Polymer Clay Daily

Winning doodles

Staci Louise Smith on PCD

This carved flat polymer disk necklace from Staci Louise Smith is part of her winning entries in this year’s Bead Dreams contest at the Bead and Button show. Zen Circles took second place in the polymer category.

Staci’s carved and weathered polymer bead necklace, Sea Swept, took first place in the category.

PCD has followed her subtly carved shapes for years and it’s exciting to see her work recognized by others. This is the first year Staci entered the competition.

She’s a prolific beader and you can see her works best on Facebook, on her blog and in her Etsy shop. See how her doodles spilled over onto her studio floor here.

Polymer chips

Belkomor on PCDaily

Russia’s Maria Belkomor is drawn to disks too. Hers are usually thin and flat (unlike yesterday’s Bagels) and her most recent versions have chipped edges that increase their tactile quality. It would be hard not to play with these when you wore them.

It takes quite a supply of disks to make this East Lemonade necklace (that’s what the translation called it) which ends with carved beads and a matching button closure.

Belkomor on PCDaily

The best place to see Maria’s stackable creations is on Pinterest. She has more on Flickr and her blog, including a lovely way of knitting with extruded strings. Thanks to Eva Menager for the link.

Lots to nosh on

Thank you for all the notes wishing me Bon Voyage. I’ve left a few goodies in the blog freezer that will automatically emerge now and then. You won’t starve and there are plenty of morsels in the archives if you get peckish. (Scroll to the bottom of the right column.)

Eastern Tales

Lyamayeva on PCDaily

Hamburg’s Antonina Lyamayeva calls these her Bagels necklaces. This one is called Eastern Tales. The flat disks have big holes and jumble up nicely. She combines solid colors and patterned disks with a few metal circles thrown in for bling.

This design is quite trendy and it’s another good use for bits of your favorite canes. (Antonia sells a tutorial.)

She’s an accomplished caner which you can see in a separate Etsy shop here. She also works with glass and metal. Check her out on Pinterest and Facebook.

More Eastern Tales

I’m flying to Malta at the end of the week (and I’m blaming the mishap with Betsy Baker’s link yesterday on travel jitters). My speech is ready but I’m not packed.

I’ll report from EuroSynergy for a few days and then I’ll close up shop for a month, posting intermittently as I travel in Nepal and Turkey. After years of blogging daily, I’m anxious to see what happens when I unplug.

I sure hope you’ll check in often for my news from the road and be here when I get back. It’s an opportunity for you to shake up your routine too.

Blooming stone polymer

Haskova on PCDaily

“This polymer clay necklace called How the Stone Blooms was made for and inspired by an outfit of my friend and great fashion designer Jana Minarikova,” says Prague’s Eva Haskova.

Graduated black and white patterns and subtle designs flow around this long lariat style necklace that billows into flower shapes at its ends.

If you log into the Fler site, you can vote for Eva’s entry into their online design contest. Hers is entry #10.

Here’s Eva’s site but her most recent works show up on her Facebook page where you can follow her as she travels and teaches around Europe. You can also read about Eva in Polymer Clay Global Perspectives.

Polymer cairns

Muir on PCDaily

Melanie Muir created three major neckpieces for a competition to choose twelve Scottish makers to exhibit in the SOFA Chicago fall show. “Even if I don’t get in,” she says, “I will have pushed my own boundaries which is a good thing.”

This entry is called her Cairn Necklace which was inspired by the stacks of stones traditionally placed on paths and hilltops by walkers. The colors reflect the ones she sees on a beautiful summer’s day on Scotland’s west coast.

The beads are all hollow which makes the necklace easy to wear despite the size and length.

You can see the other two entries, Arrowheads and Flight Waves in her Facebook photos and on her website. Be on the lookout for her new shapes and textures as well. She’s added several new designs and sells them on her Etsy site.

Melanie teaches her Rock Cuffs in a popular downloadable class at Craftcast and she’s preparing a second session on 3D Beads for a May debut.

Five Winners

Five lucky readers have won a copy of the Fire issue of From Polymer To Art magazine. Watch for it in the mail Cindy Bielefeldt, Laura Lee, Ashleen, Alene Cope and Randi Bystrom! Congratulations.

Polymer squares

France’s Christine Aubin (Krissobe) likes a square format. So when her group held a square-themed challenge, she jumped right in with this collage of polymer squares on a wire form. You’ll find similar earrings and pieces on her site.

Doesn’t her necklace give you ideas for all those inchies you’ve been collecting?

Explore further and you’ll see that Krissobe has a gallery of square tiles that mix patterns and colors in painterly ways.

The pendant on the right shows that Krissobe doesn’t shy away from other geometrics.

You’ll find all kinds of interesting polymer creations on her blog with great color boards and inspirations on her Pinterest site.

Featherweight polymer

charuau on PCDaily

France’s Celine Charuau created this dramatic bunch of black petals on a delicate chain using polymer and sterling wire. The piece might have ended up heavy and dark in other hands but Celine has a way with wire and polymer that allows her to blend them into lightweight constructions.

Celine will be teaching her Plumes (in English and French) at EuroSynergy this spring. She’ll show how she forms her petals and constructs jewelry using wire. Take a look at her work on Flickr and Facebook and read more about the class here.

Yikes colors

Anderson on PCDaily

Maine’s Suzanne Anderson (Yikes Studio) warms the weather with the bright colors in her winter collection.

Anderson on PCDaily

Assembling the blue and aqua links requires multiple bakings (see her baking method here). Then seed beads add a finishing note.

Suzanne finishes the inside of her bangles with contrasting patterns and highlights the bracelets with rhinestones surrounded by polymer bits.

Anderson on PCDaily

If you need more heat, look at her fiesta colors and shop in her Etsy gallery. Just dive in anywhere on her site to be fully immersed in color. Here she is on Facebook (and you’ll want to browse her Pinterest too).

Suzanne admits that she likes all things fashion and is happy to mix metal clay, enameling, seed beads, fiber and more with her polymer.

Glamorous polymer

Tryfonova on PCDaily

Let’s start the week with some polymer glamor from Russia’s Olga Permyakova

Friday’s PCDaily looked at how Jan Geisen makes shapes work together. Olga hooks her shapes together tightly with rings and wires, sometimes linking an entire framed construction of polymer pieces.

Permyakova on PCDaily

See Olga’s Fall/Winter 2013-14 collection in this Facebook album and find it for sale here.

Homeward bound

One more day one the road! Days in the car make me feel anything but glamorous and if you’re waiting for an email from me, please be patient. We’ll be back soon.