Yuli-Ya’s polymer abundance

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.

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.

From teapots to fiber

When the Niche Award finalists were posted, I tallied ten polymer clay nominees in five categories including Teapots and Fiber! I’m sure that’s a record.

The photos on the list on Niche’s site are frustratingly small. Guess we’ll have to wait to see them up close.

And our rumor mill missed Wiwat Kamolpornwijit’s entry. (He just sent this photo.) Read about Wiwat on this site as well as on his personal pages. Thanks to Janice Abarbanel for spotting the Niche news.

The metalsmiths now have their own IPhone app, iMakeJewelry, thanks to Victoria Lansford. Can an app for polymer folks be far behind?

Thanksgiving tip: Those turkey baking bags come in handy for baking polymer clay in your home oven in a pinch. No mess, no smell, no oily residue.

Monday winners

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.

Segal’s small set designs

Thyrza Segal of Vancouver arrived at polymer clay after ten years in set design and costuming. Now she works on much smaller sets. Her plantscapes combine terrariums, vintage glassware and polymer clay sculptures into miniature organic dioramas.

Thyrza gathers glassware and ceramics from local thrift stores and fills them with succulents, minature tropicals, mosses and air plants. What brings the plantscapes to life are the sculptures – alien figurines and fantasy plants sculpted from polymer clay.

This combination of green-conscious, recycled, fantasy and sculpture is one terrific example of the future of crafts that experts envisioned at the conference I attended last week.

Williamson speaks polymer

Genevieve Williamson (Jibby and Juna) is a metalsmith and I love her description of learning to design and work in polymer clay as she made this latest necklace.

She explains that, “…being trained as a metalsmith I often still design/think in metal. Then I translate to polymer, modify and move on. This is the first piece that, in my head at least, I felt like I thought through the process in the new language (polymer).”

She’s speaking fluently and her Etsy site is full of simple, textural, modern pieces.

UnaOdd’s pendant molds

This row of simple, rustic pendants by Lynn (UnaOdd) is even more appealing when you see the molds she made using plants from her garden and Knead-a-Mold. “The final mold can be used in the oven (for polymer) and is food safe as well,” says Lynn.

Here’s a lovely mosaic photo of her results and more examples are sprinkled throughout her Etsy gallery and her Flickr photos.

I try to stick to my “no products” rule on PCDaily but this idea grabbed me and I had to share.

Genevieve Williamson’s blog (JibbyandJuna) led me to the link. The two artists went to college together and you can feel a sympatico vibe in their work. Have a simple, rustic weekend.

Montgrand’s seasonal bounty

found polymer clay acorns, pumpkins, ghosts and witches on the web this weekend. But I’m not ready for those themes.

Catch a last whiff of summer sea air and gather up some garden bounty on Delphine Roche de Montgrand’s site, La Fille du Consul. She helps us out with both French and English translations of most of her posts. There are lots of garden offerings on her online shop and her Flickr site.

I have to admit, I stopped to admire her peppermint candy holiday necklace while I was browsing. It can’t possibly be time for that, can it? She divides her work by seasons which makes it easy for you to choose how to start your week. What mood are you in this Monday?

Modern medicine woman

Wendy Malinow was decked out in claws, teeth, and femurs (all polymer) when I met up with her in Denver. She looked like a modern day medicine woman with her antler armbands, skull earrings and fringed leather sandals.

It’s the sculptural quality of the bones that attracts her. She’s researched scientific sites and delved into the world of bone scavengers to come up with designs that tweak reality and reinterpret how primitive people adorned themselves.

The Nature’s Ladder neckpiece is part of her continuing exploration of bones as adornment. The long design drapes down the back as well as the front. It will appear in an upcoming book in the Lark masters series.

Thanks for your patience. Speaking of sculptural inspiration, look at Jeff Dever’s video link in the right column. Wow! Maggie Maggio pointed me to it.

Danym’s African interpretation

France’s Danym (Fimoti-Fimota) loves African jewelry and it shows. A polymer clay necklace that could fall flat and be seen as clunky and crude becomes powerful and earthy instead. I wish I could put my finger on what makes the difference. You figure it out.

Enjoy traveling to France rummaging through Danym’s site and Flickr page while I head to Colorado. With any luck, one of my traveling friends will have packed some bibelot she’s made and I can photograph it for tomorrow’s viewing.

I found Danym while wandering through the French group site, Parole de pate.

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