Nailed it

The bangle at the right could have been clipped out of a Paul Klee painting. France’s Agnes (Primatoide) calls it her Ancient Assyrian Ceramic Cuff which is made of polymer, inks and paint.

But I bet Paul Klee didn’t make nail art to match his paintings!

Agnes takes her nail art seriously and moves it to a whole new level. She was inspired by Claire Wallis’ caned nails. Now Agnes often creates companion polymer nail art for her jewelry.

Even if nail art doesn’t suit your fashion sense, you may find her methods and concepts fascinating. See more of her rough, ancient polymer on Flickr.

Press-on polymer nails

Claire Wallis‘ polymer nail veneers provide a clever solution to those who aren’t adept at nail decor. She bakes thin shaped slices on curved foil forms and glues the baked slices onto press-on nails. “I wanted to create polymer clay fake nails but in order to be strong enough they ended up too thick so these are paper thin slices stuck onto fake nails,” she says.

Note: I ran right out and bought some drugstore nails which melted in the oven. Then I made a mold of each size nail which allowed me to make perfectly shaped veneers.

Can you go overboard with this impractical but fun idea? If your earrings match your coffee mug and your nails, your friends may plan an intervention.

See more of Claire’s work on Facebook and on her site here.

Petroglyphs and nail art canes

I’ve been making some translucent polymer clay petroglyphs canes for my rocks following the techniques developed by Kathleen Dustin, Marla Frankenberg and others. Slicing the soft image canes thin enough is an art in itself.

The nail technicians at the Beauty Tech Shoppe are way ahead of me and have opened up a new niche market for all of us. I’ll bet your nails go through too much abuse to try this but we can admire the small landscapes others create on their acrylic nails.

Iris Mishly posted about this on Thursday and Susan Lomuto sent it along.

NOTE: The nail canes are pre-baked, sliced and applied, then several coats of clear polish are added on top. Fashionista Cat Theiren sells them on her site and has more “how-to” information.