Catch a good look at these shimmering hollow big beads from Boston’s Betsy Baker (StonehouseStudio). She made this labor-intensive patterned series during the lockdown.
“Now that life and shows are getting back to normal, I won’t have time,” she says.
Seclusion also gave Betsy time to dabble in designing and making dresses. Take a look at her Instagram.
Are there favorites that you’ll have to set aside now that demands for your time are changing?
Jude Radwanski (fireflyartjewellery) reached out to fellow Canadian Helen Breil in an attempt to meet other polymer artists. Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, doesn’t have much of a clay community.
After a 30-year career in interior design, Jude transitioned to polymer. The Saskatchewan Craft Council came up with a new “wearable craft” category to be able to include her in their shows.
Her scribed and textured and wonky pieces exude a fearlessness that’s just great for a Monday. Welcome aboard, Jude!
This piece from Switzerland’s Enkhe Tserenbadam (@enkhethemaker) made me gasp. I try to keep track of my body when I’m looking at art. A gasp tells me that I’m close to paydirt. It’s like that “hot and cold” game we played as kids. This was warmer, warmer, HOT.
Enkhe drills each of the holes in her hollow pieces. It’s luscious to browse her site and consider how she works.
Speaking of warmer, warmer, I spent the week in an online gathering where gasps and astonishment surprised us again and again. Somehow our troubling times have moved some of us to “hot, hot, hot.” Come on over to StudioMojo to see some of the cool tools and sizzling art that we shared. Who knew a Zoom conference could be this much fun?
Vancouver Island’s Janet Bouey finishes her 100-day challenge with this hollow twisted tube.
Looking at her recap on Instagram you get a sense of how muscles loosen and fear is diminished by the commitment to a daily studio exercise.
There’s no wrong or right, there’s just moving forward. I’m guessing that Janet will want to explore this new tangent from Day 95.
We’ll look at the challenges (polymer and otherwise) of the last 100 days on StudioMojo this Saturday. What have we learned? What’s next? Join us for an inside look.
Australia’s Fee (PickeledGingerJewellery) is getting ready for spring with these mixed media hollow polymer flowers. The petals on these 3″ long blooms are made from leather.
Fee perfected the hollow bulb for her jellyfish earrings and the same shape comes in handy here.
They look like small pretty explosions. And they’re sold out already.
Czech Republic’s Jana Hannarova can’t stay away from complex, layered, lustrous patterns. When she’s really excited she challenges herself with hollow forms and translucent clays that reveal even more complexity. The reticulated necklace here can be worn three different ways.
It’s a good thing it’s Friday because you may need some time to examine Jana’s Flickr, Instagram and Facebook galleries of work. Join her Facebook workshop group if you’re interested in the online workshops she will offer this year.
On Saturday you can join us over at StudioMojo where we suck up inspiration from all kinds of concepts, tools and eye candy that floated by during the week. Your year is off to a great start and StudioMojo keeps the momentum going. Try it!
Germany’s Kathrin Neumaier has moved on from simple translucent beads to more complex shapes like the pale hollow bead below which she has electro-formed with copper.Her solid imitative glass drop earrings have a warm mellow glow about them.
Kathrin explains that her collection of long Soft String polymer necklaces are colored with inks (as shown here) or chalks. You’ll want to explore her large upload of new works to Flickr.
Look at the scratches and scribbles on LaLa Ortiz’ beads. She digs right in and gets to work.
While we sit here thinking about what materials she used, she’s carved (maybe…and/or drawn) with abandon. Energy and spontaneity make these beads interesting.
LaLa picked up the technique for these big hollow beads at Sandy Camp. There’s more on Instagram and Facebook.
It’s Monday. Let’s not think too much and dive in.
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.)
For this pendant, Germany’s Annette Kruger (wolfschmuck) took inspiration from Eugena Topina’s polymer openwork tutorial. She also felt influenced by Melanie West’s organic cell structures.
By using layers of multiple colors (Eugena shows her samples in white) and shaping this bead as a hollow form, Annette achieves some exciting results that suggest a whole new range of possibilities.
Her first experiments show promise but miss the mark with underwhelming palettes. After several tries she scores and captures our attention. I don’t know about you, but I’m itching to try this.
