Polymer Clay Daily

The heart of the matter

Hoffman on PCDaily

This heart from Minnesota’s Mallory Hoffman is the one I’m sending out to each of you to enjoy this Valentine’s day. You are loved. There’s no better message.

Mallory’s almost childlike construction makes the words more powerful and sincere.  She sent her heart photos to PCD and this one on her Etsy gallery jumped out at me.

In addition, here’s a gallery of other hearts that I snagged as they floated by online this month. I wish I could have caught every single one. Look at the diversity, the artistry and soak up the love. Happy Valentines Day.

Carved hearts

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This won’t be an all-hearts week but how could we pass up these carved white Ultra Light pendants from Indiana’s Ponsawan Sila?

She has nicked horizontally across the surfaces by hand for an almost basket weave appearance.

Ponsawan may not be finished but the long narrow hearts seem pure and remarkable just as they are. You’ll have to visit her on Facebook or Flickr to find out what happens next.

Ponsawan doesn’t toot her own horn but you’ll see lots of her work and tutorials pinned on Pinterest. She’ll be teaching at French Lick (so will I) in June.

Tokens from scrap

Maunsell on PCDaily

Jewel-like scrap hearts from Quebec’s Claire Maunsell get us in the proper holiday mood. What mementos and love tokens will you make this week?

Claire says she’ll soon offer a tutorial about the way she uses her scrap to get the dramatic effects you see here.

Maunsell on PCDaily

In the meanwhile, you can learn about her methods of using Pan pastels, inks, paints and some unusual tools with translucent Pardo clay on her new Craftcast class.

Watch how she teases the clay into shape (she was a glass artist before polymer), and applies layers and layers of texture and color until she’s pleased with the effect.

I learned a new way to anchor the probe on the thermometer. It’s often the little tricks you learn in a class that come in most handy. See more of Claire on Flickr, her site, Facebook and in her online Zibbet and Etsy galleries.

 

Secrets of the heart

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Orly Fuchs Galchen pursues hollow polymer forms and she’s come up with light, bright empty hearts. Her Facebook  and Flickr pages and her Etsy shop are filled with examples in many styles including these wrapped with lovely bands of graduated color.

Orly swears that she only uses polymer. No filling with sugar, salt, paper, cotton or foil. No making two halves and gluing. No double baking. You have to buy her tutorial to learn her secret or be resigned to a heavy heart. (I couldn’t resist the pun.)

Taking heart

Smith on PCDaily

We’re nearing the end of January and must start collecting our hearts for V Day!

Let’s begin with Staci Louise Smith who likes her hearts pierced, stamped, cracked and colored with inks. Through all the battering, her pieces maintain a well worn and upbeat feeling.

Smith on PCDaily

Staci sold out of this heart but she’s uploaded a new batch on her Flickr site.

Do you have hearts on your work table? Send ’em if you got ’em.

A tutorial under your tree

Lehocky on PCDaily

Dr. Ron Lehocky apologized for being late in sending PCD readers this free holiday tree tutorial. He explains that he’s been busy making over 1100 heart trees since November. He’s turned his signature heart upside down and added some bling in keeping with the season.

lehocky_frozen_blue_trees

Ron offers the tutorial as a thank you gift to the polymer community who have so wholeheartedly supported the heart project and the Fimo 50 effort which both benefit the Kids Center. He’s also celebrating having made 33,150 hearts. (Can you imagine?)

Ron extruded so much green polymer that he tired of the color and created a blue Frozen series of trees. They sold out quickly. Unwrap your present from Ron at this link. Follow him on Facebook where you can see his fans decked out fashionably in hearts.

Polymer CPR

Lehocky on PCDaily

Ron Lehocky just hit the 30,000 heart mark in his campaign to raise money for Kentucky Kids Center. He’ll continue to make hearts as he begins teaching CPR.

Not that CPR! His first class is called Come Play with Ron, May 22-24 at Creative Journey Studios in Georgia.

Lehocky on PCDaily

Dr. Ron is easing up on his medical hours and he’s beginning to share some of the finer points that working with polymer day in and day out taught him.

He’s perfected Roney Gane, the Easy Peasy Cane and developed clever ways to recycle canes and enliven surfaces. Ron explains more on this short video. He’s donating the 30,000th heart to Creative Journey Studios’ polymer history collection.

Polymer by month

Each month I upload all the PCD photos to my Flickr gallery. April’s features were particularly photogenic. Have a look.

Heart sampler

This sampling of hearts from your friends and online buddies was assembled for you PCD readers as a valentine.

You’ll also see Ron Lehocky’s collection of favorite hearts made in his project’s nearly 10-year history. His total has reached 29,600. Now that’s true love! You can purchase hearts and help the KidsCenter by emailing Ron or contacting him on Facebook.

In case you missed his how-to video, watch here as Ron and his hands tell the story.

A caption is incorrect! The third pair of earrings are Louise Smith’s (Swanwalk), not StaciLouise. Got my Smiths mixed.

Queen of Hearts polymer

Terlizzi on PCDaily

Virginia’s Melissa Terlizzi reminds us that Valentines Day is around the corner with her Queen of Hearts sculpture. Melissa set out to make something dark and creepy with Tim Burton edginess but ended up with a wide-eyed innocent.

“I decided to go with it, and completely lost myself in the project. Even the Queen of Hearts must have been sweet once, right? Before she had her heart broken a few times, and started lopping off people’s heads,” she explains. See Melissa’s sculptures on Flickr and Facebook. It’s time to start considering hearts of all varieties.

Cats, kids and 27,000 hearts

Lehocky on PCDaily

Cats, kids and hearts – this winning combination has vaulted Ron Lehocky over the 27,000 mark in his polymer project that benefits the Kids Center.

Ron’s efforts have been assisted by artists who send him their unused canes, teachers who gladly show him their tricks, and collaborators who use his hearts in their work.

Leslie Blackford showed Ron how to transfer images with water and use colored pencils to bring life to the eyes of these cats before the images were transferred.

Boatwright on PCDaily

Jimmie Boatwright purchased a heart at Creative Journey Studios and used it as the centerpiece of the beaded necklace shown here.

You may select hearts from Ron’s latest collection of pins made from upcycled donated canes. These will be on sale at the IPCA retreat in Columbus, Ohio this month. If you donated clay, your patterns could reappear on a heart that will help Ron to his next big number.