Polymer pocket cat

To create this tiny Pocket Cat, Oregon miniature animal artist Kerri Pajutee blends polymer clay and wraps it over an armature of aluminum foil wrapped in masking tape and wire. Using tweezers and glue, she then methodically applies a permanent fiber coat layer by layer.

You can follow her step-by-step on her site where she even offers tutorials for her incredibly detailed work. Kerri limits her production of these 1:12 miniature sculptures to keep her life balanced.

Her Flickr site contains an unbelievable herd of tiny animals. Susan Lomuto featured them yesterday on DailyArtMuse (have you checked out her MAM newsletter) and I couldn’t resist the link.

Polymer fight cloud

France’s Tracey Stevens (Polyflavour) launched an Indegogo campaign to help finance her booth at the Grand Marché de Noel de Créateurs show.

Her polymer canes are inspired by cartoons from the 1920s, 30s and 40s. “I want people to know the source of my inspiration and to watch the cartoons, look at the comics and learn more about them and hopefully share my fascination when they wear and display my work,” she explains.

Tracey’s exciting and complex Fight Cloud bowl is one of the perks from her campaign. Cartoon characters tangle inside the bowl while on the outside, large versions of their features become abstract art.

I don’t know how PCD overlooked Polyflavour and thanks to a hint from reader Jody Newman, she’s now on board. Tracey’s videos show her making canes, she’s got an Etsy shop and a Facebook page to acquaint you with her comical art.

Cranky Monday

Karina Formanova from Russia made this polymer Crank character for her friend based on the friend’s avatar. (This may be a cultural icon. If so, please educate me.)

The hair is in charming dissaray, the eyes are bugged, and the look is so totally cold winter Monday that I couldn’t resist. And wow, Karina has some gems buried in Flickr and on her shop page – something new to shake up your Monday.

Real polymer santas

This 3-inch round santa is built over glass and painted with oils in multiple coats by Doreen Kassel. Her 2013 ornaments were awarded a 2013 Niche Award. A former illustrator, Doreen loves to tell stories with polymer characters.

Read more about Doreen’s Uncommon Creatures and her own story. There’s a whole box of Santas on her Facebook page.

If you were skeptical about Santa being real and the story being true, look no further. We wished and hoped for the funds for the Raise the Roof project and you Santas delivered.

We’re nearly three quarters of the way to the goal in only a few days. The Santas have come disguised as polymer artists, as the international guild and as friends of friends who’ve never heard of polymer clay. Lots of you bought tools on Cyber Monday which gave us a big boost thanks to Lee Ann Armstrong.

Please join the Santas and help with that last quarter push to the goal.

Thankful polymer

Colorado’s Amy Giacomelli painted murals and backdrops for film and television for years. She started her Etsy shop in 2008 and her 1 1/2″ polymer pumpkins say it all.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Polymer geometry

Snowflakes bring reminders of the awesome geometry of nature. Remember cutting and unfolding paper snowflakes that taught you the secrets of repeating patterns? Some of us still thrill to that lesson in polymer.

San Francisco’s YarnNClay (Lina Bailey and Yana Mostitsky) offer these gracefully shaped drop earrings decorated with a snowflake cane reduced to tiny dimensions. The two artists met on the internet and now mix their media fashionably in an Etsy shop.

This year I vow to make some of Jan Montarsi’s glittery snowflake ornaments. Look closely and you’ll begin to see how he used small cutters, combining them into a geometry of his own for ornaments. His delightful tutorial shares some of the finer points.

Bringing back childhood pleasures is a sure way to stay in touch with the truer meaning of the season.

On-the-road polymer

Vera Kleist Thom shows up with this dynamite looking polymer Kameko Vase for our last post from the road. I’ll be home-based tomorrow.

Vera’s work makes me want to get back in the studio and make something big and unusual. You too?

Terrific muted colors, zooming shapes, slightly retro , updated mosaic and it could be extruded! Here’s her Etsy shop.

Glamorous polymer

Let’s start the week with some polymer glamor from Russia’s Olga Permyakova

Friday’s PCDaily looked at how Jan Geisen makes shapes work together. Olga hooks her shapes together tightly with rings and wires, sometimes linking an entire framed construction of polymer pieces.

See Olga’s Fall/Winter 2013-14 collection in this Facebook album and find it for sale here.

Homeward bound

One more day one the road! Days in the car make me feel anything but glamorous and if you’re waiting for an email from me, please be patient. We’ll be back soon.

Polymer comic relief

Enjoy a little comic relief from Pavla Cepelikova. These cute polymer pins are the work of students in her Comics class. What a fun introduction to polymer. Go see the rest on her Flickr site as I soak up the final few days of my vacation. Need more? Try Etsy and her Czech site.

Extruded sunset

Libby Mills assembled this polymer collaged 4-inch tile as she quietly worked at our table at a recent conference. Backed with a Skinner blend, the tile combines a layer of ripple blade slices, swirled extruded strings and dabs of solid colors and textures in a fall palette. Her goal was to produce a series of decorative compositions for a wall.

This snapshot of Libby’s work popped up as I prepared samples for a class next Wednesday. (It looks very Santa Fe sunset!) My new extruded disks are now on sale on the Kazuri West site and I’ll be teaching extruder tricks (like perfect polka dots).

Extrusion is an enjoyable technique that we can use as another nifty tool to cover large areas and to produce consistently-sized elements. Ok, I have a thing for extrusion, do you?

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