Maureen Carlson's small Easter Island totems on PolymerClayDaily.com

Of all my eclipse week memorabilia, these polymer totems from Minnesota’s Maureen Carlson (weefolk) make me smile the most. Maureen is known for finding fantasy characters everywhere.

Her old man monuments are made of polymer rocks stacked in an Easter Island way. Though they’re only 2″ tall, they look massive. The faux pebbles form another face on the back side.

Here they are laid out on the swap table, ready to be slipped onto a garden stake. If you like rock cairns these may give you ideas for enlivening your garden. There’s more on Facebook.

Two weeks of travel have provided a bonus of exciting new works that we’ll examine on PCD this week.

Outer Banks, inner limits

It may not look like much but these polymer pebbles (mine) and lichen focal bead (Lindly’s) represent a stretch for both of us and a leap into new territory. Our team experiments may or may not work but we trust each other and egg each other on.

Judy Belcher and Tammy Honaman engineered this week at a sumptuous off-season Outer Banks, North Carolina beach rental as a way to force artists who were comfortable with each other into a situation where they would play and push and tolerate some discomfort.

At the end of the project, after the discards and false starts, some new directions will emerge from the collaborations. They’re hoping that you will be interested in reading their upcoming book about what happens during processes like this.

It’s cold and gray outside but we’re warm and colorful. Here’s a toast to you readers from the group at dinner tonight. Thanks for following along. We’ll see what happens.

Easter Island polymer

Outer Banks, inner limits