Polymeri Online - Iris Mishly Polymer Clay Blog

Frankfurt, Here I Come! :)

2012-01-20T16:45:00.007+02:00

You can never know what will be the result of a small local showcase.

I am so excited to share with you the news:

In exactly 6 days I will be on my way to Germany for a very special event as a guest artist of Staedtler - The "Creative World" 2012 fair.

But first things first, here is some background -

A while ago our local FIMO importer along with Staedtler Germany and the Israeli polymer clay guild held an event discussing new trends in the polymer clay world and introducing new materials by Staedtler.

The event included demonstrations, goody bags (of course!) and artistic showcase by the local Israeli polymer clay guild members.

Since I was in the middle of my "Bags Fever Season", I chose to present 3 of my "Brocade Collection" pouches, in 3 different sizes.

At the end of the event, one of Staedtler representatives approached me and complimented me on the unique design of the bags, asked technical questions about the design, technique and materials, and then we said goodbye and I returned home.

Few weeks later, I got an email from Staedtler asking me to be their presenter and guest artist in "Creative World 2012" trade fair, taking place at the end of January in Frankfurt, Germany.

This show is introducing new trend of hobbies, as well as providing interesting workshops and live demonstrations, and they asked me to showcase my unique purses designs.

As you can guess I was very proud and happy to accept this wonderful offer!

The fair will take place on 28-31Jan @ Messe Frankfurt, with more than 50,000 people from all over the world coming, I will demonstrate my special flower canning and the "Brocade Collection" purses, giving a glimpse to an endless world of possibilities.

For the last couple of weeks I have been working on new bag designs using the new FIMO texture sheets, these sheets are wonderful, easy to use and they include fabulous new designs and patterns such as leather pattern, wood, crocodile skin, music notes, lace, baroque designs and many more!

The bags colors were influenced by the new color palette by FIMO (pastel colors) using new combinations and shapes (glasses bag).

In addition, I contributed my own edition of elegant fountain pens, which will be soon available in stores and joining the great collection of accessories by Staedtler.

This event is going to be a wonderful artistic experience, I hope I'll have some time to see a bit of that "creative goods" and I promise to keep you posted.

More photos of my new designs can be seen in my flickr gallery @

http://www.flickr.com/photos/irismishly/

If you get the chance to come and visit, or live close to Frankfurt - Please come and say hello!

I will be more than happy to see polymer friends! :)

Polymeri Online 17.1.12 | Red dotted acorns, Sleeping cat tutorial, Pirate decoration & 19 steps face cane tutorial

2012-01-17T14:01:00.004+02:00

Don't you just love these adorable red ornaments acorns?

Patricia Buzo is the creator behind Doodle Bird's terrarium designs, She comes from a long line of artistically-minded family and originally started out as a watercolor artist in her teens, In 2008 she began to have health issues and started looking into other creative avenues. These acorns are made with real acorn caps and polymer clay, the "nut" is sculpted to fit perfectly into it's cap.

http://www.etsy.com/listing/62108208/set-of-5-toadstool-farm-acorn-ornaments

Cara Hayman's sleeping cat tutorial is a quick and easy project to play with, Cara used polymer clay since childhood creating tea sets and miniature food for her dolls house. Now as a stay at home mum she finally finds the time to develop her passion for polymer.

http://www.carajane.co.uk/2012/01/my-sleeping-cat-tutorial.html

http://www.flickr.com/photos/surfingcatclay/

Bébelles de Lou's flickr tutorials "folder" is filled with cute ideas, you are welcome to check out her blog for more projects.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bebellesdelou/sets/72157624494160326/

http://polyblog.canalblog.com/

And another quick tutorial project for a face cane by Galka Vasina, 19 steps and you're all done! ;)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/27568198@N04/6660398311/in/contacts/

The new PolyPediaOnline eCatalog - With 37 tutorials, how could you not get creative?

2012-01-14T11:56:00.004+02:00

Polymer clay, as a new material in the craft world, is constantly evolving.

New ideas, new techniques, tricks and tips; Inspiration and innovation are a part of our daily life as artists in heart and soul.

I feel very fortunate to be "an ambassador" in the polymer clay world and introduce these new ideas to you, challenging you to pull your artistic limits to new dimensions.

PolyPediaOnline is celebrating 2 years now, growing bigger and slowly becoming the most detailed and comprehensive polymer clay teaching resource online.

It's only obvious that the need to organize all the materials offered in the website is becoming a-must.

In a special project I summarized all the information on the 37 tutorials, dozens projects, kits, videos and PDF's and gathered them in a single PDF file available for free download -The PolyPediaOnline eCatalog.

This eCatalog will help you find your preferred subjects and go through the complete variety of the tutorials offered in PolyPediaOnline website in an organized file including vol. numbers, class level and details.

If you want to learn new techniques in polymer clay, improve your skills, find out the most important time saving tips; or maybe you want to become an expert, and turn your hobby to your livelihood - You are welcome to join the thousands of PolyPediaOnline members and hundreds of students and choose from the 37 most innovative, informative, up-to-date, advanced and high-quality tutorials offered online.

The eCatalog is organized according to vol. numbers or subjects, under each tutorial you will find an active link to direct you to PolyPediaOnline website for more details and pricing. Some tutorials have special deals or bundles so check them out.

For the special launch of the eCatalog I will be offering a one-time discount of 15% off all my tutorials for 1 week only- until 21 Jan 2012!

This special discount will give you the option to purchase your "wish list" tutorials in a special discounted price even if you missed their launching promo sales.

