Spring leaf cane

Spring makes us look more closely at leaves and Israel’s Tami Shvat gives us a lovely interpretation in polymer to study.

She prepares a cane of variegated greens (sort of like camouflage) and then adds black veins that feel just right. Tami intends to mix these leaves with flowers for a larger millefiori cane but the leaf cane stands on its own.

Tami thinks like a caner (she has a cane brain) and brings her watercolor sensibility to polymer. Go see what she’s done on Etsy, Flickr and Facebook.

Polymer tropical breezes

Jeff Dever is premiering new pieces that blow in on tropic breezes. These gems are for the BIJOUX! 2015 in West Palm Beach, Florida. It’s the fourth annual exhibition and sale of The Norton Museum of Art. The earrings and bangle shown here are part of Jeff’s offerings.

Forty-four international contemporary jewelry artists were invited to the event which runs from February 25 to March 1.

See the rest of Jeff’s new work on his Facebook page and catch his We Are SNAG: Identity entries on the Society of North American Goldsmiths’ site.

Cloud, rain and trees

This award winning Cloud, Rain and Trees by Virginia’s Wiwat Kamolpornwijit combines both more structured and more organic elements than the necklaces usually created by this environmental researcher turned polymer artist.

Wiwat had been a winner in the 2011 and 2013 Niche awards and a finalist in the Saul Bell Awards in 2011. He took the top 2015 Niche Award in the professional polymer clay category with this neckpiece.

The luscious color on his latest work on Facebook looks like another move from a limited palette to one with more echos of Thailand. Wiwat doesn’t give us many clues but you can sense that 2015 may be his year and there are changes ahead.

Complex geometry

Simple geometry like Bonnie Bishoff’s can quickly move off course, take a turn and end up in the woods of Kentucky with Leslie Blackford.

Leslie loves snakes and she doesn’t see this necklace of polymer links as alarming at all. Her idea of geometry and nature may differ from yours and mine. (I snapped this picture of a piece that Leslie wasn’t sure others would appreciate.) Check out her King Snake necklaces at the bottom of this page.

Snakes pile up in the winter for warmth and mating and their patterns combine in a delightfully wearable way. She sees only the beauty of nature here.

This week of simple ideas ends on a profound and intriguing story. We see life in delightfully different ways, don’t we?

White wallflowers

Starting 2015 with a limited palette may appeal to those artists who want to approach the new year with calm and care.

California’s Angela Schwer rarely ventures beyond the white polymer she uses for her organic wall art.

Made to resemble the rare Corton Olympic dahlia, this 7″ bloom was arranged petal by petal on a base and created to hang on the wall. She also makes a 12″ version.

Angela explains her process and her choice of subject matter in this interview.

A stay-at-home mom, she sells on Etsy. In the past couple of years she’s moved into larger commissioned installations. You can see more in-process shots and new monogrammed letters on her Facebook page.

Polymer in waves

Carol Blackburn came to polymer through knitting and you can see how she has thought through her work. Her brain stacks and repeats and combines patterns and shapes that appear both engineered and organic.

For several years her strips of color have marched next to each other in increasingly interesting formations, most recently in this Striped Shell Necklace.

In her new Waves series the components now dance and flow more smoothly.

You can witness how she has evolved and moved through the process by looking at her site, at Pinterest, at Flickr and Facebook.

Microscopic imitations

Maryland’s Eugena Topina ratchets up our fascination with hollow forms with her new Openwork Pendants: Under a Microscope series. Though their paper thin cell-like walls look fragile, they’re actually quite strong.

Your mind may be racing if you like microscopic images and undersea creatures. Eugena offers a new tutorial on her site (at 20% off today) that clearly shows how to achieve these effects.

Long known for her distinctive imitation cloisonne work and flawless resin surfaces, Eugena moved toward hollow constructions this year with openwork bracelets. The lacy pendants take the concept to a new level. You’ll find her on Etsy, Flickr and her own tutorial shop.

Keep calm and go 3D

Celine Charuau’s Empty Flower has a chiseled freshness that’s both organic and sculptural. It’s part of this French artist’s promotion for her Organic Forms 3D workshop at the September 11-13 Staedtler Symposium in France.

Need more calming influences? Browse her whole series of petal groups on Flickr and keep up with her on Facebook as well.

Calm and lucky

Five winners will be chosen every week in September by Staedtler, makers of Fimo. They’ll each receive 200 Euros (that’s $262.60 dollars). To be eligible, enter online on the Staedtler Facebook page.

Inspired bowls

Encouraged by the progress that Donna Greenberg enjoyed with her series of polymer bowls, Gera Chandler decided to have another go at what she calls her segmented bowls.

Gera says of her first efforts, “A few days ago I saw the amazing holey bowls that Donna Greenberg is making. It was an epiphany moment. I got the inks out again and made this petite prototype (right).”

That led to Gera’s Segmented Vessels (left). ” It is always good to switch things up every now and then,” she says.

Polymer fish out of water

Melissa Terlizzi’s Like a Fish Out of Water picked up an award at the Art Works gallery in Richmond, VA even though Melissa says she feels like all her polymer nature scenes look like fish out of water when they’re shown with other traditional art.

She gravitates to bugs and tide pools, shells and sea life. This cane is the result of her taking a long look at turtles, a hard job for someone who admits she can’t sit still.

Melissa has created a following for her Clay and Cabernet nights at a local gallery on warm summer evenings. You’ll find her on Facebook and Flickr.

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