Jewel Thief challenged Claire Wallis to work with a large cane. She’d wanted to create a magpie for some time and this one ended up as a tree ornament. The cane is subtly shaded and the diamond was made using these instructions from Tranchedecane.
See more of Claire’s work on her Deviant site, on Flickr, and on Facebook. Thanks to Sonya Girodon for catching this link. Here’s hoping you catch some fun this weekend.
This 3-inch round santa is built over glass and painted with oils in multiple coats by Doreen Kassel. Her 2013 ornaments were awarded a 2013 Niche Award. A former illustrator, Doreen loves to tell stories with polymer characters.
Read more about Doreen’s Uncommon Creatures and her own story. There’s a whole box of Santas on her Facebook page.
If you were skeptical about Santa being real and the story being true, look no further. We wished and hoped for the funds for the Raise the Roof project and you Santas delivered.
We’re nearly three quarters of the way to the goal in only a few days. The Santas have come disguised as polymer artists, as the international guild and as friends of friends who’ve never heard of polymer clay. Lots of you bought tools on Cyber Monday which gave us a big boost thanks to Lee Ann Armstrong.
Please join the Santas and help with that last quarter push to the goal.
Snowflakes bring reminders of the awesome geometry of nature. Remember cutting and unfolding paper snowflakes that taught you the secrets of repeating patterns? Some of us still thrill to that lesson in polymer.
San Francisco’s YarnNClay (Lina Bailey and Yana Mostitsky) offer these gracefully shaped drop earrings decorated with a snowflake cane reduced to tiny dimensions. The two artists met on the internet and now mix their media fashionably in an Etsy shop.
This year I vow to make some of Jan Montarsi’s glittery snowflake ornaments. Look closely and you’ll begin to see how he used small cutters, combining them into a geometry of his own for ornaments. His delightful tutorial shares some of the finer points.
Bringing back childhood pleasures is a sure way to stay in touch with the truer meaning of the season.
Usually houses don’t sell so well at this time of year but Nevada’s Marjorie Dalgarn is doing a brisk business in home sales.
She uses polymer to sketch custom house ornaments and she’s booked through the season. She stamps the name and date on the back and they’ve made such popular gifts that she’s already stopped taking orders for the holidays. Should you add “Build a polymer house” to your holiday to-do list?
Marjorie also makes family ornaments, cake toppers and other themed polymer works and beaded items. She offers a free pumpkin pie tutorial just in time for Thanksgiving.
If Tuesday’s post prompted you to pull out your Kemper cutters, let me share two more cutter technique favorites from the PCD archives.
Rebecca Geoffrey created this cutout layer stacked over a contrasting color years ago (oh my, it was 2005). Even though she’s moved on to much more sophisticated work, the simplicity and beauty of these cutout rounds keeps them among my favorites.
Camille Young’s snowflake ornaments show circles of clay with cutter bits removed. Stacked on another layer of texture and topped off with some metallic and seed bead bling, these pieces are the grownup polymer version of cutting snowflakes out of paper. Easy holiday magic. Here’s Camille’s current site.
Slovenia’s Klavdija Kurent gets a head start on holiday ornaments with this domed and pierced layered polymer creation. Hitting the highlights with metallic paste gives it a rich, old world warmth.
Klavkija’s strong designs (and her articles in Unikat magazine) have brought her quite a following as you can see on her Facebook page.
This textured, monochromatic necklace, Klavdija claims, is from leftovers. Isn’t that the way? The leftovers often turn into your favorite pieces.
When I first met Hilla Bushari several years ago at a guild meeting, I saw a sparkle in her eyes when she talked about polymer clay. Hilla started her journey in the crafts world as an art teacher. Over the years she experimented with various materials until she was taken over by polymer clay eight years ago.
She made polymer clay her profession three years ago after studying, taking classes with local and international teachers, and experimenting with materials, colors and designs.
Hilla works most mornings while listening to the radio, surprisingly not music but chit-chats. Sometimes, when the muse strikes, she can sneak back to the table late at night to create something new or to give a final touch to a previously made project.
Still searching for her path and personal voice and developing some marketing skills, Hilla is proud of her millefiori cane work, made in a technique she developed. Her Pandora beads are very popular in Etsy and her special stamping and chalk work is a color dance for the eye.
guest post from Iris Mishly
