Colorado’s Phyllis Pollena-Cahill mixes her media in this polymer and copper brooch.
The patterns flow into each other and keep your eye darting between the variations in the layers that cup forward. The copper accents hint at even more complexity.
It’s a delight to take in this big story in a small space. Nice start to the week, eh?
Find more of Phyllis’ story on Instagram, Facebook, and Flickr.
Chicago’s Marina Rios (Fanciful Devices) ran out of good rocks to wrap. She’s been trying Japanese basketry ornamentation over smooth river rocks. She weaves cane reed over the center and then subtly inks it for dimension.
With no more suitable smooth rocks to work on, Marina had no choice but to make her own art pods. She covers a foil form with polymer and then goes to town with silk screened, inked, crackled, faceted and gold leafed veneers. The pod hangs on a hammered and oxidized steel ring.
On Etsy and Instagram, Marina’s mix of media has a wonderfully calming effect.
Need more calming effects? Join the StudioMojo crowd on Saturday mornings where we dig below the surface to explore the behind-the-scenes discoveries that don’t fit on the daily menu at PCD. The odd, the new, the questions and the trends we’re dealing with. Fun stuff.
Maryland’s Margaret Polcawich took on a 30-day challenge to create a wall of 6″x6″ pieces to be displayed at the Spitzer Art Center in Harrisonburg, VA.
The squares feature a metal flower or leaf cutout layered on a patterned polymer background mounted on a painted wood frame.
Now that she looks over the first 15 works shown here, Margaret says that she prefers the ones that weren’t finished at 2:00 a.m. (You can sympathize, right?) Examine them all on Facebook.
Impressive and almost makes you want to take on a challenge now that it’s a new month!
Thanks for all the birthday wishes yesterday. I’m Facebook-challenged and the list of well-wishers that popped up surprised and delighted!
Celine Charuau (grisbleu) admits that her latest brooch reminds her of Totoro, a character in a popular 1988 Japanese animated fantasy film. Her micro mosaic and silver piece has already prompted lots of enthusiastic comments on Facebook.
The tactile shape and delicate petals continue earlier design directions. The mosaic is a new feature that fits nicely with Celine’s aesthetic. The big photos on her Flickr pages allow you to get in for a close look at her metal construction and the tiny patch of mosaic. What look like delicate and mysterious designs are supported by sturdy and serious construction.
Celine’s is an end of the year gem.
The popularity of Boe Holder’s sculptures took her by surprise. “I made them for myself, but they ran away with me. I can’t make them fast enough,” says the young UK mixed media artist (thiswaytothecircus) of her popular polymer mini succulents.
They come in sets of five and each set is cleverly named after one of more than 2,000 varieties of cacti. See more on Instagram and Facebook.
Boe’s latest is a collection of slightly less mini jungle islands like the one shown here that contain the same Seussian aesthetic. Succulents are all the rage and it may help that you can’t kill these delightful polymer versions.
This sumptuous and resplendent mixed media mosaic piece by California’s Susan Crocenzi brought tears to her client’s eyes! “I don’t know how she created such a perfect replica of what my head dreamed up without me being able to describe it, but she sure did,” said the new owner.
The 30″ wall art entitled Radiate is made of polymer clay tiles (border and inner circle), salvaged glass, minerals, beads, crystals, druzy, geodes, crystals, and smalti. Follow Susan’s progress on the polymer components on her Instagram video and visit close up on Facebook
If you browse through Susan’s sites, you can see how polymer grabbed her and wouldn’t let go. More and more pops of polymer began showing up in her work. She currently exhibits 20 6″x6″ mixed media tiles in a show at Blue Line Arts. She will teach new methods she’s developed for mixing polymer and glass in Mexico in February.
What a thrill to have your artwork elicit that response!
The Bonnie Bishoff Bio Bop brooch is quite a mouthful for mid-week. This polymer, copper, paint and steel wire mixed media pin is on its way to CraftBoston for one last holiday hurrah. While they look light and airy, Bonnie’s pieces are built on metal which makes them incredibly solid.
Betsey Baker and Kathleen Dustin will also have their wares in Boston on December 15-17. You can watch Betsey, Kathleen and Bonnie pack up and run to the show on Facebook and Instagram. These ladies work hard!
Lindsay Locatelli (wazodesigns) drums her polymer-draped fingers in anticipation of this Saturday’s ACC Holiday Craft Hop in NE Minneapolis.
Her Instagram spans her latest polymer and mixed media works. The carved look stems from Lindsay’s formal training in wood. Here she’s wearing her Pompom rings bunched up fashionably.
Her training translates so easily into polymer that it’s often hard to identify what media she’s using. That’s the next step forward for our craft, isn’t it?
Is Aric Verrastro’s necklace too Energetic for you on a Monday?
Our Into the Forest weekend keynote speaker, Brigitte Martin from Crafthaus, asked, “What comes after technique?”
The answers have to do with expression and a bigger vision of what your craft can do.
Aric’s steel, spray paint, tool dip and polymer necklace (actually it’s sculpture with a hole for your head) points one way to art. What happens when you walk out of the forest into the larger world?
Facebook is awash in photos from the grand weekend in Pittsburgh and some of the lovely gallery goers are pictured on Instagram.
Need a break from jewelry or have a bare spot on the wall that could use a spot of color? Cruise through the blog of Spain’s Fabi Perez (ConTusManos). There may be other uses for your favorite beads.
Fabi gathers fancy colorful polymer focals and builds them into bouquets mounted on painted wood. Some are featured in framed windows or made into knobs.
If a bowl or a box is more to your liking, she’s full of ideas. Here’s her Flickr.
Yes, Fabi makes great jewelry but she shows us how to branch out to decorative items for more variety.
