Did you draw tulips like this as a kid? Me too. Which may be why Seattle’s Anne (from Baublehaus_) is so absolutely right today.
Slotted shapes of leaves and flowers are slipped together to bring simple tulip blooms and leaves to life in polymer. What could be better?
Recognize the Christmas tree in these earrings from Chicago’s Molly (SlabandStone)? She calls them Modernist.
Shapes boiled down to their essence make me inexplicably happy. Look at the way Molly pairs semicircles, half rounds, and ovals with metal shapes and her own fresh twist on terrazzo polymer cutout shapes. Here she is on IG.
Fresh twists are what I’ve bumped into again and again this week as I scoured the web for StudioMojo tidbits.
I’ve found some real bright spots in this December-to-Remember. Come squint at the 2021 sky with us to see what’s ahead.
Wearable signs of hope, growth, and comfort for all! That’s the tagline that Minnesota’s Chris Baird gives her small brooches made of sweetly colored cane slices.
She likes to stick to geometrics and color these days though she’s had a long career in various media. You’ll want to explore what grows in her polymer garden on Facebook.
Make yourself a sprig of hope and fasten it to your lapel this fine spring Monday.
In this video, UK’s Carol Blackburn cuts up small graduated canes and overlaps the pieces to form her kaleidoscope veneers.
Forgive the background chatter and listen closely to learn about some of her homegrown tools and tips. Carol has developed loads of these small geometric sleights of hand that she teaches in workshops.
This video from StudioMojo is an easy one to try when you’re done with the holidays.
Ireland’s Fiona Herbst has added this simple sophisticated pendant design to her holiday lineup. Colors like these are easy to wear with almost anything.
She knew she was onto something when the pendant was snatched up before it made it online.
Browse through Fiona’s Instagram to see what other crowd-pleasers she’s creating for the season.
Over at StudioMojo, we’ll be looking at more holiday offerings and I’ll share what my trainwreck of a week taught me.
Australia’s Marni Southam (Oleander Avenue) has an amazing ability to turn every scrap of polymer into a bird.
Her alchemy is mesmerizing. A circle, some stripes, a triangle, more bits of color and a bird emerges. How does she do that?
Combine her knowledge of birds with a love of earrings and you’ve got a thriving business.
The story of her Blue Fairy Wrens is touching and clearly explains her obsession with ornithology. I can’t help but think of Ohio illustrator Charlie Harper whom I met when I worked for Ohio’s Department of Natural Resources.
As one reader commented, Maine’s Bonnie Bishoff’s pinned up work-in-progress has a little voodoo edge to it.
But mostly it’s a wonderfully smart way to figure out how a neck piece hugs the body. In what direction does your eye travel? Where do your eyes stop? What’s balanced? What’s not?
See how Bonnie has solved these riddles with the finished necklaces on her Instagram and website.
The rhythm of cutting and replacing pieces of clay, especially at high speed, makes this process look simple and satisfying.
Watch Spain’s Zazu cut and swap layers of stripes and solids.
Using only a blade and some geometric cutters she reassembles pieces of striped canes and solids into an entire collection of jewelry.
There are days that whiz by when things go as swimmingly as this. Let’s hope today is one of them.
I’m still stuck on the simple stuff.
Yesterday the theme was circles, today we take in squares from Poland’s Moiko that have been silk screened, cut out, and plopped on top of each other.
Moiko is owned by Malgorzata Wawrzynczak who offers a wide selection of silk screens that have been designed specifically for polymer clay.
She excels at simple geometric combinations that feel fresh and fashionable. Here she is on Instagram.
Tokyo’s Wakana Kobayashi (WakkaClay) creates crisp geometric patterns for earrings and hair accessories.
Though the online translation is rough, it’s obvious that she speaks polymer fluently.
In her work-in-progress shots on Instagram, the components appear to be extruded but they may be rolled carefully by hand. Something to aspire to on a Monday.
