Dreamy polymer

Dreamy isn’t a word used often when describing polymer but Sonya Girodon’s pieces evoke that. This pendant is floating, misty with moody colors intersected by vibrating lines.

Sonya’s been so prolific lately that it’s hard to choose something to feature. Just when you think you’ve got her style pegged, she turns a corner and creates a new look.

Her Pinterest tagline gives us a clue. “Eternal dreamer! Dreaming of the perfect world. Dreaming of creating touchable dreams in polymer clay,” it says.

She’s been mysterious and organic and edgy. Now she’s back to graphic. She’s mixing her media, adding tribal sculpted polymer heads onto a dramatically painted canvas. Where will she head next? Monitor her progress on Facebook.

Bury your beads

As we approach our usual end-of-year studio pare down and purge period, we might take a hint from Spain’s Tanya Mayorova and bury our beads!

Tanya doodles with extruded strips of clay set on edge. Stacked against each other, the strips dip and bend and wind around an assortment of beads and baubles. They change color as they move along. The effect is like water flowing past pebbles in a stream.

Do you have some beads you love and can’t let go of? This collage of treasures might be just the thing. Look closely at Tanya’s methods on Etsy, Flickr, and Facebook (and in prior PCD features).

Hard wired polymer

This Baobob Trees pendant from Pam Sanders is suspended in Pam’s distinctive solid and rustic black steel wire frame with matching chain.

The roughly wrapped wire matches the feel of the roughly carved and painted polymer pendant. The combination brings the necklace together with distinctive style. Sample more of Pam’s style on Flickr and Facebook.

Back-to-school polymer

Tamara Shea’s Pile O’ Books necklace kicks off the back-to-school season (and there’s a sale at her Etsy shop).

Tamara’s Block Party Press business has grown steadily since she first jumped online seven years ago when her sons were young and she wanted to find a way to stay at home with them.

She draws her own designs, carves her stamps, and cuts out her polymer components. Then she paints and distresses them.

Tamara’s moved her newsy updates to Facebook and opened a second online shop as her boys have grown and her art interests expanded. She shares her inspirations and photos on Instagram.

Bowled over

Sometimes it’s good to get nervous about trades among friends and, guess what, we all do it. That mixture of fear and competition can motivate us to try harder.

Even longtime artist and Sculpey brand ambassador Syndee Holt admits that this was her second attempt at making little 2 1/2″ diameter polymer bowls for an upcoming swap. She wanted to get her new design just right so she scrapped the first batch and kept going until she felt comfortable. Let the guessing begin about how she achieved this multi-color stone-like effect.

Kim Arden’s tell-all

In the September/October issue of Polymer Cafe magazine, Kim Arden reveals how she creates her summer flower pendants. Along with a profile written by Trina Williams, Kim includes a complete tutorial.

She shows how to stack bright and translucent cane slices over a scrap background to build pendants that have color, depth and attitude. Here’s PCD’s first look at Kim’s design from last year.

Read more about Kim on Facebook and her site. See what Syndee’s experimenting with on her blog and on the Sculpey site.

On the hunt for polymer

Heather Millican (Swoondimples) beams and shows her dimples as she explains her methods in a free tell-all video tutorial on YouTube.

Heather reveals where she found the perfect brushes (makeup ones from Target), the best glue and wax, her choice for transfer paper and stamps. She leaves nothing out.

The polymer charms and pendants sell briskly on Heather’s Etsy shop not only because of the techniques that she’s developed but also because she brings gentle words and an openess to her pieces which make what she creates all the more irresistable.

You can see more of her on Facebook and Pinterest. You may end up like me saying, “I’ll have what she’s having.”

Matchy Monday

Perhaps we should call the first posts of the week Matchy Mondays because it’s on Monday that I’m most drawn to polymer works that coordinate with PCD’s colors.

Consider these beautifully graduated and sharply creased beads from the Czech Republic’s Dana Phamova. She plays with the light and shadow caused by the bent surfaces. Here’s another of her light/shadow experiments.

Her beautiful Skinner-blended colors are accented by a few judiciously placed light colored dots. A close look shows that the texture is created with hand-applied pin pricks. She shows a work-in-process shot here.

Dana calls this series Dreaming Cucarachas. Cockroaches? That title breaks the zen mood, doesn’t it? You can catch the vibe again (lots of polymer scratching and distressing) on Facebook and Pinterest.

Polymer balance

This 2.25″ x 2.75″ polymer pendant by Iowa’s Patti Kimle balances light and dark in a soothing and striking way. A fine silver bail repeats the daisy pattern.

Patti’s works are reflections of the nature around her and often contain inspirational messages. Subtle repetitions and her muted palettes add to the calming influence of her pieces.

Patti’s taught for years and has written three books but she shies away from the limelight. You can search her out on her blog, on Pinterest, on Etsy and on Facebook.

Intentional Monday

This pendant is part of Dan Cormier’s new Intentional Mokume Gane which he’s teaching this Tuesday in Slovenia as part of a week of workshops. He’ll demonstrate how to use dies and cutouts as templates for cutting more predictable patterned veneers with nature-inspired organic shapes.

Dan leaves little to chance and the idea of making mokume gane a less random process gets our attention.

He moves on to France later in March and then returns to the US for summer classes. Check out his schedule and his other new classes here and on Facebook – a good start for your intentional week.

Tight formations

Jael Thorp’s small polymer compositions combine caning and mosaic and texturing in intense formations. Every space is beautifully covered.

There’s a tiny bit of collaboration cane from Ivy Niles (IKandiClay) in these busy scenes. My favorite is the stones and stream-themed shape.

Look for more of Jael on her blog, Flickr and Facebook.

I’m off to the Buckeye Bash that’s held at Wright Patterson Air Force Base (speaking of tight formations). What treasures will turn up? Check tomorrow!

‹ 1 … 9 10 11 … 22 ›