Serendipitous polymer

The polymer scrap from a guild challenge provided San Antonio’s Deb Tuchsen with a rainbow of leftovers. She stacked and spiraled them into a Kato-style cane. The end bits were layered into a Stroppel-inspired log.

The synergy of the techniques and colors added up to a Van Gogh-meets-Hundertwasser cuff! This art history lesson comes to you courtesy of equal parts serendipity, sharing and skill. Congrats to Deb for bringing it all together.

I don’t know if her entry was successful in the guild challenge but this is certainly a winner. Watch the whole process on her Flickr site.

Kato rings true

Donna Kato has a new batch of polymer clay rings on her web site. Other sites have already featured them but I didn’t want you to miss these graceful and playful new designs. (Sometimes her pictures load slowly but you know it’s worth the wait.)

Donna’s been working with these signature canes for a while, inspired by Peter Chang’s work. There’s no mistaking Donna’s flawless control of detail in her canes. All-polymer wedding rings tweak the noses of those whose notion of fine jewelry only extends to precious stones and metal.

Kato clays for hay

Donna Kato is up to new tricks. First, she’s selling some of her polymer clay work on her new “weclayforhay” site to support her equine habit. What a treat for both us and the horses.

She’s also reformulated Kato clay to a greener version, juggled her event calendar (no cruise this year), and put out a new “Tips and Tricks” DVD set.

The DVDs offer three and a half hours of looking over the shoulder of a polymer clay expert who excels at simplifying and explaining the most arduous techniques.

My favorite tutorial is one that’s free on HGTV and in it Donna boils a very complicated design down to a few simple steps. I can’t wait to see what Donna has compiled in this new set.