This is turning into Mystery Week! Thanks to you eagle eye readers, we can properly identify Tuesday’s Zippo lighter creator as Moscow’s Svetlana (JeweleryClaire) Likhova. Svetlana also created this iPhone case and any number of steampunk items.
What did you do with that old Zippo lighter? This steampunk version from Moscow’s Galka Vasina will have you rummaging through drawers to find it.
Even though the auto-translation is rough, you can see how she wraps the lighter in a gold polymer casing and adds small gears and gauges which she textures and washes with dark paint.
All you need is a lighter and lots of imagination. Here is it on Instagram.
San Diego’s Nadia (NadVal) created her own version of Belted Kingfishers for the art competition at the San Diego County Fair. Her polymer kingfisher flies with a steampunk flock.
The real species is one of only a few whose females have plumage brighter than males. Despite the warlike appearance, this one is female.
And she’s a prize winner. The framed bird took the top prize in the show.
Read more about the bird on Nadia’s site, Flickr and Facebook.
Inks, textures, metals – Anke Humpert’s Steampunk beads pull you in for a closer look. The cutouts and peek-a-boo details on the layered lentil shapes tell you how much thought and care Anke took as she built these muted beauties. She shows them assembled into a necklace on Flickr and Facebook.
These beads were part of the Steampunk Transformers jewellery set, a brooch, pendant, bracelet and beads that string together on a chain and come with their own matching storage container. It’s a class in a box that Anke devised for the Florida Fandango.
Join us on StudioMojo tomorrow for demos of tips and irresistible tools shared in Virginia.
This polymer steampunk angel represents a departure for Rome’s Marina Lombardi who excels at romantic, lyrical jewelry. She’s a whiz at mixing polymer with filigree.
In this stylized angel she’s mixed watch parts and metal gears, metallic powders and stamped impressions on outstretched wings. Marina’s creative engines roared through this holiday season and this mechanized angel marks the end of her work until February.
Mojo Freebies/Holiday Giveaway
My recent trip to teach in Nepal has reminded me how important it is to be gracious and generous. In honor of the my generous hosts, I’m offering a complimentary one-year subscription to StudioMojo to 5 lucky people.
Post a comment on one of the freebies I’ve posted at StudioMojo.org and you’ll be automatically entered in the drawing (so be sure you’ve typed your email address correctly). Check your email on December 24 to see if you won the drawing.
If something has taken a bite out of your New Year’s resolve and you’re feeling snarky this Monday, allow yourself a few minutes to read Christi Friesen’s latest enewletter.
Pick up a free inspirational poster or read through a tutorial. There are lots of toys and distractions on her site. She knows how to throw a polymer party that will pick up your spirits in no time.
Lynn Reno (aka Desert Rubble) is having an identity crisis. She’s looking for a name for her polymer style. Industrial? Steampunk? Surreal?
Her recipe calls for a hit of steampunk, a dash of industrial and a bit of cyborg. It adds up to a whole lotta fun.
Even holiday icons like this Santa and Gingerbread Man receive receive her special treatment. Check out the rest of her designs on Artfire and Flickr. Thanks to Janet Hoy for the link to Lynn.
You may be used to making polymer clay buttons to match fabric, here’s an idea that turns the tables. The picture isn’t great but the concept is terrific.
Enterprising polymer clay artist and seamstress Jema Hewitt has begun using Spoonflower, a print-on-demand fabric company in North Carolina, to make fabric from photos of her polymer clay canes.
She explains that, “I just took a photo of my polymer clay slab, tweaked it and cropped it in photoshop and saved a 300dpi jpg. The polymer clay is on the left, the fabric on the right of the photo!” Click on the picture and look closely to get the full effect.
The UK artist is considering producing a line of corsets or waistcoats from her polymer-inspired companion material. While corsets were certainly not the first items that popped into my head, Jema has 20 years experience in the theatre, bridal and costuming business and after a browse through her sites (Kindred Spirits, Steampunk Jewellery, Etsy and her blog SparklyJem) you’ll see how it’s a natural next step for this designer.
It’s an exciting concept to consider at the start of your week.
I’m not sure that I could successfully integrate the bits and bobs from the corners of my junk drawer into polymer clay jewelry but that’s what Christi Friesen aims to do with her new “foundpunk” line of brooches. Her impulse for reusing and recycling may be just right for our times.
France’s Christine Alibert (Xtine) combines fun fibers with her polymer brooches.
If, like me, you’ve admired these yarns but couldn’t envision a use, Christine’s work may have you heading to your fiber stash.
Combed polymer clay beads like Christine’s and this second one by Spain’s Ana Belchi have grown in popularity recently. I created combed polymer faux tiles for my stairway years ago and am happy to be back in fashion.
