Amy Davison updates the pearl choker with wraps of deeply textured polymer, sparkly spacers, glass and refined bling.
Country club meets art gallery at this year’s Baltimore ACC show in Booth 4811 on February 17-18.
Amy also teaches Designing Mixed Media Multiples online at the OnlineArtRetreats.
She has a background in academia and the corporate world and has returned home to her studio. Read all about her on Facebook and her site.
Bugle and seed beads are embedded among the collaged areas of textures on Monica Rotta’s three-medallion necklace. The neutral colors make this piece both wearable and dramatic. Here’s a closeup of the textures.
A look at Monica’s Flickr and Facebook pages is like an instant vacation as you browse through her rustic northern Italian market stall and look at the glamourous women modeling her jewelry.
Want more? Here’s an earlier PCD post about Monica.
Perhaps we should call the first posts of the week Matchy Mondays because it’s on Monday that I’m most drawn to polymer works that coordinate with PCD’s colors.
Consider these beautifully graduated and sharply creased beads from the Czech Republic’s Dana Phamova. She plays with the light and shadow caused by the bent surfaces. Here’s another of her light/shadow experiments.
Her beautiful Skinner-blended colors are accented by a few judiciously placed light colored dots. A close look shows that the texture is created with hand-applied pin pricks. She shows a work-in-process shot here.
Dana calls this series Dreaming Cucarachas. Cockroaches? That title breaks the zen mood, doesn’t it? You can catch the vibe again (lots of polymer scratching and distressing) on Facebook and Pinterest.
Sandra Deyoung Niese’s (DandyBeads) imitative beach finds look appealing on her Etsy site at this time of year. She lives in Michigan but her heart and her polymer designs live in a warmer climate.
This 2″ wire-wrapped pendant is painted with sea blue and sand acrylics and delicately distressed with sea urchin patterns.
If you need some sun and sand to brighten your day, look at Sandra’s beautifully wave-washed polymer pieces on Facebook and Pinterest. This one’s sold. I’m wearing a pretty piece of beach on a cord to ward off snow. It’s not working but I don’t care.
Christine Damm’s hearts are wild and spontaneous and very much her. She’d like you to throw away all your templates and cutters!
Christine explains to her students that, “Your piece will become truly unique only if you address every single aspect of its design and source or design it yourself. That means devising your own shapes and forms whenever possible.”
She recommends a quick-sketching method to discover your own heart. “The shape itself means something to us culturally and anthropologically on a subconscious level. It’s also a very universal symbol.”
Before you start cutting out polymer hearts this week, doodle a page or two of your own valentines. You may find that your heart is in a different place and has taken on a new shape in 2015. Christine wears her heart on Pinterest, her site and Flickr.
Did you make paper beads from magazines and glue when you were a kid? Do you have a soft spot in your heart for these easy beads in polymer?
Margit Boehmer recently rolled these lovely chalked and textured versions. You can see her latest ones here and buy them on Etsy.
I dug out Dayle Doroshow’s versions from 2011 for you to examine too. Dayle used her scraps, flattening the rolls with stamps as a last step and then adding a contrasting color wash.
All that you need are tall triangles of flattened polymer. Wind each triangle up from wide to narrow around a rod.
Paper beads in polymer are easy and great for holiday projects, no matter how you roll.
For this decorated vase London’s Olga Perova uses Jana Roberts Benzon’s New Age Bargello methods and applies them to a vessel rather than jewelry. The result is stunning.
Olga cut autumn colored sheets of raised bargello textures into leaf shapes that drape comfortably over the 11″ x 5″ vase’s curves. The rugged terrain of this pattern is best enjoyed up close and the vase shows it off to real advantage.
Here’s Olga on Facebook and Etsy. You may remember her earlier vessels on PCD in September.
A look through Jana’s bargello photos shows you how she continues to push polymer to new textural limits that her students take in all directions.
Leave a comment on Polyform’s FB page to be entered in their drawing for a pasta machine! Today’s the day.
Slovenia’s Klavdija Kurent limits her polymer color palette and concentrates on textures, twists and surface treatments that tease the eye and beg to be examined by hand.
Klavdija will reveal her secrets at EuroSynergy in her Let’s Twist Again workshop. See what she’s talking about on her Flickr pages, her blog and on Facebook.
EuroSynergy represents a new direction in polymer art and I’ll be explaining which direction we’re headed with the opening speech entitled Those who tell the stories rule the world. The promo photos show someone who looks like she knows her stuff. The secret is that I rely on you, dear readers.
Isn’t it time you took a chance too? If I go out on a limb with my predictions, you can surely join me on that limb by showing your art. You can enter your artwork in the IPCA Awards competition from now until mid-January. Here’s the how-to-apply information.
Genevieve Williamson and her family were dropped off on a remote island in the South Atlantic for the summer (check out Saint Helena) and she’s recently returned to her rural Pennsylvania home. Her father installed a new skylight in her attic studio while she was away that may make you jealous.
Genevieve has taken the dust covers off her work table as she dives into work for a gallery show. Already you can see that her months of a simpler life have changed her approach to clay. These simple strands of tubing in subtle shades, shifting diameters and slim palettes may hint at what’s to come.
She’s also added some variations to her earring project that was featured in Polymer Clay Global Perspectives. Has your summer changed your work?
Betsy Baker knows how to deliver sophistication and elegance with her polymer. Her designs are refined, consistent and understated with a hint of rebellion in her textures and surprise in her shapes.
Betsy sells at shows around Boston almost every weekend. Her refined delivery extends to other areas of her business as well.
She moves her booth and her inventory by taxi since she doesn’t drive. And because the meter is running, she packs and loads her display and wares with efficiency and speed. Flip through her Facebook photos to catch of glimpse her setup and her system.
How I envy Betsy’s skills as I pack and sort for a trip out west. Enjoy your weekend!
