Polymer copying

Copying with a happy ending from Lindly Haunani and Samunnat on PolymerClayDaily

Stories about copying often get ugly and contentious but not this one. This copying/sharing story is about generosity and hope.

Years ago Lindly Haunani gave the women of Samunnat Nepal permission to produce a few of her necklaces. Enough to purchase a storage cabinet that they needed.

Lindly’s petal designs contain echoes of her Hawaiian heritage. The bright flowers also resonated with Nepali culture.

The women so loved making the lei from Lindly and Maggie’s Color Inspiration book that it became a staple of their collection with Lindly’s blessing.

Lindly’s leis became Samunnat’s malas (modeled here by Sanjana) and the women’s project continues to flourish,

Wendy Moore’s post explains the story on their new website. Sign up for their newsletter for a chance to win one of the women’s latest necklaces.

Scroll to the bottom of the first page on their new site and sign up at “keep in touch”

Buds from the garden

Seana Bettencourt works out how to assemble buds on PolymerClayDaily.com

It’s been a fruitful week for Ontario’s Seanna Bettencourt (thepolymergarden) as she launches into week 2 of a 33-week challenge. She devoted this week to improve the process. Seanna’s cane-slice petals gently cup the buds.

First came the design and petal making. Assembling was too fiddly and intensive for production. She refined and refined until, like Goldilocks, she got it just right. Here’s the finished product.

Thin glowing polymer

Sunny days may inspire you to dig out the translucent clay like UK’s Belinda Ashton did.

Light streaming through thin colorful polymer is a wonderful Monday project. Belinda has gone thinner and brighter with each of her experiments. These flower petal shapes glow.

Hello, Monday!

Hair blossoms

Chica3f puts delicate petals in your hair on PolymerClayDaily.com

Japan’s Chica3f gently offsets delicate translucent petals on a barrette finding to create a springlike hair accessory. She also offers them in spring tones. Like wearing cherry blossoms in your hair!

She lets us take a peek at the translucent curved bar on which she floats the petals.

StudioMojo will be full of surprising trends and introduce you to some of the new artists on the scene. Many new names have burst onto the scene with huge followings and busy stores. They seem to have secrets and savvy that you won’t want to miss. Sign up and come see.

Petal dangles add spice

Enliven your look with contemporary shapes from TheClayEdit on PolymerClayDaily.com

Virginia’s Ariel (TheClayEdit) gives us a hint of spring with her contemporary petal dangles. These are not your mother’s clip-ons and I wonder if I dare try something so youthful.

“Statement earrings have the ability to transform an entire outfit. They’re the icing on the cake, the spice that pulls the whole recipe together.” Oh, I certainly hope so.

Ariel is on Instagram and Etsy.

No shrinking violets

Maryanne Loveless finds hundreds of flowers in her garden on PolymerClayDaily.com

Utah’s Maryanne Loveless has been creating a garden of earrings for her 100-day challenge. No shy, shrinking violets here.

She arranges flower petal and leaf cane slices a backing shape and then adds texture, pods, and dotted details. They hang head up or down. She arranges a garden of delight from a handful of small canes.

Maryanne and her mother started long ago making salt dough creations and she carries on the tradition. Here she is on Etsy.

Floral treatments

Utah’s Jana Roberts Benzon unveiled her most recent series of delicate florals and fans. If you look back at earlier work you can see how she’s refining her fluttery petals.

Jana started out as a floral designer and that love of natural elements and attention to balance and color still influences her creations.

She buries the wires in the clay and on the earrings at the top right, she winds a polymer thread around to cover the join.

Curved petals joined lyrically

Wiwat Kamolpornwijit takes petals to his Southern shows on PolymerClayDaily.com

Wiwat Kamolpornwijit showed his latest petal necklaces at an art fair in Orlando before moving on to Houston, Atlanta and then Washington.

The curved petals fold over gracefully to reveal alternating patterned surfaces. Wiwat is known for his geometric construction tricks.

This feels like a new venture into more lyrical designs. Zoom in for a closer look on Facebook.

Petal power

Carman's painting on PolymerClayDaily.com

It takes quite a stash of small colorful petal canes to create a bouquet like this polymer-on-wood painting by Forida’s Pamela Carman.

She’s textured the background on a 12″ x 12″ panel. The wallpaper and the red tablecloth plus the retro vase give the composition a feeling of depth and cohesion. See more of her petal power on Flickr, Facebook and Instagram.

Does Pamela’s piece make you want to create your own polymer painting? Sometimes jealousy is a good motivator.