Cosmogony polymer

Zazybo on PCDaily

Russia’s Ekaterina Zazybo makes polymer imitate ceramics, stone, enamels and other materials in new ways. Her pieces play with both roughness and precision.

The roughness comes from powders and texturing while the pigments and gilding on the tight designs are neatly rendered. The resulting effect is both ancient and other-worldly as her Cosmogony shop name suggests.

Zazybo on PCDaily

Her methods are mysterious and the Russian translation doesn’t help much. Thumb through her collection and tell me what you think.

Lennochka found her on Flickr here.

Summer canes

Arden on PCDaily

Ohio’s Kimberly Arden was surprised when a gallery gobbled up all she had of her new summer design. We aren’t surprised. Kim’s design draws you in as she layers bullseye slices and leaf shapes over a scrap stripe background.

Arden on PCDaily

Some of the bullseyes and leaves are translucent which adds to the dense underwater garden illusion.The summer colors make this a design to dive into.

You can see her bright basic canes here and catch up with her on Facebook and on her site where you can follow her action-packed show schedule.

Back in the saddle on PCD

Tinapple on PCDaily

PCD is back! It was good to take a travel break and I’m returning grateful and refreshed. Of course I took polymer with me.

If you look closely at these Tibetan villagers you’ll see that they’re all wearing small square gold pendants I made that feature an image transfer of the Dalai Lama.

Whenever travelers I met on the trail remarked on the pendants on satin cords that my husband and I were wearing, we would take ours off and give them away. My name is stamped into the textured pendant backs.

Tinapple in Nepal

Images of the Dalai Lama are revered (and illegal on the Chinese side of the border). The ability to leave treasured bits of polymer art in this remote part of the world was a highlight of the trek.

You’ve been busy creating and posting and I look forward to catching up and bringing you your daily dose of inspiration starting today. I’m back in the saddle.

Pinterest prowling

Baker on PCDaily

Pinterest sometimes let you crawl around in an artist’s head. Take a look at Betsy Baker’s boards on Pinterest.

You can see photo setups she’s considering, polymer canes she’s thought about, jewelry that appeals to her. Her sense of style is so authentic, so “her” that it makes me sigh with pleasure.

Baker on PCDaily

Sure, Betsy has a website and other online presences and shops, but with Pinterest she gives us more insight into how she thinks.

The painterly pendant is called Landscape 2 and it’s from her etched veneer series with extruded strings pressed in which she explains on Facebook. The earrings look like salvaged circles from an abstract canvas and they’re from an earlier version of her etched color series. Betsy sells a good tutorial about her methods but not about this etched color process yet.

Polymer squares

France’s Christine Aubin (Krissobe) likes a square format. So when her group held a square-themed challenge, she jumped right in with this collage of polymer squares on a wire form. You’ll find similar earrings and pieces on her site.

Doesn’t her necklace give you ideas for all those inchies you’ve been collecting?

Explore further and you’ll see that Krissobe has a gallery of square tiles that mix patterns and colors in painterly ways.

The pendant on the right shows that Krissobe doesn’t shy away from other geometrics.

You’ll find all kinds of interesting polymer creations on her blog with great color boards and inspirations on her Pinterest site.

Retro geometry

Iokhna on PCDaily

The retro cane from Bettina Welker takes a new shape in this Ombre Pyramid pendant from Kseniya Iokhna (SolarBird) from Belarus.

In fact Kseniya displays a number of crisp geometric variations on extruded patterns. Her faceted cuts make for even more dimension and a fresh look. Sometimes she cuts across the pattern exposing the striped sides.

Her earrings have a sleek profile and she’s partial to color blends that look as if they’ve been dip-dyed.

See more on Facebook and on Flickr.

Unsupervised polymer

Beal on PCDaily

Doesn’t the name, BeadUnsupervised, intrigue you? The thing is, Carol Beal’s work looks unsupervised in the most delightful way. She mixes her media (fiber, felt, glass, wire and more) with abandon and she isn’t shy about color. She uses whatever materials and colors strike her fancy.

Carol’s background is in illustration and design and she is able to make lots of unlikely colors and textures play together nicely even though you wouldn’t think they’d get along. She gathers her samples on her Flickr page and sells on Etsy.

Supervised shopping

Need some suggestions for your last-minute shopping? May I recommend some of the excellent polymer books that have come out this year? Like Polymer Clay Global Perspectives by Cynthia Tinapple – you knew I’d say that, right?

Some other newcomers that offer good work plus valuable tips and tricks include:

And they can be under your tree by Christmas!

Rustic polymer

BungalowMoon on PCDaily

This rustic feather pendant from BungalowMoon shows how polymer can be used effectively as a canvas for painting with inks.

Shop owner Trina drew and painted the colorful stylized freeform feather directly onto the off-white cured 2″ long clay oval. She then distressed the rough cut sides and applied a clear sealer.

We don’t know much more about Trina. She lets her style tell her story and we’re sure to be seeing more. Thanks to Dede Leupold for sending the link.