When interests shift

Kathy Cannella changes her groove on PolymerClayDaily.com

Kathy Cannella has a distinctive sense of color and a fondness for geometrics, mosaics, and veneers. But I don’t really know much else about this Santa Fe artist. It’s nice to bump into folks who hide out on Flickr or lurk quietly on other social media.

Look through Kathy’s Flickr pages. She’s been creating quietly and competently for several years and last fall she turned more active. She changed her groove. This is all conjecture on my part, of course, but I like to theorize and whatever happened looks positive.

When you examine your work, can you point to when something shifted in your life, an event happened or a direction changed? What would you like to shift in your art this year?

Body length necklaces

Bonnie Bishoff goes long on PolymerClayDaily.com

Her body length necklaces are the last of Bonnie Bishoff’s Twelve Days of Jewelry series on Facebook. Her angular tube beads are longer than what might seem reasonable but they’re appealing and eye-catching in such a long piece.

Bonnie adds a few thin heishi beads between the tubes to make them join more gracefully. Each tube is covered with random veneers in a palette of blues and greens.

The wheels in my brain kick into gear and I can’t help but ask myself, “What if?”

What’s your “what if” idea for 2018?

Riotous color winner

Silvia de la Torres explosion of colors becomes a winner on PolymerClayDaily

The first prize winner in the Arcilla Polimérica de España is this color explosion from Silvia Ortiz de la Torre.

Silvia’s riot of colored disks and squiggles are neatly grouped into a necklace that looks ready for New Year’s Eve. For more of her hot colors and unusual constructions, check Etsy and Flickr.

But wait! There’s more! Ten Spanish award winners are pictured on the guild’s Facebook page.

Wakeup call

Aric Verrastro moves beyond the forest. Care to follow? on polymerclaydaily.com

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.

Polymer that wears well

Wearing Klara Borbas' minimalistic designs on PolymerClayDaily.com

After many years of creating functional ceramics, Pennsylvania’s Klara Borbas transferred her activity and aesthetics into the smaller scale of polymer jewelry.

She also has a background in architecture which influences her minimalistic designs and preference for lightweight patterns that work well on the body.

Klara is one of a growing number of polymer artists who sell through the Artful Home online gallery. Browse through Artful Home’s polymer collections for great examples of fashionable wearable designs.

The appeal of build-your-own

Melanie West adds a new twist to her Bones necklace on PolymerClayDaily

Melanie West wore her new Bones necklace at Synergy4 in August. One night it was a long chain, the next she quickly reconfigured it as a choker and bracelet.

Melanie West transforms a necklace into a choker and bracelet on PolymerClayDaily.com

The genius of Melanie’s design is the way the links are connected with o-rings held in place by the bulbous ends of each snakey bead.

A more recent version of Melanie’s necklace shown at left includes curled sections, a play on vine-like necklaces by Maggie Maggio. In true Synergy spirit, Georg Dinkel joined in and suggested adding contrasting dots on the end of each link! And she’s not finished experimenting.

Has Melanie’s build-your-own bright idea started your wheels turning?

Join us over at StudioMojo where we mull over the new designs and keep the synergy going every Saturday morning.

Be careful what you watch

Television influences Lindsay Locatelli's necklaces on PolymerClayDaily

Mother of Dragons? Night King?

Lindsay Locatelli admits that she may have had Game of Thrones in the back of her mind as she worked on these polymer pieces for her August/September Gallery 360 show in Minneapolis.

“Currently, I am interested in creating pieces that juxtapose polished, traditional fashion jewelry ideas with rough, asymmetrical, and dynamic wearable art,” she says. See it on Instagram and Facebook.

Does what you’re watching affect what’s on your workspace?

Glittering polymer

Alisa Levy's party necklace sparkles at Synergy4

Alisa Levy’s jaunty necklace caught my eye at Synergy. The jumble of circles and stripes looked a little Hundertwasser-ish as it sparkled brightly at the opening Synergy4 reception. I snapped a picture.

I’ve learned that the patterns are from a design transferred onto glitter clay. Alisa then colored it cleverly and the effect was perfect fun for the party.

The simplest shapes and techniques dazzle the eye and help make a party festive. I’ll tantalize you with a few more goodies from Synergy as the week progresses. I have to corner Alisa to learn more about her other business called Embrace Your Space.

Polymer colors speak

Belgium’s Tine Demol shows us how sophisticated long extruded tubes of polymer can become. She suspends the cluster on macrame spirals.

In the second piece Tine gathers seven strands of small round polymer beads in various hues of greens and blues into a rich twist accented with dashes of yellow. Here she is wearing a similar necklace at FIMO50.

When your colors make a statement, simple techniques are all that’s required. Do your colors speak for themselves? Here’s Tine on Facebook and Flickr.

Light and deceptively strong polymer collaboration

Don’t take my word for it, go see for yourself how complex and exciting this 20″ Open Form Necklace from Bonnie Bishoff is.

J.M. Syron constructs the nickel silver and sterling silver wire forms which Bonnie covers with polymer patterns. The piece looks fragile but feels surprisingly sturdy because of its metal underpinnings. The colors and stripes shift subtly from link to link.

The couple’s Body Length Necklace shows another example of long slim shapes that appear ethereal and light yet have strength that allows the wearer to twist and twirl all 60″ of beads.

It takes close collaboration to make pieces that feel both well built and elegant.

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