This shallow polymer bowl and plate bring together hot colors, soothing shapes, and perfect patterns. The white edge on the bowl shows itself delicately.
Though it’s hard to tell from the photo, it seems as if the pine needles on the plate are raised…perhaps a Sutton slice.
What I can’t tell you is who the artist is other than Fimo.passion.vb who writes in French. Another Mystery Monday post.
France’s Mihaela Georgescu (LearnPolymerClay) gets you ready for Easter with her free YouTube tutorial that relies on Sutton slice steps for texture and embedded rhinestones for bling.
Is it time to dress up your Easter with some faux Faberge?
France’s Sonya Girodon’s Boudoir necklace has a softer, more romantic way with designs and doodles. Sonya explains that boudoir means, “Little bedroom or study adjacent to the lady’s main bedroom of the castle – a place to hide away and be alone amongst the things she loves. Bouder means to sulk in French.”
Sonya takes Sutton-slice accented pieces of polymer and rolls them into dimensional tube beads. The coral and beige colors add to the sulky mood and the square metal bezel adds intrigue.
Sonya usually gravitates to ethnic designs and you may enjoy her pages on the EthnicJewels ning site. Here’s her Rain Dance necklace where she carves designs into polymer. You might have guessed that she grew up in South Africa. See the range of her strong and unusual designs on her Flickr site.
These long slinky ecru earrings from New Mexico’s Barb Fajardo would look good with the jacket I packed for the RAM show. I’m guessing that Barb used the sprigging or Sutton slice technique to place the delicate contrasting flower pattern on the black background. Take a look at the roll that Barb’s been on lately. Don’t miss her cut and replace teaser.
I wear others’ polymer work every day without fail. It dawned on me that I’ll have to wear my own work at the RAM show! Pier Voulkos once revealed that she too had a hard time wearing her own pieces. Do you wear your work comfortably and proudly?
I headed back to my studio to whip up something appropriately dramatic and sparkly. Look for photographs of RAM visitors in all their finery over the next few posts. I’m off on a roadtrip to Wisconsin!
Is polymer on the rise? Why did the Racine Art Museum decide it was time to “break boundaries” with this new collection? How are museum goers reacting? Bruce Pepich and Craftcast’s Alison Lee discuss this and more in a free podcast available online on Friday.
Barcelona’s Cristina Grueso (CristinasTreasures) is a bit of a mystery and if you look at her artwork, you can see that mystery appeals to her. Cristina’s polymer clay sculptures are wistful, pensive characters.
Her descriptions of her work are as restrained and elusive as the quiet expressions on her characters faces. Cristina’s work is at Etsy and Flickr.
The “Sutton Slice” is another technique that’s been enjoying some buzz lately. Polymer clay is shoved into a rubber stamp to fill the depressions and then trimmed to expose the stamp. A contrasting sheet is pressed onto the remaining clay to grab the design. Here’s Lisa Pavelka’s version of it on HGTV. Julie Eakes’ example is shown here. Pete Sutton developed the technique.
Usually I don’t talk about techniques here but I love to try new techniques when I’m avoiding other work. Procrastinated for two days this week.
