Louder than words polymer

This small, haunting mosaic brooch by Cynthia Toops kept drawing me back to it. The image is of Sharbat Gula, the Afghan girl whose portrait was featured on the cover of National Geographic in 1985. She became known as the Afghan Mona Lisa and her photograph inspired millions to support the refugee effort.

Cynthia reinterpreted the famous photograph in a 2″ x 1 1/4″ polymer micro mosaic for an exhibit called Louder Than Words at Facere Gallery in Seattle. She embeds thread-like, pre-baked bits of color into an unbaked polymer background to recreate the photo image.

Cynthia also rendered the Tianamen Square photo in polymer for the exhibit which featured jewelry that spoke louder than words. Her beautifully detailed work reminds us how powerful and exquisite polymer can be! Cynthia’s new self-published portfolio of her latest works is a treasure too.

Embedded beauty

Laurie Mika embeds whatever she likes into her lusciously colored polymer mosaics. If you look closely your eyes will dance over bits of glass, jewelry, beads and ephemera that come together to tell her story. Of course many of the tiles are stamped, textured and painted polymer as well.

This is a sample for her March class in Detroit. Below are some of the virgins, saints, angels, gypsies and mermaids that were created by students in a recent class. And here are pictures from an earlier Treasures from the Heart class at the Institute of Mosaic Art.

She alludes to a class in Detroit in March but I don’t see it listed in her upcoming workshops.

Here she is on Facebook with more to inspire you on Pinterest and Etsy. Total yum!

Modern mosaics

Prague’s Pavla Cepelikova gathered samples of her polymer mosaic lentil beads into one long strand of color and pattern. She sells a tutorial that shows simple step-by-step instructions.

This technique was first taught by Amelia Helm in the 90’s. I took Amelia’s class back then and am happy to have updated lessons based on today’s polymer formulations, inks and materials. Pavla’s been refining her methods for quite some time (PCD featured her early mosaics a year ago). Follow along with her work on Facebook and on Flickr as well.

Stepping out in polymer

Eve Lynch create the perfect accessory for your Day of the Dead outfit with these polymer-covered shoes. Eve is a Florida mix-media mosaic artist who gleefully mixes polymer bits among her glass. Here’s her Flickr page for your browsing pleasure.

Look out! I googled polymer clay day of the dead and squandered my computer time today. No time for further research, you’ll have to go and explore these wonders for yourself. Enjoy your weekend.

The Turkish way

Turkey’s Alev Gozonar tied together large pixelated polymer portraits of Marilyn Monroe, Che Guevara, Virigina Woolf, Frida Kahlo and other VIPs pairing them with renderings of VOPs – that’s very ordinary people – for her Way exhibit at Mabeyn Gallery in Istanbul last year.

Here you see Alev with her Sahne IV piece that combines thousands of lengths of extruded cane into a striking 49″ x 40″ image. Polymer QR codes designed into the portraits offered viewers another way to interact with the works.

Visit the gallery site and read the news coverage to comprehend the scale and impact of these unusual mosaics. There’s a weekend worth of research here that may make you rethink scale and size.

Polymer clean up beads

These scrap beads from Virginia’s Rebekah Payne (TreeWingsStudio) may give you new ideas for what to do with cane ends and leftover blends. Rebekah shows you how she chops and then rolls the leftovers in paint.

The free tutorial is part of a post she wrote on ArtJewelryElements. She gathers the painted bits into any pleasing bead shape. Then she facets the shapes, slicing off the top layer of paint to expose mosaic-like beads. See more examples in her Etsy shop.

Her method offers a more satifying use of wonky, useless pieces that would otherwise end up mixed into unexciting bead cores.

Clean up your studio and have mosaic beads to show for your effort!

Polymer 2000

These scrap bangles from Australia’s Debbie Crothers have a party vibe! Don’t you love those gold leafed and Jones-Toned dots that she tossed on to fill in the gaps? Debbie took her not- quite-right pile and turned it into something great that suits my mood as I celebrate post 2000 today. We’ve gotten bolder and better!

I jumped in the wayback machine and looked at the September 2005 posts. The photos were much smaller. Remember, we had tiny monitors then. Most of the links work!

Can you believe this tame and subdued early mosaic from Laurie Mika? She’s surely embraced color and claimed her own style in a big way since then. We’ve come a long way, baby!

Thanks to you faithful readers for helping to turn that early not-quite-right blog into something very good and have a great weekend. Happy 2000.

Clay combinations

Cindy Silas entered this intricate metal clay/polymer necklace in the 2013 Saul Bell Design Awards and she’s a finalist!

This mosaic inlaid piece also serves as the glamor shot (original photo by Robert Diamante) for Lark Jewelry & Beading’s call for entry for a new book, Clay Combinations, which Cindy is busy writing.

If your art combines polymer with metal clay, you have until April 1 to photograph your best work and submit it for publication in the book. Here’s the information and the form. What are you waiting for?

Liz Hall is also a Saul Bell finalist and here’s Liz’ entry on Facebook along with in-progress shots. The awards will be presented in June.

Giveaway announced

The winner of yesterday’s quick giveaway is (drum roll) Karen Keech. Since I have to go to the post office anyway, I added two runners-up. They’re Karina at Kabidesigns and Rose of Witch Rose Am I. That was fun.

Hearts and horses – mixing media

On Valentines Day hop on over to Liz Hall’s shop to see her whole series of hearts inlaid with irridescent polymer and surrounded by silver. Since most have sold, you may have to look at them on Flickr and Facebook.

She integrates ball chain into her designs embedding it in polymer and repeating the theme throughout the pieces. Liz works with what she loves which is why one of her new series incorporates horsehair into her jewelry designs. She tells that story on her farm site.

Add your name

We’ve taken Ron Lehocky’s money and he is very happy. He agreed to match your donations up to $2000. We sailed right past that number and we’ll keep going.

Add your name to the list of more than 75 artists and patrons who have sent their support. It’s a great way to feel the love on Valentines Day!

We love PCDaily readers! Happy day!

Fauxpal bowl

Opal has tickled the “faux rock” area of my brain since Donna Kato offered her free online tutorial. Camille Young, Randee Ketzel, Liz Hall and others devised their recipes.

My husband’s turned walnut bowl and a looming show deadline gave me the perfect opportunity to try out my own color combinations and mixtures.

Though I learned along the way and would do some things differently, these ideas are finally out of my head and strewn about my studio. It’s been a long time since I’ve shared with you and I want to start the year right.

Party tonight over at Craftcast where the group from the Polymer Clay Master Class book will gab and guffaw. Lots of prizes and fun. Join the gang!

‹ 1 … 4 5 6 … 9 ›