Off-kilter polymer

Who doesn’t feel a shiver of delight as a Skinner blend drops down from between the rollers of a pasta machine?

I know there are millions of ways to layer, scratch, pound, and twist clay into intricate patterns. Yes, you can add bling, paints, inks, and sparkles. But for my money, nothing compares to the thrill of color.

These circles are from a blend (teal/fuschia/zinc) that I rolled endlessly today. The jaunty disks were inspired by a friend’s thrift store find. Her necklace was made of wooden disks. “Wouldn’t that look great in polymer?” I thought.

An off-center hole sideways through each of the smaller disks keeps the flat rounds bumping against each other in the most energetic way. It was so simple and it pleases me. What could be better than that?

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There are dots and there are dots

And then there are dots by Madrid’s Silvia Ortiz De La Torre. She’s been making her blended, layered, high voltage colored, roughly textured dotted beads for years.

Silvia has stayed way ahead of the trends. We can learn a thing or two from her.

We go back and forth on StudioMojo. Every weekend we look at artists who’ve been around for years while we also keep up with the fresh faces that bumped into polymer during our forced confinement. Both vantage points teach us. Come see what we see.

Color study earrings

Mary Anne Loveless opens her show with a color study on PolymerClayDaily.com

This tray of earrings from Utah’s Mary Anne Loveless keeps the colors under control in a most appealing way. The graduated backgrounds are tied together into neat dangles held together visually by contrasting stripes.

Is it the vertical blends that make these feel so right? The blends run in opposite directions on the left and right dangles. There’s a color lesson here.

Take time to ponder this trick

Lynn Yuhr makes us believe in magic on PolymerClayDaily.com

My head knows that if you put light to dark next to dark to light you’ll get the sensation of curving dimensional color.

So why does the trick surprise me every time?

Lynn Yuhr shows us how it’s done with her ornaments. Flipped alternating Skinner blends produce the magic.

German artist, Philip Wiegard takes this concept even further and his free tutorials will wow you.

Too much for your brain on a Monday? So sorry. Pour yourself another cuppa.

Sticking to a plan

In the midst of turmoil Angie Wiggins sticks to her plan on PolymerClayDaily.com

Virginia’s Angie Wiggins starts every year with a palette of colors that she sticks to for 12 months.

Ribbons of violet run through leftover Skinner blended circles that will become coasters. The colors are easy on the eyes and invite us to explore and enjoy the gradations.

Angie sticks to her plan. There’s something comforting and smart and reassuring in that. Her use of blends is mesmerizing. Check out her Instagram.

Sometimes I don’t know…

To someone somewhere, polymer earrings that soothe on PolymerClayDaily.com

Sometimes I don’t know who made it or what it’s made of but my alarm bells start chiming and I run to see who’s at the door.

After an exhausting day, I was happy to settle on these earrings from Maria De Oliveira. (to someonesomewhere). Obituaries came up when I googled her. That can’t be right!

Instead of digging up Maria and verifying the material, I’m just going with my gut and the huge exhale I felt when I happened upon these ombre earrings. My shoulders dropped, my neck felt better. They’re what we would call Skinner blends. I’m calling it a polymer post.

There’s a bulging file folder of clickable candies just waiting for me to organize them into this week’s StudioMojo. When I feel everything’s a hot mess, that’s usually when I’m on the right track. Come see if I’m onto somthing good.

Succulent Skinners

Anna Nell makes blends for her new succulents on PolymerClayDaily.com

What would Poland’s Anna Nell make with the Skinner blends she showed on Instagram? A few days later she gives us the answer.

She says she uses translucent clay, porcelain (I’m guessing she means pearl), and glow in the dark (she calls it “night effect”). She added pastels as well and some gold leaf for bling

Anna surrounds herself with a large collection of succulent inspirations so it’s difficult to distinguish real from polymer.

Concepts that ricochet

Galka Vasina cleverly combines popular designs on PolymerClayDaily

Russia’s Galka Vasina is playing here. She’s swapping beautiful components to see which ones look best together. They all work in my book.

From what I can glean from the translation, Galka was inspired by Tanya Mayorova. The commenters seemed to be lamenting what’s happening on VK, their version of Etsy.

To me these cutouts and textured components look like Sona Grigoryan meets Donna Greenberg meets Henri Matisse with a 2020 twist. Lots of artists contribute along the way.

I’ll happily jump on that bandwagon. Concepts are sometimes in the air and they pick up steam as they ricochet around the world.

More zen blends

What can you do when you’re drawn to one more look at the news? Instead, try this link to Arizona’s Meg Newberg (Polymer Clay Workshop). You’ll be hypnotized by her simple, scrappy blends.

A solid background color unifies the crazy, devil-may-care dots of companion colors.

Whatever she throws into the blend oozes into its neighbor to make a lovely ombre.

The idea that a hot mess turns into something lovely is a hopeful analogy for today. Go watch and feel hopeful. Several more on her Instagram.

Zen blends

Jenny Sorensen calms us with her mini-blends on PolymerClayDaily

As anxiety rose steadily today, I looked for something, anything that would calm me. I found it in the blends of Colorado’s Jennifer Sorensen (WishingWellWorkshop).

Look at the lovely blends Jenny makes with the smallest bits of clay. Gorgeous!

While sculpture confounds me and fantasy eludes me, color speaks loud and clear. Jenny’s colors meld into each other in a most soothing way. I hope they make you feel better too.

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