look twice to make sure that they’re polymer. Mary Ann Loveless sent in the link.