Updated Zen

Michelle Sansonetti calms our jangled nerves with some Zen polymer today on PolymerClayDaily

The smooth rounded rock shapes on this necklace from Australia’s Michelle Sansonetti (Zedemee) have a Zen-like quality that appeals. Her swirls seem to calm in contrast with the weather maps that threaten.

Michelle credits Spain’s Fabi Ajates for inspiring her in a 2019 class. Isn’t it marvelous how polymer ideas bounce around the world? No boundaries, no weather disturbances, no politics. Hang on to that thought today.

 

Monday wake-up call

Jana Lehmann's action-packed pendant starts the week on PolymerClayDaily.com

Germany’s Jana Lehmann is on a roll. Her newest pieces include extruded strings, dots, stripes, textures, gradations, cutouts, dangles. Oh, and did you notice the closure that’s also a design element?

Jana packs this piece with action for your Monday wake-up call. Feast your eyes on other juicy examples on her Instagram.

City pride polymer

Tamara Shea speaks her mind and displays her pride on PolymerClayDaily.com

Baltimore’s Tamara Shea (BlockPartyPress) celebrates city pride with this polymer B’more pendant.

Tamara has created and sold her distinctive woodblock-look polymer graphics on Etsy since 2006.

Polymer is sometimes a great way to step up quickly and speak your mind.

Finding new friends

Two sisters tickle our fancy with their quirky colors and designs on PolymerClayDaily.com

I went out looking for new friends. Not that you’re all not just lovely but who couldn’t use a few more friends?

What I found was a mystery. Two sisters, one from Texas and one from Nebraska, teamed up 12 years ago to exercise some creative muscle under the Crone Art label. They make and market buttons and pendants and earrings and whatever suits their fancy in polymer.

The sisters keep their identities on the down-low but someone out there probably knows this duo.

What words would you use to describe their Instagram? Oddball? Seriously mischevious? Minimalists? Modern?

In this pendant, they stack their round buttons in oval cups to form a pendant on a thick cord. Wearable and whimsical.

 

Polymer chic

Betsy Baker brings her chic polymer to NYC on PolymerClayDaily.com

Boston’s Betsy Baker makes her Manhattan debut June 8 & 9 at the Craft New York show.

Merely visiting her site makes you feel much more chic and sophisticated. Betsy limits her palette to a monochromatic mix set against grunge textures. Often there’s a hidden bit of silver and gold sparkle that appears like buried treasure.

Betsy branched out from her Boston market to the ACC shows and now she’s taking on New York. Betsy thinks big! If you want to see what that looks like, read her site and Instagram.

Bowl morph

Linda Loew begins with a bowl that becomes a pendant on PolymerClayDaily

What started out as a small bowl by Baltimore’s Linda Loew became a layered, moody pendant.

A photo transfer of a man stares off into the distance from the second layer topped by a multicolored oval frame on top.

Linda Loew begins with a bowl that becomes a pendant on PolymerClayDaily

Turns out that this bowl wanted to be a pendant.

Just because you’ve made a bowl doesn’t mean it can’t morph into something else. See more on Instagram.

 

Exuberant colors

Christine Pecaut lets her spring colors dance on PolymerClayDaily.com

France’s Christine Pecaut (Chifonie) works in colors that speak to us on Thursday.

Christine Pecaut lets her spring colors dance on PolymerClayDaily.com

Shimmery teal, navy, and cobalt patterns show up in her exuberant spring line. On the hair barrette, small triangles line up jauntily with one pop of rhinestone bling. The pendant is more flowery with one connecting blue element.

Enjoy Christine’s vision of spring colors on Instagram.

Fiber/polymer flip-flop

Heidi Helyard circles back to textiles with this pendant on PolymerClayDaily.com

This sewn polymer pendant by Sydney’s Heidi Helyard may make you smile.

The juxtaposition of thread and polymer is refreshing. Did she have matching thread on hand or did she build her palette to match the thread? The neat stitches nearly convince us that this is a new sort of textile.

Quilting meets polymer on many fronts but this one is delightfully different. The interview in FindersKeepers about Heidi reveals that her background is in textiles.

She first started incorporating polymer into her textile work. That flip-flopped into incorporating fiber into her polymer clay pieces!  Here on Instagram.

Known by our marks

Genevieve Williamson leaves her distinctive mark on PolymerClayDaily.com

In this newest pendant from Pennsylvania’s Genevieve Williamson, she fuses all her carving, scratches, colors and shapes into one beautifully balanced pendant.

Funny, how we become known by our marks. Hers are spare, stony, weathered and worn. And sold!

I counted three polymer artists (Block Party Press, Sun Ah Blair Jewelry, and Genevieve) in last weekend’s Pile of Craft show in Baltimore. Nice to see polymer popping up in the trendy shows!

You can see more of Genevieve’s marks on Instagram.

Sideways stripes

Meike Lucia Friemel lines up bright stripes into a horizontal pendant on PolymerClayDaily
Meike Lucia Friemel lines up bright stripes into a horizontal pendant on PolymerClayDaily

Germany’s Meike Lucia Friemel (Lucia Lucia) was trained as a metalsmith who delights in “…the difference between “slow” metalwork and “fast” clay work and also the contrast when the piece of jewelry is finished.”

These yellow and orange stripes were created for a challenge among friends. The horizontal stripes curl around the cord while the center beads have surprising open backs. It’s as if Lucia was showing her friends a couple of metalsmith tricks in polymer.

Here she is on Flickr and Facebook