Polymer in progress

Mixed media artist Angie Wiggins is almost panicked about her inventory for the September 15, 43rd St. Festival of the Arts in Richmond, Virginia.

The in-progress shot of her desk (above) has me checking the map to see how long a drive it would be. Wait ’til you see the mouthwatering photos on her Facebook page of her huge Skinner blends, her layered silkscreens on polymer, her handmade paper bowls.

Her eggshell mosaics fit right in with polymer and her felted bowls stand on polymer bases. In her hands the media mix like old friends.

Wouldn’t you love to stroll through her booth on a crisp fall day?

Mixed media Monday

Minnesota’s Amy Christie popped up in a news clipping about her current gallery show. She’s a mixed media artist who uses heavy texture, deep color and sculptural elements in mostly large scale works. Her materials include polymer clay, paint, paper, inks and wire.

Amy’s layered mosaics have a distinctive look and you will be itching to see more. For an idea of the size of her art, try this link. Here’s a bit on Facebook and her blog.

Mixing clays

If you like your clays in both polymer and metal, take a look at the work of Ohio artist Pat Bolgar. Her complex combinations mix materials, colors and shapes in rich and appealing ways. Her mixes engage the eye as she brings color to metallics and, at the same time, adds metallics to polymer.

Pat is featured in the new Metal Clay and Color book and she’s added updated photos on her Facebook page. You can also tour her cabin-in-the-woods studio on Facebook.

Polymer paydirt

Tucked in among the oxidized silver, bronze and copper chains, pendants and earrings in Greg and BJ Jordan’s booth at the local art fair, a blast of color jumped out at me. Paydirt! New polymer!

BJ and Greg are from Fort Wayne, Indiana and have been metalworkers for 30 years. BJ creates the polymer sheets and inlays the fired patterns into the bezels.

Her bold colors and graphic patterns compliment their strong primitive metal designs.

I had to have a pair for my collection (business expense, right?) and you can find them online at Etsy here. For their most current activity, check their Facebook page.

In one ear

Sure, Percy Lau’s extra ear earrings are a little creepy. But they’re funny too and her contemporary jewelry includes twists on glasses and chocolate and other body parts, mostly in polymer. The ears are a hit on Etsy.

This Chocolate Feast tickled me too! In one ear, out the other. Don’t miss the headband. Have a fanciful weekend.

Southwest mysteries

The southwest influence is clear in these mixed media art dolls from Albuquerque artists Mary and Doug. I wish I could tell you more. We’ll have to wait for information to seep in through the back channels. Susan Lomuto pinned the link on her board first.

The doll bodies are made of various fabrics with stylized and painted polymer heads. They stand 15″ tall. There’s a whole Etsy gallery of interesting designs!

More mystery

If your first efforts in polymer are discouraging, you may want to click on the photo below to see who started out making basic beginner beads just like everyone else. His beads have improved considerably. See what happens when you keep trying?

Polymer Tone Shrine

Germany’s Georg Dinkel has looked at polymer for many years in his job as a photographer for Staedtler, the maker of Fimo. This year he picked up a couple of leftover blocks and he was hooked.

Except for a wooden frame and the electronics, the rest of his Tone Shrine is polymer. Three speakers and an ipad are housed inside the structure which took three months to complete. He started with a smaller ipod nano shrine for his seven-year-old daughter. For his “zaubertafel” ipad the project grew bigger.

Growing up surrounded by German Rococo and Baroque architectural masterpieces, Georg knew how to speak that visual language in polymer.

With a simple display change, the shrine can resemble Big Ben, cathedral windows or any other appropriate icon. Enjoy these photos and this video of his ornate celebrations of technology.

Big eyed polymer

You may have seen Heather Campbell’s The Eyes Have It on the cover of the recent PolymerArts magazine. What you might not understand is the size of Heather’s pieces. The photo below shows the same piece as it was hung at a gallery opening.

We get so used to the scale of earrings and pendants that we forget that some artists work in a much larger format.

Heather calls the style of her lush mixed media assemblages Bohemian Nouveau. The piece at the left, Enlightenment, will be at Utah’s Springville Art Museum through July.

Peace out polymer

With her slingshot, black eye and peace sign, Dinka is a charmer. The translator tells us that these polymer creatures are from Olesya, a young artist in St. Petersburg. Olesya brings Dinka to life, dresses her in quirky fashions and makes her into a completely believable scamp.

The eyes of her baby seal beg for protection. If you’ve ever tried sculpting with polymer, you’ll appreciate how hard it is to build these small endearments into the clay.

Follow links to more of her characters and to her sales site. The terms of her sales site with its cash-only payments and convoluted delivery terms will make you realize how spoiled we are with our slick systems.

Shrines in polymer

Some of you have been asking what happened to PCDaily coverage of sculpture, dolls, miniatures and other non-jewelry art. It’s time you had a turn! Let’s start with Laurie Mika for the first entry in an entire week of 3D.

Laurie continues to raise the bar on color with her latest works. Her inks, foils, paints, and powders layered over stamped and textured polymer achieve amazingly luminous results. Look at some closeups here and here.

Laurie mixes her media, integrating recycled bling and found icons into her assemblages. A few choice words make each piece a jewel-like shrine.

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