Sobrepena’s covered locket

These days it’s especially good to find reuse/recycle ideas for polymer clay when covered Altoids tins and tea lights have become cliche.

Embellishing old lockets never occured to me until I saw Angeli Sobrepena’s (beadladyangeli) tutorial. She updates her locket with a trendy cupcake image but of course many designs would work.

Angeli suggests gluing the clay onto the locket after baking. A thin layer of liquid polymer applied to the locket before adding the clay might be easier and should bond securely.

I’m pulling out my bag of old jewelry with a renewed sense of the possiblities among my castoffs.

Another thing…

If you’re wondering how crafts and the DIY crowd are faring in this economy, check out Rob Walker’s “Happy Medium” column in the New York Times.

A World of Inspiration

Registration for the July 11-14 International Polymer Clay Guild Retreat in Chicago is now open. Read all about it here and register here (you must join to register).

Bocchi’s wire and polymer

I like the use of wire and liquid polymer clay shown in this piece by Italy’s Laura Bocchi (Verdevescica). We last looked at her bangles here and you can see her year at a glance in the pictures here.

If you’re wondering about the market for your work during this economic downturn, you may be encouraged by yesterday’s article in the NYTimes.

Kato’s falling leaves and new liquids

Time for falling leaves, polymer clay style. You’ll find these leaf pins on Donna Kato’s site along with some other new work including more fabulous bangles.

Speaking of Kato, I’m loving the faux lampwork beads from Sharon Solly who’s mastered using colored liquid polymer from Kato Products to simulate glass. Take a look at what she’s doing. Metallic liquids should be available soon.

Garie Sim gives his own interesting side-by-side comparison of liquid clays which he colors himself with oil paint.

Solly’s faux lampwork

The use of colored liquid polymer clay is growing in popularity. North Carolina’s Sharon Solly’s faux lampwork beads shown here and yesterday’s multi-layered pendants by Lesya Binkin are tempting me to give it a try.

Sharon’s been perfecting her liquid clay techniques and shares some of her secrets (fantasy cabochons) in the June issue of Polymer Cafe magazine. Her faux lampwork is a promising new twist.

Binkin’s new fashions

When we looked at Israel’s Lesya Binkin a while back (here), she was creating pendants made of multilayers of liquid polymer, metal leaf and embedded items.

In her most recent work, she transfers laser prints of her densely patterned illustrations (she started out as a fashion designer) to polymer, embellishing them with layers of sparkle and a glossy coat. This wise use of her illustrations gives her a new line for the season.

European bangles

Keeping tabs on the polymer clay bangle trend, I roamed the world to find more examples to start your week. The ones on the left are from Austria’s Gudrun Stolz. The unusual shapes play against the smooth surfaces into which she’s carved and backfilled the designs. She’s only been working with polymer for a year.

Italy’s Laura Bocchi (Verdevescica) created the "Spazio 2" bangles on the right which are embellished with thick slices of cane or extrusions. She’s also been creating unusual flowers from combinations of wire and what looks to be liquid polymer.

It’s good to see how the bangle trend moves and changes around the world.

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