Polymer Clay Daily

Early Lehocky

An early Ron Lehocky heart for 2020's V-Day on PolymerClayDaily.com

I went way back into PCD archives to pick out my 2020 Ron Lehocky valentine.

This is an early Ron though I’m not sure what year. Maybe he can tell us.

The background dots are black on color. They frame the dimensional heart whose dots reverse to color on black. It’s loose and carefree, probably from before he set his goal of 50,000 hearts.

Ron can make beautiful hearts in his sleep now. This playful version still sings.

Ron will probably reach his goal this year. That’s $500,000 raised for his Kids Center Heart Pin Project. Who better to feature on this day of love?

Art on a heart

Carol Beal paints art on her hearts on PolymerClayDaily.com

Kansas’ Carol Beal (beadunsupervised) was an illustrator and greeting card designer for Hallmark for many years.

If I’m reading right, Carol painted acrylic on polymer for these beauties. They’re loose and fluid. I can’t quite picture how she combined her illustrating skills with polymer to achieve this effect but I love it.

Carol’s hearts are a refreshing and romantic departure from canes, blends, and kaleidoscopes. There are many ways to speak of love.

Sharing the love

Slovenia’s Marijana Grubic heads us back to Valentine’s Day with these shapes silkscreened with love and topped with teensy hearts. Here she is on Facebook.

By combining two veneers bisected by a band of silver on domed shapes, Marijana makes an unusual pendant and earrings beyond the usual hearts and flowers.

It was all about love and caring as we began our fundraiser for Lindly yesterday. Didn’t you feel proud of your art community as they turned out to help Lindly without hesitation? 

Keep spreading the love. Thank you for your generosity!

Essential hearts

Fi-mons strips hearts to their essentials on PolymerClayDaily.com

You’ll have to fill me in on the name behind Spain’s Bisuteria Creativa (fi-mons). All I know is that Valentine’s Day is approaching and her slightly wonky hearts speak love to me. You too?

Her simple circles are delightful. Everything is stripped down to its essentials. Pure, simple and totally trendy.

Track her around on Facebook, Instagram, and Flickr. Can you find her name?

2020 moves forward

Kristi Thorndike-Kent and Jen Young make joyful 2020 hearts on PolymerClayDaily.com

There’s plenty of party left in Washington’s Kristi Thorndike-Kent and Jen Young (Go Inside and Clay).

These joyful hearts are made from bits of color, slab work, and wire. Look at their Instagram to see how they’ve skipped right ahead to Valentine’s Day. Lookout 2020!

You gotta have heart

Learning how Ron Lehocky and others say "YES" to whatever comes their way on PolymerClayDaily.com

…miles and miles and miles of heart…as the song goes. Ron Lehocky had a table full of his hearts at Clay Out West. Even as Ron struggles through his own bumps in the road he plods on to reach his goal of 50,000 hearts to support The Kids Project.

StudioMojo will focus on all the people I encountered this week who specialize in saying “YES”. With only a split-second hesitation, they grab at what comes their way and say an emphatic yes. How do they do that?

They follow their gut, their instinct, their heart. I’m fascinated with how diving headlong into whatever comes your way can turn out.

I’m on hiatus from daily posts and having a marvelous time learning how to say yes. Join me over at StudioMojo. 

Luminous hearts

Follow Ron Lehocky and his collaborative hearts on Instagram via PolymerClayDaily.com

There’s a lovely luminosity about these most recent hearts from Kentucky’s Ron Lehocky. The gold dots popping through watery colored layers lead us to summer’s end.

Because Ron builds his hearts from lots of others’ scraps, it’s hard to know the provenance of the bits and pieces he uses. His heart brooches are lovely collaborations between other’s scraps and Ron’s magic.

He’s close to making 50,000 of these for his Kids Project that receives all the proceeds from sales.

Did I mention that Ron’s on Instagram now? Be sure to follow him.  He’s also teaching at ClayOutWest in late September.

A heart is born

You didn’t think PCD would get through Valentines Day without featuring Ron Lehocky, did you? Nope!

The problem was picking one. Ron has photos of his avid collecters bedecked in his pins. They make perfect gifts for any occasion.

This heart is just emerging from a great collaged sheet of veneer.

For those of you who don’t know Ron, he’s a Kentucky physician/teacher/author who has been creating heart pins for sale with all proceeds going to Louisville’s Kids Center since 2005. He’s aiming to hit 50,000 hearts in his fundraising effort. He’s the undisputed king of hearts and this is his day.