Mira (Pinki) Krispil began working with polymer in 2005 after operations on her hands. She went on to not only rehabilitate her hands but also to head up the Israeli Polymer Clay Guild. It’s not surprising that her sculptures and vases are imbued with joy, optimism, mischieviousness and humor. Here’s her Etsy gallery.
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Start your week with a big helping of polymer pie from Madrid’s Fabi. She heaps up nine polymer clay decorative bowls in graduated sizes. The shaping, carving and painting of white polymer makes these into a most appetizing pile of saucers that stack up into a lovely sculpture.
You can see Fabi’s progress from white to color on her site. She’ll be offering this class in her studio. Rebecca Watkins pointed us to the link.
The Stroppel cane has traveled around quickly after Friday’s post. See two examples that popped up on the weekend from Randee Ketzel in Texas and Elsie Smith (Sweet2Spicy) in Vancouver.
A brand new site from Maryland’s Mari O’Dell fills in nicely while the Colorado network taunts us with an intermittent signal.
Mari extrudes polymer with an Asian influence to create a great selection of jewelry, treasure boxes and beloved bowls. After 30 years as a public school teacher and travels around the world, she’s settled into teaching and creating with polymer in her treehouse studio.
The quote that guides her is, “To the wise, life is a festival.”
Do a happy dance for this terrific polymer artist who joins the online community.
This stunning purse by Italy’s Ariane Freisleben is just one of the lovely results from Kathleen Dustin’s recent Working Outside the Box polymer class in Liechtenstein. Even more up-close pix from Leila Bidler here.
The students must have been attentive because their works look very accomplished.
These paper and polymer vessels from Madrid’s Fabi may bring a smile to your Monday. The quirky finishing touches are polymer shapes with a Dr. Seuss feel.
The pots themselves are made from “serpentinas”, paper strips wound into a tight coil and pushed into shape. Even if your Spanish isn’t strong, you’ll catch how they’re made on this YouTube video. (Paper streamers may be common in some places or quilling strips would work.)
Once Fabi got started she couldn’t resist adding polymer finials and making ornaments and earrings and other trinkets.
Fabi’s interests are wide-ranging as we’ve seen in earlier posts. Look at her Flickr page and her blog to see what she’s been up to.
Jana Lehmann’s spring polymer line draws you in with bright color, gradations and patterns.
Then you find your eyes darting to shapes and dimensions. Layers and hollows make you linger.
Spring is certainly in the air around Jana’s studio in Germany! What started out as a gift for a friend has grown into a whole new collection. Have you caught spring fever yet?
The armature for Christi Friesen’s latest wrap vessels may make you smile. She uses a ball of wet toilet paper!
Christi reveals that, “The technique is simply to take some toilet paper, get it wet, wad it into a ball and wring out the excess water. Wrap the clay around the ball and sculpt! The paper provides firmness to work against so you’re not poking through the vessel when you try to add details. Once the vessel is baked, just submerge the pot in water until the toilet paper gets all dissolvey. Then pull it out. It’s fun.”
Her new vessels will be in the next issue of American Style magazine and her annual eBay sale is happening this week.
This polymer clay and pine needle basket by Victoria James is a lovely example of the mixed media pieces that will be on view in the exhibit at Synergy2. “Creating baskets pulls together my love for textiles, construction, and three-dimensional forms,” she says.
Following the exhibit theme, the artists sewed, sculpted, wove, and collaged polymer in unusual ways and combined it with unexpected materials. Preview and order the 80-page exhibit catalog online now.
Conference goers who order this week can save the shipping by preordering here and picking up their copies in Baltimore. I assembled the catalog for the IPCA (love that Blurb.com software) and I’m sure you’ll find it a great resource and a treasured memento.
“I was taught to embroider at the age of five. I have been a detail freak ever since,” says Virginia polymer artist Angie Wiggins.
Angie started in polymer in 1987 when she needed better beads to embellish her handmade paper and fiber bowls. The clay also satisifed her intense color needs. She’s added some new eye-popping pieces to her gallery that you’ll want to oggle.
I’ll round up the judges and pick a winner Saturday afternoon. There’s still time to enter by leaving a comment (on yesterday’s post). Have a winning weekend.
Jeff Dever belatedly checked his email when he saw that others had heard about their Niche Award status and found that two of his works have been selected. This one, Nestled Repose, is a finalist in the teapot category. It’s on display through November 8 at the Fuller Craft Museum.
The second, a basket called Tidal Ephemera, is in the running in either the mixed media or recycled category. Jeff felt that it was a good sign to see polymer artists, “….making inroads into categories that are not polymer clay exclusive.”
If you missed the Fuller Craft posts, check here. View Jeff’s video of his Edensong Reverie installation here.
