Cascading polymer

This Cascade necklace by Russia’s Tatiana Parshikova (seventh-heaven) is a feast of pattern and color. Eight strands of folded polymer beads are sumptuous and naturally eye-catching.

Tatiana has added the right mix of colors and patterns, a dash of sparkling crystal beads and touches of shimmering gold on the surfaces which take the piece to the next level.

I would not have chosen the blue of the model’s sweater but the color accentuates the beads perfectly. Tatiana has a knack for drama.

PCD featured her gold-flecked mokume gane bangle last year and it was one of the year’s most popular posts. You can catch up with her work on Instagram.

Join us on Saturday’s StudioMojo for more sumptuous and delightful behind-the-scenes finds.

Folded, silkscreened, crackled polymer

Since you’re revved up for tool shopping, here are a couple more juicy tidbits.

Helen Breil and Tonja Lenderman teamed up to create a new line of retro-looking silkscreens. (They go nicely with my retro extruder disks that are now available online!)

If you’ve never silkscreened on polymer, you’ll want to watch Helen’s free video tutorial that quickly shows you how. She’s been experimenting with using Tim Holtz crackle medium along with silkscreens to produce aged and crackled patterns as on this black folded bead (with red feathers)! Click on the image for a better look.

Helen used Picket Fence crackle paint over black clay using her Cosmic Spider Webs design. See more of her silkscreened samples on Pinterest. Helen’s books and stamps are available from KazuriWest.com. Catch up with Tonja on her blog and Facebook.

Same, same but different

Ron Lehocky took my folded inchie suggestion and ran with it! This is his Ronnie Gane applied to thin 1-inch squares that have been folded into beads. The necklace has lively movement that looks like kerchiefs fluttering in the wind. Isn’t it fun to chase a design from Margit Bohmer to Ford and Forlano to Lehocky in one week? Same, same but very different.

Here’s Ron’s mokume gane method applied to rolled beads. The high contrast makes the beads pop. He’ll be teaching his technique this morning.

Tool freaks

What’s the first thing we do at a conference? Shop!

There are some terrific new gizmos and gadgets. I cover this side of events more thoroughly in StudioMojo on the weekends.

Next Wednesday tune in for a free ToolTime presentation over at Craftcast. I’ll show off my new set of extruder disks there plus you’ll find plenty of other tool temptations. Reserve your seat.