Polymer Clay Daily

Polymer color shifts

Let’s take a break from the red/green palette and traditional designs that surround us this season. Here are three lovely reminders from other areas of the color wheel.

Start with the deep rich palette Heather Powers used for her Garnet Kiss beads on the Art Bead Scene blog. Move to Jana Roberts Benzon‘s complex and bejeweled Enchanted Garden brooch, the latest of her dimensional jewelry creations. End with the colorful, abundant swirls on Vera Kleist’s (BeadingVera) rustic disc bracelet. They’re all refreshing to the eye.

Belcher’s greater-than-the-sum art

The collaboration theme of the Synergy 2 conference in Baltimore has already inspired some terrific mash ups. The fiber/polymer and metal/polymer creations on Judy Belcher’s Flickr site are impressive. Judy is the consummate team player so it’s not surprising that she’s good at partnering her art.

This jacket is by Kerr Grabowski with reversible jewels and closures by Judy. The model is Judy’s daughter.

Universal Connections, the 12.5″x8″ piece pictured, is the result of Judy’s collaboration with Victoria Altepeter, a metalsmith and currently resident artist at Arrowmont.

Take a look at the 37-artist polymer mosaic that Laurie Mika pulled together and see if you can identify each artist with only 2″ squares as clues. You have until December 20 to enter the contest. There is still space in classes at Synergy companion events, Cabin Fever Clay Festival and Synergy 2 Hands-On. You might drop a hint to Santa.

Breil’s texture tricks

Helen Breil takes using stamps and textures to a new level with her most recent polymer clay focal beads. She introduces surprises and layers colors to provide drama.

I often hesitate to use stamps because they feel static. Helen has overcome that shortcoming with a bag of tricks that makes me want to try again. Looking at her design idea gallery is like taking a workshop.

I’m composing this post from 30,000 ft. in between time zones. Tomorrow is all about jet lag and preparing for an evening class at Craftcast.com. California beaches provided a heap of pebble research and I’m pumped for the class. Join us.

Barbee shifts colors and studios

San Diego’s Meisha Barbee showed me her new polymer clay circle pendants in colors that are a bit brighter than her earlier palettes.

She sent along these Serenity pendants as well. She’s tweaked the colors while continuing her distinctive combinations of extrusions, canes and textures.

Meisha promised to rank “launch my website” high on her list of resolutions for 2010. In the meanwhile, you’ll have to settle for this link back to her earlier work. She sent along a couple of pix of her new sunny in-home studio as a bonus. It’s back to Ohio for us today.

McMillan’s polymer bobbins

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?

Diffendaffer’s re-entry beads

Grant Diffendaffer begins his new textured tube beads by making blanks. He explains that, “Any time I’ve been away for a while from the practice of making beads, I find I need an easy re-entry to get things moving again in the studio. These beads are perfect. I roll out a batch of core beads to start with. It’s a straightforward task with zero creative demands.” A good Monday tip?

The depth and texture that Grant achieves are the result of texturing and carving the color layer applied to the blank base beads. His style is agressive, sculptural and distinct. You can see more textured tube beads on his Etsy shop and his Flickr stream. Thanks to Leila Bidler of Germany for the link.

Perspective

Seeing the pictures from Heather Campbell’s show opening put her polymer clay/mixed media artwork in better perspective for me. Judging from the visitors standing beside works in her exhibit, the art is much bigger than you might have envisioned. The pictures are stunning and the show is impressive. Congratulations, Heather.

Toops in progress/Tajvidi’s leaves

You can look behind the scenes at Cynthia Toop’s latest polymer clay work by visiting the Flickr site of her Seattle jeweler/metalwork designer, Chuck Domitrovich.

His descriptions give you a sense of how the two collaborate and design their projects like this Summer Storm brooch which was part of a two-piece series.

Leaves

Raking the last of the colorful leaves in our yard today made me think of this recent delightful polymer/wood branch by Afsaneh Tajvidi (JooJoo). The piece provides a fall landscaping backdrop for her snail series.

Lehmann’s cosmic polymer

Jana Lehmann (Feeliz) from Stuttgart, Germany, has added a blog (in addition to her Flickr pages) where you can watch her polymer clay progress.

Taking classes with Grant Diffendaffer and Donna Kato helped her refine her technique and find her own “cosmic” voice. Jana’s playful planets and dimensional space beads are smartly crafted from a bright luscious color palette.

The color studies she’s created from lessons in Lindly and Maggie’s color book look like paint store swatches and make me want create a new set.

Stokes’ Winterfair works

Ohio’s Grace Stokes‘ polymer clay work is featured on the promotions for our big Winterfair show in December. You’ll find her newest works, elegant combinations of metal clay and polymer, on her Crafthaus page.

Because group sites have made it so easy to upload photos, many artists are updating their profiles and adding new work to their page within the group instead of freshening their individual formal sites. The upside is that we’re seeing new works faster.

I count seven polymer artists in the show program. Looks like a good year.

Sculpting Color exhibit opens

Kathleen Dustin reports that this weekend’s opening reception for Sculpting Color: Works in Polymer Clay at the Fuller Craft Museum drew the second-largest crowd the museum has ever had. “I am thrilled at how nice the show looks, and how well it is being received. This is a large step forward for the medium of polymer clay as an expression of fine art,” she says.

Kathleen curated the show and added a few tantalizing snapshots to her Facebook page. I’m sure we’ll soon be seeing more. A few of them are posted below for those of you who haven’t taken the Facebook plunge. The teapots above are by Rebecca Zimmerman.

The opening festivities included a panel discussion with Kathleen, Bonnie Bishoff, Jeff Dever, Elise Winter, and Grant Diffendaffer. A synopsis of the discussion will be published on PolymerArtArchive.

The exhibit continues until November 22 at the Brockton, MA museum.
Kathleen Dustin and her 4’x3′ Nature Fix, Jeff Dever’s flowing forms, Grant Diffendaffer and his rayguns, Bonnie Bishoff’s Meander Credenza.