Polymer Clay Daily

Beat-the-clock polymer

Japanese designers Yuji Kawauchi and Yuri Hamaguchi of Atelier Sango sculpted mini-portraits out of polymer clay (Bend and Bake) at the recent Dwell on Design event in Los Angeles. Twice a day they picked someone from their audience and created a portrait in 30 minutes.

The duo produce figures for claymation videos and presented their work as part of the Yakitate! (fresh baked) show of emerging artists.Watch the video in the right column to see Kawauchi in action.

Can you imagine sculpting a likeness in front of a crowd with the clock ticking? They’re used to working fast since a 30-minute movie requires approximately 21,600 stops to change the figures for the frames.

You can see their animations and more information about them on the DesignBoom site. The link came to us from DailyArtMuse/Susan Lomuto.

Bewildered polymer

Anne Klocko’s Balls suits me just fine today. Her character has a head full of beads (like me) and looks bewildered (also like me). Must be the heat.

Anne’s pensive and peculiar polymer characters all seem to be working out answers to important questions in her beautifully framed spaces.

Her thick portfolio should keep you busy while I get my brain back in gear.

Anne, Sarah Shriver and Louise Fischer Cozzi can be found at the ACC San Francisco show August 12-14.

Polymer garden delights

Inspired by Christine Dumont’s hollow bead online course, Kukel10 has built a big bead garden ornament that becomes even more interesting up close.

Ruffles, spikes, dots and disks, sit atop stripes and poetry. This piece will spark many conversations in her garden.

As long as we’re touring the garden, take a look at Shay Aaron’s polymer clay beets, radishes and other vegetable delights to wear.

There’s even more food jewelry on his Etsy site. If you have a hankering to grow something polymer, follow one of Shay’s tiny veggie tutorials.

Polymer Americana

School’s out! Jenn McGlon knows what’s coming up next! She and her friends over at SpookyTimeJingles are already gearing up for the Fourth of July with an offering of Americana art like these painted polymer Luettes.

The Spooky folks have jumped ahead to their favorite fall holiday as well.

Updates

A new, air dry polymer clay? DeCoRé is quite pricey but might be just the thing when you want to add inclusions that can’t take the heat of baking. Read more. Ronna Weltman sent us the link.

Julie Picarello’s new book, Patterns In Polymer, is a joy to read and to learn from! The copy is engaging and the techniques are dynamite.

The Green issue of the From Polymer to Art quarterly magazine has arrived. For U.S. readers, PolkaDotCreations carries this Netherlands publication.

Polymer gardens

Need a diversion from jewelry? Illustrator Paula Pindroh created an intriguing polymer cactus garden series to provide craft show customers with an option beyond her wall art.

The bottoms of each of the cactus pieces were shaped with pointy nubs that were easy to push into sand or grits or lentils. She offered a wide range of pieces that customers could mix and match.

These small gardens could provide a great way to use up bits of clay and stretch your imagination.

Polymer on the beach

California’s Dawn Schiller cautions you to keep an eye out as you head to the beach this season.

“While walking the beach, I happened upon a sea seidh (pronounced “seed“), one of the tribe of little folk that used to live in the forest but have emigrated to the sea. These tiny fae dwell in abandoned shells of all types — much like hermit crabs — and live on dark moonlight and the breath of fishes,” she explains.

About face in polymer

Inveterate polymer experimenter Dee Wilder created these new story beads using Maureen Carlson’s new small face bead molds. Here’s the back of Dee’s creations. She made not only beads but a series of rings as well.

These somber looking faces can be embellished and manipulated to make their story serious or silly or something in between.

One of Maureen’s original beads totems stares at me from the kitchen window sill. Now I can make more to poke up out of the garden. I was thinking of whipping up these plant stakes in polymer too. (I’d much rather do that than spread mulch!) Enjoy your weekend in the garden or the studio.

Ancient dolls, modern bottles

These Ancient Luminous Art Dolls from Texas’ Tricia Dewey transform modern glass bottles into icons from ancient cultures.We looked at Tricia’s luminous polymer beads some months back and now she’s incorporating the technique into her sculpture.

She reveals that, “Growing up with my mother and grandmother as artists, I did not personally begin working artistically until my mother’s death in 2002.” Polymer clay and digital imagery were her first explorations with later ventures into encaustic wax. You can track the zigs and zags of her explorations on her Flickr site.

Ponsawan blends

Ponsawan Silapiruti offers yet another variation on the Skinner blend which she uses to create her free Mini Roses tutorial.

Based on overlapping rectangles of clay, this method is good for those of you who, like me, have trouble cutting triangles. Ponsawan has a gift for simplifying that makes every trick look easy.

There’s no place like home

Inspired by reading about the wicked witch of the west, Kira Nichols created this polymer bookmark complete with ruby slippers.

It’s a reminder that polymer is a great medium for a quick laugh and or a fun gift…as well as for great art. The link comes to us from Jean Delaney (via the daily wh.at)

It’s clear that I’m having trouble getting back to work after weeks on the road. There’s no place like home.

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