Polymer Clay Daily

FRIDAYFOLLOW: Artsyshinycloud

Zula sees polymer patterns in animal faces on PolymerClayDaily.com

Raccoons have such graphic, distinctive faces. Put crowns on their heads and blush on their cheeks and what have you got? Earrings from Australia’s Zula (Artsyshinycloud).

If unicorns or swans or butterflies are more to your liking, her Etsy site contains a whole menagerie of joyful animal designs carefully rendered in polymer

Saturday’s StudioMojo is positively bursting with the most interesting new ideas from my time in Kentucky. All that stored energy from our confinement had to leak out eventually. And yes, there are new road-tested tools that we couldn’t wait to order. Come on over for a look-see. 

Toying with polymer

Belinda Ashton makes easy, cheery links on PolymerClayDaily.com

UK’s Belinda Ashton appeals to the toddler in us with this necklace of multi-colored circles.

The tag should probably include a warning about not chewing on the luscious links. The big links are certainly something a wearer would twirl and play with.

What surprised me was how Belinda created this. My brain went directly to extruded clay. But I was wrong. Its construction was super simple.

In these complicated times, innocent, straightforward, cheery designs are important.

Easy does it

Sofie Pollion's pieces have a carefree casual attitude on PolymerClayDaily.com

France’s Sophie Pollion (s0fi_insta) favors strong shapes and graphic simplicity on her polymer jewelry. The oversize oval holes on this pendant look casual and confident on the multi-strand leather cord.

Her Instagram is full of clever designs and quirky closures that she tosses off with seeming ease. Of course they are more considered and thought through than it might appear. Here she is on Facebook.

Enter your studio with an attitude of nonchalance and ease and see what happens. Kind of a “fake it til you make it” trick. See what happens.

Moving hands move you

Wiwat Kamolpornwijit shifts his perspective with a new bracelet on PolymerClayDaily.com

Virginia’s Wiwat Kamolpornwijit calms his jittery nerves with a new spring line. This bracelet with magnetic closure reads differently depending on your perspective.

Patterned circles bend to reveal black and white graphics. “I’m too tired of being worried,” says Wiwat. “I started getting my hands on polymer again, and it really helped getting my mind in the right place.”

Would your mind feel better if your hands started moving?

Artful home is full of polymer

Klara Borbas joins over 20 polymer artists on ArtfulHome. PolymerClayDaily.com

It’s not too early to shop, is it? For polymer art, you can’t do better online than Artful Home.

I searched the site for “polymer clay” and page after page of gorgeous jewelry popped up. I counted 22 polymer artists in this high-end catalog!

These simple circle studs from Pennsylvania’s Klara Borbas appealed to me. But oh, there’s much more!

CEO Lisa Bayne is to be congratulated for including such a rich selection of polymer art into her great online catalog. Judy Belcher and I met Lisa some years ago at an ACC meeting. Judy has a way of connecting with people and she certainly connected with Lisa and introduced her to polymer.

If you’re struggling with holiday shows, take a look and take heart! Stick with it and you’ll go places.

Fiona Herbst creates a contemporary design for the holidays on PolymerClayDaily.com

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.

City pride polymer

Tamara Shea speaks her mind and displays her pride on PolymerClayDaily.com

Baltimore’s Tamara Shea (BlockPartyPress) celebrates city pride with this polymer B’more pendant.

Tamara has created and sold her distinctive woodblock-look polymer graphics on Etsy since 2006.

Polymer is sometimes a great way to step up quickly and speak your mind.

Pins with pizzazz

Marion Le Coq arranges graphic squares into brooches with pizzazz on PolymerClayDaily.com

France’s Marion  Le Coq (FancyPuppet) enlivens our week with these graphic collages on Instagram.

She’s been reviving her YouTube channel and taking her work in new directions like this.

Instagram is the best place to get an overview of her work and to get a sense of where she’s headed. Are these textured and painted or silk screened? I’m not sure. We’ll have to follow along and find out.

This week’s snowstorms lengthened my visit with family. I was out of action longer than I anticipated. Not to worry, I’m back and raring to go. 

Arm candy

Ingrid Ulrich constructs dramatic polymer bracelets on PolymerClayDaily.com

How much of these bracelets is polymer is anyone’s guess. Germany’s Ingrid Ulrich deftly mixes her media. The bracelets with their dramatic focal pieces make graphic puzzles for the eye and the arm. Look at them closely on Instagram.

Ingrid has challenged herself with polymer bracelet construction for a long time. The bracelet gallery on her website gives bracelet makers lots of ideas to start the week.