Polymer Clay Daily

Back to school polymer

Back to school

Denise Graham’s polymer painting put a smile on my face and seemed appropriate as we approach fall and head back to school. Her fish swim onto the canvas and layer themselves over the polymer water.

Grahams rivers

In her recent Pittsburgh-based paintings she stacks bridges and buildings around the rivers that flow through the city. It’s no surprise that she started out as a watercolorist.

Denise is an expert on water and waves in polymer and you can catch some of her tricks from her CraftArtEdu classes.

Mixed media Monday

Amy Christie art

Minnesota’s Amy Christie popped up in a news clipping about her current gallery show. She’s a mixed media artist who uses heavy texture, deep color and sculptural elements in mostly large scale works. Her materials include polymer clay, paint, paper, inks and wire.

Amy’s layered mosaics have a distinctive look and you will be itching to see more. For an idea of the size of her art, try this link. Here’s a bit on Facebook and her blog.

Life is like a bowl of polymer

Eakes bowl

From this angle you can hardly tell what Julie Eakes is up to with her extruded polymer mosaics. If you tip the bowl a delightful secret is revealed.

Read about how cane ends from one face project propelled Julie in a more sculptural direction. Of course she encountered problems she hadn’t planned on and found there was no turning back once she started.

This one-of-a-kind bowl is 9″ in diameter by 3.25″ deep. She plans to go bigger next time.

Polymer artifacts

“I make all kinds of artifacts,” says New Hampshire’s Luann Udell, “I imagine myself an ancient artist working in ivory and soapstone. I dream of giving these to people I love, people who wear them daily until they are worn smooth by the touch of human hands.”

These polymer faux stone masks kept calling me back to study them along with Luann’s ancient horses, bears, fish, birds and talisman. Resonances of both primitive and digital cultures come through as Luann retells ancient stories in our very modern medium – a cyber tribal effect.

“I tell stories with my art, stories to honor and encourage others who are making their own place in the world,” she explains. Check her links and see for yourself.

A polymer rabbit that teaches

This 3-inch lop bunny from Oregon’s Sophie Skein is sculpted from white polymer blended with iridescent glitter.

Her explanation may ring true for you today as she says, “Rabbits are gentle, shy and fearful. Rabbits have taught me how to be gentle with myself when I am afraid. People tend to dislike the fearful parts of themselves and others, but almost everyone likes rabbits. It helps me to remember that we can have the same compassion for our fearful selves that we naturally do for rabbits.”

Perhaps this group of groundhogs is more to your liking. It’s easy to find some critter in Sophie’s Menagerie of Inscrutable Magic that will lift your spirits. She grew up next to her family’s vet clinic which gave her a special understanding of small orphaned animals that comes through in her polymer creations.

Going clayzy

Inoue butterflies

Montreal-based artist and illustrator Raku Inoue feared he had that dreaded viral clay disease. He’d gone clayzy! Nope, it was just his art manifesting itself in polymer. Read his biography to get the full scoop.

Raku was born in suburban Tokyo in 1983. He spent his early childhood watching anime, reading manga and discovering living creatures, especially insects. He immigrated to Canada when he was nine. He bounces between illustration, sculpture, photography and never strays far from polymer.

Look at these closeups of some of his lush polymer sculptures.

In one ear

little ear

Sure, Percy Lau’s extra ear earrings are a little creepy. But they’re funny too and her contemporary jewelry includes twists on glasses and chocolate and other body parts, mostly in polymer. The ears are a hit on Etsy.

Chocolate Feast

This Chocolate Feast tickled me too! In one ear, out the other. Don’t miss the headband. Have a fanciful weekend.

Southwest mysteries

The southwest influence is clear in these mixed media art dolls from Albuquerque artists Mary and Doug. I wish I could tell you more. We’ll have to wait for information to seep in through the back channels. Susan Lomuto pinned the link on her board first.

The doll bodies are made of various fabrics with stylized and painted polymer heads. They stand 15″ tall. There’s a whole Etsy gallery of interesting designs!

More mystery

If your first efforts in polymer are discouraging, you may want to click on the photo below to see who started out making basic beginner beads just like everyone else. His beads have improved considerably. See what happens when you keep trying?

Polymer Tone Shrine

Germany’s Georg Dinkel has looked at polymer for many years in his job as a photographer for Staedtler, the maker of Fimo. This year he picked up a couple of leftover blocks and he was hooked.

Except for a wooden frame and the electronics, the rest of his Tone Shrine is polymer. Three speakers and an ipad are housed inside the structure which took three months to complete. He started with a smaller ipod nano shrine for his seven-year-old daughter. For his “zaubertafel” ipad the project grew bigger.

Growing up surrounded by German Rococo and Baroque architectural masterpieces, Georg knew how to speak that visual language in polymer.

With a simple display change, the shrine can resemble Big Ben, cathedral windows or any other appropriate icon. Enjoy these photos and this video of his ornate celebrations of technology.