How does your garden grow?

Juliya Laukhina shows us the beauty of weeds on PolymerClayDaily.com

Moscow’s Juliya Laukhina forces us to take another look at the weeds we’re battling in our yards.

Juliya reveals the beauty of simple plants in this bangle made of textured polymer tiles. Pressing fresh cuttings into clay or molding material, she creates texture plates that she bakes. Then she presses raw clay into the baked plates.

She gathers the resulting soft-edged rectangles around a bangle form and highlights the textures with a wash of dark paint.

Voila, those nuisances in the garden enjoy a new life on your arm.

Watch Juliya on Instagram and Facebook.

Natasha bugs

Bugs crawl out of Gael Keyes' scrap pile on PolymerClayDaily

New Mexico’s Gael Keyes makes fantastical bugs and beetles with fancy wire legs dressed in polymer and beaded antennae. They’re composed of scrap clay twisted into a Natasha bead pattern to create the bookend pattern on their backs and wings.

Polymer is a family affair with Gael. She’s here at Claython in New Jersey with her mother (Carole Centrella) and sister (Linda O’Brien). Retired from a school principal job, Gael’s online exposure had to be limited. She launched onto Instagram today! Follow her.

Blooming spring

Tracy Feldwick's bloom opens on PolymerClayDaily.com

How do I know spring has sprung? There are delicious colors all over including this pod from Australia’s Tracy Feldwick (Mimosa Muse on IG and Twitter)

But wait, March isn’t Spring in Australia! Ah, this was posted several months ago. That explains.

She mixes patterns inside and out. Her stamen are gaining color as they grow. Spectacular.

One-off rings

About these recent rings from Maine’s Melanie West she says.”I’ve been encouraged to go back to rings, but refuse to leave my “one-off” approach to my work. So, it’s various colorways, in set sizes, every single ring full of its own personality.” You can find the rings at Markings Gallery, in Bath, Maine. From Facebook.

Do you take a one-off approach? It would be hard to be as disciplined and diligent as Melanie. These are the bomb.

Monday bouquet

Nothing like a dozen red roses for your Monday. This small pendant was created by Belarus’ Floren (JewelryFloren).

The pendant measures 1.6″ x 1.4″ and is made from an air-dry polymer. You can imagine how lovingly this delicate bouquet was assembled on its metal backing.

While Floren doesn’t reveal much about herself online, she’s surely a romantic.

Succulent polymer

Iryna Chajka's subtle succulents bring delicate colors and small shapes on PolymerClayDaily.com

Ukraine’s Iryna Chajka (Eteniren) and her succulents provide a calm break from the week’s blast of high energy color.

Her shapes are smooth and small. The colors are soft and delicate. She makes succulents look fashionable growing out of ears on Instagram where she has a big following.

The succulent craze continues and why not try it in polymer?

Flower pot

Arieta Stavridou’s polymer-covered teapot moves away from the usual cane-slice covered pot and turns toward sculpture. Her son has dubbed it a Flower Pot.

See this pot from all vantage points on Facebook and enjoy her whole stash of teapots on her BigFish page.

Italy's TacchiDadieDatteri upcycle with abandon on PolymerClayDaily.com

I know, I know, this necklace of concave beads from Italy’s Graziella Spina and Laura Pagani (TacchiDadieDatteri) is super simple.

So why do I return to it again and again? I like how the colors are so slightly different and the shapes are wonky and fingerprinted.

These two women are both healthcare workers who met years ago and started a business recycling their stash of fabrics scraps and jewelry parts which are often given new life by combining them with polymer,

The story is a happy one and their pieces somehow communicate fun and friendship. It’s their confidence that captivates. Wouldn’t you like to sprinkle more confidence around in your studio? Follow TacchiDadieDatteri on Instagram and Flickr.

Polymer undertow

Pulled in by Jana Honnerova's wave on PolymerClayDaily

The layers of Prague’s Jana Honnerova’s Wavy Ball fold over each other in a languid motion that pulls us into the week.

Look at the designs that she’s been trying. Which is your favorite? Her prototypes are mostly on IG and haven’t made it to her Etsy shop yet.

There’s a brooch or earring version on Flickr. Perhaps there’s a tutorial in the works.

Benzon branches out

Why a branch on PCD today? Because it’s polymer and over the past year Jana Roberts Benzon has refined and refined her tools and technique for shaving polymer until it looks spiky. It’s remarkably durable.

Like yesterday’s Julie Picarello and her hardware store appropriations, Jana grabbed tools from a nail tech’s drawer for her new trick.

This is just one of the goodies from Jana’s Nature Walk workshop scheduled for March 17 and 18 in Texas. Taking classes from artists who have already done the laborious research saves you oodles of time and allows you to daydream about how you could integrate their research into your own style.

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