Matchy matchy

A new necklace from Laurel Swetnam updates an old favorite on PolymerClayDaily.com

Oregon’s Laurel Swetnam was bummed that her schedule forces her to miss her friends’ Clayathon class about using what’s in your closet to come up with new palettes and patterns.

Laurel grabbed a much-loved top that gives her a sunny glow every time she puts it on and headed to her studio to try out the concept.

She scored! Her riff on the pattern includes dotted and striped tubes that enhance but don’t compete with the flowery batik pattern.

If you’d like some pointers about how you can mix and match accurately without going overboard, grab a seat in the online class with Shelley Atwood and Joan Tayler.

Give your old favorites new life.

StudioMojo lets you in on all sorts of behind-the-scenes happenings every Saturday. Sign up here!

Ancient polymer faience

Mari O'Dell's Egyptian mummy beads on PolymerClayDaily.com

Don’t try to predict where your ideas will take you. Hop on Mari O’Dell’s magic carpet to see what I mean.

Mari’s journey started in the mummy section of the NYC Met Museum where she hung out as a teenager.

Recently she took my “Slots and Dots” online polymer class and reconnected with her Egyptian impulses. She learned to extrude narrow tube beads like those found in the layers of mummy wrappings. In Mari’s version, a scarab and beads dusted with metallics are interspersed with her imitative ancient faience tubes.

Beads are an ancient form of art and currency. Their echoes still ricochet around the globe. Please wait until the carpet comes to a complete stop before you leave your seat. Who says we can’t travel during a pandemic?

If you’d like to recharge your batteries, join us over at StudioMojo.

After the show, new ideas

Genevieve Williamson's tubes pop with color and other surprises on PolymerClayDaily.com

The pop of spring colors against the black background gives an element of surprise to Genevieve Williamson’s extruded tube necklace. (I’d extrude but maybe she rolled them by hand.)

Genevieve says she’s home from the ACC Baltimore show and ready to jump back in and refine this design. The tangle of loops on one side adds to the surprise. Let’s watch and see how her idea develops.

Join us tonight for the 15th I LOVE TOOLS on Craftcast

Speaking of new developments, you’ll want to be sure to attend tonight’s free I Love Tools podcast on Craftcast at 7:30 ET. I’ll be there covering some of the hot tools for polymer artists. Mags Bonham will cover the latest developments from the Silhouette side of things.

It’s free and fun and available later if you’re too many time zones away. Bring a beverage and party with us tonight!

The yin and yang of polymer

Kate Lee Foley big tube bead necklaces on PolymerClayDaily.com

Australia’s Kate Lee Foley makes big freeform single tube bead necklaces as a relaxing interlude to making tight, complex canes.

On Instagram you can see how she dances between chaos and control, enjoying both impulses.

This Saturday on StudioMojo we’ll look at others who like to nourish both sides of their brains. Some artists wrestle with their vision with a singular focus.

What does it take to keep your muse happy and your mojo working? Come on over and find out.

This way and that

Same color, different shapes strung together by Genevieve Williamson on PolymerClayDaily

These big-hole tube beads from Pennsylvania’s Genevieve Williamson are sculpted and carved into pleasant shapes that stack together in an unpredictable way that makes the eye search for symmetry and pattern.

Color is the unifying element and soothing shapes are the icing on this cake.

She shows them off on Instagram.

Playing with bright bits

Germany's Eliska Koliosova plays with shapes and bits of pattern on PolymerClayDaily.com

The way Germany’s Eliska Koliosova (fimeli) experiments with tube beads and plays with extruded patterns makes me want to know more about her and her work.

She’s quite elusive on her Flickr pages that contain mostly dreamy photographs with polymer experiments sprinkled in. Look at how she plays with shapes and scrappy bits in this necklace.

My interest in finding meaning in beads made from scraps has taken me to strange and interesting areas. I’ll be taking the month of November off to explore this phenomenon and write about it. No PCD for a month!

Writing daily is such a habit that taking a break scares me. This week and then some time off. It will be good for our relationship, right?

In a NY-minute from Moscow

Galka Vasina reveals her graphic tricks in a NY minute on PolymerClayDaily

This superfast video from Moscow’s Galka-Vasina starts the day with a most welcome kick in the pants!

I had admired how foggy and amorphous her graphic-patterned terra cotta beads looked. One glance at the video and you’ll be smacking your forehead like I did. Nuff said!

Looks like they’re soon doing a live online event about these methods if you care to figure out the time change.

Body length necklaces

Bonnie Bishoff goes long on PolymerClayDaily.com

Her body length necklaces are the last of Bonnie Bishoff’s Twelve Days of Jewelry series on Facebook. Her angular tube beads are longer than what might seem reasonable but they’re appealing and eye-catching in such a long piece.

Bonnie adds a few thin heishi beads between the tubes to make them join more gracefully. Each tube is covered with random veneers in a palette of blues and greens.

The wheels in my brain kick into gear and I can’t help but ask myself, “What if?”

What’s your “what if” idea for 2018?

Soft, hollow, complex translucents

Germany’s Kathrin Neumaier has moved on from simple translucent beads to more complex shapes like the pale hollow bead below which she has electro-formed with copper.Her solid imitative glass drop earrings have a warm mellow glow about them.

Kathrin explains that her collection of long Soft String polymer necklaces are colored with inks (as shown here) or chalks. You’ll want to explore her large upload of new works to Flickr.

Layers of complexity

Kathryn Corbin’s pieces in the sales gallery at EuroSynergy had usual touches – epoxy sculpted findings (for strength), tube beads with windows, heavily textured beads made of white polymer and colored only with pastels and crayons. Her pieces have a mysterious depth and complexity.

The tube beads are rolled (not extruded) to emphasize their handmade quality. The window in the larger diameter tube reveals another bead underneath (click to see the details on the blue beads below). Recently Kathryn added a gauzy nude portrait brooch (pastel again) that floats on a sharp geometric base.

It was great fun to pal around with Kathryn who’s from Massachusetts and speaks French. She’s not very flashy online. You have to prowl around in Facebook to discover her treasures.

1 2 ›