Silvia Ortiz de la Torre, another Madrid artist, has a Flickr site bulging with juicy experiments and designs like this polymer Samba collar. I’m a real fan of simple designs done in dynamite color palettes.
The Flickr pages allow us to follow the progress of her development and watch her work out new designs. Fascinating. Silvia is new to us via a link from France’s Eva Menager.
Need more Synergy? Try Heather Campbell’s site, Libby Mills’ or Julie Eakes‘ blogs and Kelly Russell’s site. Maureen Carlson commented yesterday and brought up issues to think about in the polymer versus polymer clay debate. Leave your thoughts and I’ll try to pick up the thread soon.
I’m going to let the topic rest for a few days as I pack for a month-long trip out west and prepare to take this show on the road.
The necklace at the left from France’s Kylee Milner (Bijoux and Banter) popped up as I was catching up on research. Polymer disks bump up against one another to form a shifting geometry amid the play of autumn reds.
Elise Winters writes that while her jewelry’s debut on the fashion runways was exciting, it was, “…nowhere near as thrilling as seeing Gwen Ifill wearing my teal lattice rope necklace on the PBS news hour tonight.”
Belgium’s Nicole (NiQui) brings us chunks of color to jolt us into a new week.
Germany’s Margit Bohmer starts us off with a graphic polymer necklace dotted in primary colors that she says is an easy one to make.
France’s Céline Charuau (GrisBleu) startles us with a bright polymer and metal poppy.
There’s no escaping color this week even if the snow is all around us. Thumb through these three artists’ sites and you’ll how they share a love of color and take three very different approaches to making it part of their designs.
If you’d like to be dripping with jewels for a holiday event, take a look the polymer clay necklaces from Ukraine’s Julia (Yuli-Ya).
She subscribes to the “more is more” philosophy of jewelry design. Her wire and bead, polymer and crystal creations wrap the wearer’s neck in elegant abundance.
Julia branches out from her organic line and fashions complex Indian and Egyptian pieces in polymer as well. Her Flickr pages are full of diva gems. Thanks to Dee Wilder who sent the link along.
Californian Dotty McMillan (here’s her latest book) showed me these bobbin beads she developed using a stash of old sewing machine parts from her fabric store manager daughter. Dotty was pleased to see a photo of Cynthia Toops’ bobbin necklace in Polymer Clay Color Inspirations. “We don’t do them the same, but it was good to see someone else had thought about using them and I wasn’t nuts,” says Dottie.
Here are links to four more examples (1, 2, 3, 4). She’s written a how-to article on the beads for a spring edition of Bead and Button magazine.
Dotty reminded me about our original online polymer group on the ancient Prodigy network. What year was that? Does anyone remember?
Two more additions to the Niche nominees from Loretta Lam. Her finalists are Come Dancin’ in the polymer category (hey, we talked about that piece in August) and Hanging Basket (pictured here) in the fashion jewelry category.
Loretta says of all the entries, “Can’t you feel the winds of change? We will soon be sitting at the big kids’ table!”
Finding a subject to talk about has been easy as these award nominees floated in. I may have to return to regular research and web surfing for tomorrow’s news.
Louise Fischer Cozzi’s Necklace Belt 2 has won a place among the Niche finalists in the costume jewelry category. This is not the category in which she entered the polymer piece but she’s not complaining.
The long strand of etched translucent disks can be worn as a belt or a necklace. Louise is famous for simple, gently-curved and repeated shapes. Here’s her Etsy shop. The Brooklyn-based artist also hosts classes at her summer home in Stresa, Italy.
Congrats to Melanie West whose stunning polymer clay Nudibranch BioBangle has been named a finalist in the 2010 Niche Awards. Check out her new anemone bangle too.
Can’t wait to find out who else is in the running. Any rumors out there? Winners will be announced in February.
Italy’s Ariane Freisleben arranged polymer clay beads that float downward in this comfortable design. Enjoy her work and her Euro Clay Carnival results on Flickr.
Ariane’s necklace reminds me of the colorful leaves floating past my window throughout the lazy weekend. It’s Monday. Time to stretch and head back to the studio.
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I’m feeling clumsy and in a rush. Polymer clay works that exude a light touch and a delicate sensibility inspire me and calm me down.
The bracelet is from Enkhene Tserenbadam from Switzerland. Offsetting the comfortable textured shapes makes them more touchable. The oversized jump rings on her new necklaces add an element of surprise.
The glowing hollow translucent bead is from France’s Céline Charuau (GrisBleu). She has a little tutorial on her site that shows you how she assembles beauties like these.
Austria’s Eva Ehmeier (Hoedlgut) shows her refined elegant Black Meadow Necklace on her Flickr site. Ok, breathe deeply. Back to the studio.
Start your Monday with a big dose of cute from illustrator Inhae Renee Lee, a former California game industry pixel animator and artist. Her blog, My Milk Toof, follows the adventures of two polymer clay baby teeth named ickle and Lardee as they frolick around her home. If you think you’re immune to cute, you may be surprised.
“A year ago I made my first polymer clay toy as a gift for my boyfriend. It was a whale holding a Panda holding a birthday cake. After that, I began playing around with the medium for my own projects,” she says.
As long as we’re easing into the week, take a look at the simple, silly Halloween jewelry on VoilaViola’s Etsy site – Frankenstein bolts, blood necklaces and earrings, and my favorite, the reattached head necklace. Ready to play now?
