Picking up where I left off

Cynthia Tinapple dusts off old bowls and adds new on PolymerClayDaily

This Mendocino bowl brings back memories. I made it while on vacation with friends in California some years back.

I loved that walnut bowl and its polymer inlaid pattern. The photo is being used to promote an upcoming exhibit of works by seven black and seven white artists.

I decided to revive these lively stripes on a new bowl. Finally, I’m tackling the stack of polymer-ready bowls turned by my husband. The bowls languished in my studio while life got strange and creativity waned.

I’m excited (and nervous). Can I do it again? Come back next week to see. Can you tell that I’m forcing myself to finish this project?

Hold me to it.

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.

Extrude and cane for the 4th

Tiffany of SmithAvenueClay waves the flag on PolymerClayDaily.com

Kansas’ Tiffany (SmithAvenueClay) waves the flag in her latest earrings on Instagram. Her designs are parade-worthy.

The fourth of July was made for extruder lovers and cane-making fans!

So squeeze out some stars and layer up some stripes! It’s just around the corner!

Eggactly

Kathy Koontz uses her bargello veneer for holiday eggs on PolymerClayDaily.com

No messy dip-dying for South Carolina’s Kathy Koontz (flowertownoriginals).

Her Easter eggs are covered with polymer scraps turned into stripes and then taken a step farther.

Kathy offsets the stripes to make a bargello veneer. Her resulting zigzag pattern is hypnotically, obsessively detailed.

Now what? Veneers are fun to make but it’s not always clear how to use the results. Eggactly!

If making bargello is new to you, watch this YouTube tutorial from Australia’s Jessama.

Start waving the flag

Karen Lewis (Klew) waves the flag on PolymerClayDaily.com

Let’s get voting! California’s Karen Lewis (Klewie911) starts us off with stars and stripes. Her Americana hearts are draped with a thin curled layer of translucent striped bunting. They’re busy and festive and just right for your Monday. Have you voted yet?

Time to rotate

Silovia Heartmade reminds us to rotate the wardrobe on PolymerClayDaily

Must clean the closet!

Tweedy stripes from Spain’s silovia heartmade look like the favorite thick sweaters and turtlenecks we stowed away. We’ve slogged through 2020 to cold weather. Time to pull out the woolies.

She pairs her rough textured and bifurcated shield shape with a fat leather cord and a bronze jump ring that keep the rustic, wintery vibe going. Here she is on FB.

The speckled clays have been popular recently and now we understand why.

Memorial Day at home

Chris Baird shows gratitude for home in brooches on PolymerClayDaily

Houses, homes have appeared frequently in polymer imagery of late. These small brooches from Minnesota’s Chris Baird (BairdPlayWorks) celebrate “Gratitude for home, nature, and curiosity” according to her tag line. This series is all made of small stripes and solids with touches of gold.

Her striped birds on Facebook are charming as well.

We may be missing the parades and parties today but we can enjoy the beauty of home as we celebrate Memorial Day.

Coloring outside the polymer lines

Deb Groover arranges bakes stripes into a vibrant polymer painting on PolymerClayDaily.com

Florida’s Deb Groover (@debortinastudio) has loosened her approach to painting with polymer on wood. She cures these quickly formed bright stripes, arranges them on a wood substructure, and finally paints the background.

I didn’t think she could create her large paintings in a more loose, vibrant way but she’s managed to do just that in recent works. They’re more abstract, more geometric.

Whether it’s beaches or birds or just stripes, there’s a lively attitude that permeates her paintings.

Here’s my old video interview with fuzzy audio (the microphone slid down her blouse). Persist through it for an explanation of this former ceramic artist’s unfettered style in polymer.

Monday step by step

Kristi Thorndike-Kent and Jen Young walk you through a vibrant blend on PolymerClayDaily.com

When Monday chores won’t allow you to work on your clay, following another artist’s process can be very satisfying. That’s why these step-outs from Washington’s Kristi Thorndike-Kent and Jen Young (GoInsideandclay) are enticing.

The straight strips of color overlap slightly for a beautiful bend. The vibrant blend thins out and then stacks up into sporty stripes. Kristi and Jen share how they arrived at these cutouts that are just a few steps away from finished jewelry.

They make it look so easy! See the in-between steps on their Instagram.

Ending the year in style

Nikolina Otrzan shows you how to end the year in style on PolymerClayDaily.com

Croatia’s Nikolina Otrzan (Orsons World) tempts us with a new downloadable tutorial coming out at the end of the month. On her slim collaged tube pendants, dots join stripes along with distressed solids.

Her tutorials are full of surprising methods, copious photos, and sophisticated designs. This could be an end of the year gift to yourself that will properly launch your skills into 2020.

Here she is on Facebook and Etsy.

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