Since riotous colors have emerged as this week’s theme, we’ll revisit beads that New York’s Doreen Gay Kassel made for a swap.
After the swap, Doreen created another batch of pods, ruffles, and berries and combined them into this sumptuous necklace. She builds the beads from white clay shapes and then with an illustrator’s practiced eye, paints each one in beautiful colors.
The riot of color and shapes becomes a party necklace that will make heads turn.
Polymer artists like Texas’ Shelley Atwood continue to show us what you can do with textures and paints. Shelley bends the textured ribbons of polymer for additional movement on these dangling earrings.
The red of the bottom medallions is a surprise. Gold paint unifies the look which is topped off with the big loops of the earwires.
Look at her Flickr pages to see how Shelley pumps up the drama of her work.
Sydney’s Jayne Flanagan (nellsdottir) shows us another simple approach for 2015.
Jayne combines chunky, smooth, matte-finished shapes balanced by long tube beads. She paints repeating dots, stripes and checks on some of the beads using color and texture in spare and thoughtful ways.
Her bracelet designs mix a sturdy flat bangle shape with fat beads that look meant for teething.
No fancy tools or techniques are required for this fresh and trendy blend of color and geometry. You can see the whole range of Jayne’s designs on Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, Picbi and study some stunning larger pictures on her photographer’s portfolio site.
Florida’s Christina Cassidy (Chevre Feuille) gazes out her window and draws what she sees on polymer (fired first, I assume) with India ink.
This Fleabit Grey Horse Pendant is drawn with India ink on glitter-speckled clay. The background was ink-washed.
Christina explains that, “Working with India and many colored inks, colored pencil, watercolors or different colored clays, I sculpt, draw, or etch my ideas on the surface of each piece.” She adds a sealing finish as the last layer.
Christina worked with horses for many years and they remain her muses. Have an inspired weekend.
