Polymer Clay Daily

Abstract polymer from Kathleen Dustin

How lovely to end the week with Kathleen Dustin’s Layered Fragment brooch. Kathleen explains, almost apologizes, that her focus is changing from narrative and representational to abstract.

“It seems to me that truly abstract work probably most reflects our humanness because it is based on spirit and what we do not see or know. Narrative or representational work is based on what we see and know. It has been a true challenge for me to make work not based on what I see or know,” she says.

Though her focus may change, her reliance on ways of translucent layering that she developed remains. Breath-taking washes of color pull you in as scribbles of metal float in and out of the frame. This new direction forces other changes and she asks for your suggestions here.

Polymer with magnets

Niche Award winner Melanie West enjoys the challenge of a new design and she’s engineered some clever solutions with her new polymer Ball and Star necklace shown here. A magnet secures the ball next to the star and acts as a clasp on this piece which is strung on buna cord (and check out what looks like buna rings over the cording).

She tried a similar solution using memory wire and found it too bouncy in her test drives. Melanie shares more of her design process along with some of her successes and failures in this post.

A flowering career

An afternoon of pulling weeds among the forget-me-nots and lilacs made my eyes drift to these earrings by Zuleykha McMillan on Etsy. Bountiful and bright cane slices are formed into bell shapes.

Zu talked about working with a new baby on her lap and I was drawn into her tale. Her mother came for a visit and showed Zu how to keep her polymer art going with a baby in the house.

Since the birth of her first child, she’s gravitated away from polymer jewelry to polymer faces. The story continues…in both Russian and English. (On Flickr if you just want pictures.)

Ugly molds for beautiful pendants

Pennsylvania outdoor girl Lynn Lunger (UnaOdd) offers the processes she’s developed for making the deep molds that form her signature Rustic Nature Polymer Pendants.

Her free tutorial shows you the tools you’ll need to make what she calls her ugly molds. It details every step with photographs.

Spring blossoms and budding plants take on new life. See where she finds inspiration and examine more of her finished work on her Flickr page.

You may prefer to bypass mold-making and shop for one of the pendants on her Etsy site. Either way we owe Lynn a big thank you for her generosity in sharing her tips and tricks with us. Nice to start the week with a cool freebie.

Polymer sculpture in bloom

The newest polymer sculpture from Germany’s Angelika Arendt reminds me of the colorful hillsides here in southern California where I’m visiting. Angelika’s steep landscape draws you in and doesn’t disappoint.

On the sunny slopes the orderly rows of cane slices have budded. Other patches are awaiting their turn to bloom into bigger color and texture. I’m tempted to run my finger down the side of this dazzling polymer mountain.

Look closely here. Have a colorful, blooming weekend.

Dynamic polymer

Making dynamic art for the body is what Donna Greenberg says she’s all about. The dynamics of her new curving Saber Tooth necklace shows what she means.

The swirled beads refuse to lie flat, pointing their gold-tipped ends at each other in a colorful dance of shape and color. The piece combines menacing and playful impulses.

Donna’s one busy artist! See her spring display at Sample NYC.

Real and faux felt

Hot colors help Oxana Volkova (Oksoon) warm up the winter in Moscow (check out the pictures from pancake weekend). This brooch is a mix of bright felt colors with a multicolored organic growth of polymer at its center.

A similar oval brooch (below) looks like it has a bit of Stroppel cane next to felt. But the felt is faux, a texture achieved by attacking the polymer surface with a toothbrush!

Oxana includes an intriguing hollow bead experiment in her Flickr pictures. And this star is one of my favorites too. So much to look at!

Spring flowers

Romania’s Ana Cerniciuc has a way with polymer spring flowers that heightens our anticipation of the season.

Her snowdrop earrings are simple constructions that capture the essence of these early blooms. Her tulips are similarly simple yet we know that the curl of the petals against that tight bud is accurate.

Ana uses Facebook and Pinterest to show her characters and flowers. These two sites have become increasingly important places to find new work from around the world. Have a pinteresting weekend.

Polymer in nature

Polymer has never played quite so nicely with nature as it does in Rachel Gourley’s hands. Her new website is a delight.

This Vancouver artist takes polymer rocks back to the seashore where they look completely happy. Her clay fungi and early shoots jump out of the surrounding wintry woodland foliage.

You might think that her alien artworks are complete abstractions but if you examine her gallery of photos, you can see that her keen eye is drawn to nature’s own bright palettes and outlandish patterns as she’s traveled around the world.

PCD has featured her before (check out these polymer sand dollars and 2004 spondylosis) and it’s great that she’s made herself a home on the web where we can visit her more often. Thanks to Lindly Haunani for the link.

Pantone polymer

Unaodd’s Lynn Lunger was inspired by Pantone and spring seed catalogs. She mixed her own Tangerine Tango, Pantone’s color of the year, and started developing her 2012 palette.

Lynn confesses to a crisper drawer full of extra flower seeds from years past. That doesn’t stop her from considering if she should buy some of the new ones offered in this year’s crop of February garden catalogs.

In an effort to resist giving in to seed acquisition, she started filling custom-made silicone molds with her new polymer colors. Imprints of last years’ blooms had been pressed to make the forms. The resulting polymer beads give us visual taste of spring.

What’s happening in Lynn’s studio usually reflects what’s growing outside and her blog is a good garden and studio read. Think spring this weekend.