The history channel

Susan Hyde's polymer madonnas are favorites on PolymerClayDaily.com

In my quest to bring more fun into what I do, I decided to refashion PCD into the “History Channel” for a while. The history of polymer, that is.

As I pinned Susan Hyde’s angel on my down vest this morning, I thought about the works and the artists who have caught my eye since 2005. I’ll be thumbing through my collection for pieces that moved me to shell out money and made me feel so good that I wear them over and over. This clever ploy requires less time online and reacquaints me with my collection.

Susan’s angels always call to me during the holidays. Her madonnas were dark-skinned before that was a statement. She and I met at a weeklong Kathy Amt class on Whidbey Island in 1997 and she’s high up on my list of favorite artists. Her polychromatic color sense and affinity for textiles, inclusions, and faces, get me every time. Click on the Instagram link to look more closely at her construction. If you put “Hyde” into the search box at the top of this page, you’ll see how she’s been my go-to girl for years. Here she is on Facebook.

Textile tones in polymer

Liz Stefano blends hieroglyphs with crackle on PolymerClayDaily.com

Massachusetts’ Liz Stephano (Lizardlooks) layers Egyptian imagery and crackled surfaces on these contemporary shapes.

My head started rummaging through my closet, picturing them with winter jackets.

You probably want to know how she made them but I have no idea. Silkscreen? Transfer? Enjoy the mystery and the rich ancient imagery in fabric-like tones.

Liz moved from the west coast to Cape Cod to get back in touch with color.

Holiday harmony in clay

Amy Sun Ah brings harmony to the patterns in her holiday collections on polymerclaydaily.com

Baltimore’s Amy Sun Ah (SunAhBlair) Is in the throes of the holiday bazaar season. While the repeated shapes in these earrings and pendant are straightforward, it’s the mix of patterns that makes them harmonize..

Amy deftly brings Victorian and Japanese textile designs to polymer via silkscreen and paints. Some, like the pendant here, are backed with slightly larger textured clay shapes and joined by a central crystal.

Visit her on Instagram and her site to experience the variety in her collections.

Organizing the polymer hierarchy

Loretta Lam teaches a visual organization class on PolymerClayDaily

Loretta Lam says its all about organizing your design information into a visual hierarchy and she’ll be teaching that at Creative Journeys Studios in Georgia November 1-3.

The fabric-like textures, juxtaposed lines, and somber colors dangling from a chunky chain caught my eye. Yours too?

Learning how to do this intentionally is the trick that Loretta will be teaching.

Fiber/polymer flip-flop

Heidi Helyard circles back to textiles with this pendant on PolymerClayDaily.com

This sewn polymer pendant by Sydney’s Heidi Helyard may make you smile.

The juxtaposition of thread and polymer is refreshing. Did she have matching thread on hand or did she build her palette to match the thread? The neat stitches nearly convince us that this is a new sort of textile.

Quilting meets polymer on many fronts but this one is delightfully different. The interview in FindersKeepers about Heidi reveals that her background is in textiles.

She first started incorporating polymer into her textile work. That flip-flopped into incorporating fiber into her polymer clay pieces! Here on Instagram.

Tribal echoes

The stitching marks on Shelley Atwood’s earrings contain echoes of Kanta stitching, embroidery from South Asia that’s quite popular. The red beads on the edge provide a wonderful contrast.

Much of Shelley’s work has a tribal and fabric look that’s both powerful and fashionable. Go to her site and Facebook to get the full effect.