Mention "eCatalog SALE" in the message to the seller and a 15% refund will be send to you in PayPal.

I am certain that you will find a new and exciting technique you wish to learn and give yourself a special gift that will upgrade your polymer clay skills.

As always, I will be happy to answer any question or query regarding my master classes, and if you have a special request, please email me to imishly@gmail.com and I will consider creating a special tutorial matching your request! :)

Let me know what you think about the eCatalog!

If you think something is missing or you found a mistake - I'd be happy to know.

Click here to visit the eCatalog page -

http://www.polypediaonline.com/133688/polymer_clay_ecatalog_polypediaonline

Thank you!

Iris :)

Polymeri Online 5.1.12 | 3D beads, Watercolor jewelry, Knitted doll brooches, Polymer razor art

2012-01-05T17:48:00.008+02:00

Conny lives in northern Germany and has some eye catching designs on her website and flickr gallery, her mokume gane beads are perfect and I loved her recent design made of small circles placed in layers, giving a wonderful 3D feel to the clay. Take a look a her flickr and you'll find lot's of goodies.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/way-of-clay/

http://www.way-of-clay.de/

Alica's water color beads and necklace looks like wrapped pearls, the turquoise shades and creamy spacers reminds me of a clear clear sea shore water with white-creamy sand.

If you need a reminder on the technique, here is Maggie Maggio's tutorial to create the watercolor beads.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/alica19/6634418865/in/photostream

Irina Rybak from Ukraine creates funny brooches that will make you smile, they are "polymer knitted" with scarves, sweat-shirts and hats. so cute!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/IrenkaR

Take a look at what can be created from the handles of razors! Beautiful lines, designs and textures! Marlene Brady was featured about 2 weeks ago and this one is another treasure of hers! Time to go "shave'in"! LOL ;)

http://itsallaboutcreating.blogspot.com/2010/12/disposable-razors.html

I am working like crazy on new samples to a new event I will be attending abroad in 3 weeks, more details (and photos!) soon :)

Clay away!

Polymeri Online 28.12.11 | Irregular polymer earrings, Particles necklace, Nuna the cat and Naive jewelry

2011-12-28T14:46:00.009+02:00

Jillian Moore designs has special irregular amorphous shapes, earrings, beads, brooches, no standard beads and jewelry in her gallery, she works with polymer clay, resin, paints and sometimes foam to build her ooak designs.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jillian_moore/

http://www.etsy.com/shop/phlaznatch

Veruschka is the artist behind Veru Designs polymer clay jewelry, There is a very unique story that precedes the birth of every necklace, bracelet or ring which determines its shape, size, coloring and meaning. According to her, In the necklace shown here, it's "the beauty of tiny creatures in the microscopic universe: particles, bacteria, viruses, etc. Each of the five "bulbs" in this necklace are inspired by a handful of these strangely creatures, in an effort to make this invisible world visible to the human eye".

http://www.flickr.com/photos/veebeads/4746461581/in/set-72157623921674160/

http://verudesigns.com/

Kathy De WitSint-Pauwels from Belgium is an illustrator, designer and dreamer lives in a little village in the northern part of Belgium. NUNA was born out of polymer clay and hand painted with acrylics. I admire such kind of painting, it's amazing how many details in such a small piece!

http://www.etsy.com/listing/88969680/nuna-brooch

http://www.flickr.com/photos/_eldibujodelgato/

Matilda Broz is from Stockholm, but living in sunny Montenegro, like many of the artists she got an university degree in another field (law), but upon realizing that law is not for her she dedicate her energy to design. She works as a graphic designer in an advertising company, but in her spare time she plays with fimo and wire. Her Etsy and Flickr are full of hand painted delights, cute designs that reminds me children books. I loved her birds studs!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/matildabroz/6573966259/in/contacts/

http://www.etsy.com/shop/Ribizla

Hope you're having a wonderful holiday!

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-24T11:26:00.007+02:00

To all my dear polymer clay friends,

From warm and sunny Israel, I am wishing you all a wonderful, warm holiday, with lot's of creative spirit in heart for the coming 2012!

and a moment before the holiday is at your door step, here is a cute tutorial, by Wendy Orlowski.

Something to play with on your holiday vacation :)

Best wishes for a joyous holiday season,

Have a great time!

Polymeri Online 20.12.11 | Christmas & Hannuka, Poinsettia cane tutorial, Lemon's teeth, Crochet "finger" and Christmas tree ornament tutorial

2011-12-20T12:15:00.006+02:00

Everywhere I go online I see Christmas or Hannuka designs and ideas, dreidels, Christmas ornaments, menorahs - Festive and holiday-ish! :) Here is another decor celebration by CrazyKwilter made with the Stroppel cane,

and Filigree decorations by Amber Elledge

Gifts, decorations - Lot's of preperations for the holidays! I hope you're not too exhausted!

Another holiday themed project is offered in Sandy's blog - A Poinsettia cane tutorial

I also loved her idea for the Flower variegated cane tutorial -

http://blog.simple-inspirations.com/2010/05/flower-variegated-cane-tutorial-week-20.html

Moving to another thing -This lemon bag is something. I found it in Teia Fetescu blog and had to take another look. Teia is so funny and writes so well! The story starts with a dog called lemon who started to loose it's baby teeth, Her friend came up with an idea to incorporate them into a clay piece to preserve them so he made a lemon head around a metallic tea strainer and used Lemon’s tooth for the face. When it was ready he used it a scented bag in his car. What was surprising to Teia is that the teeth were not oven proof! they cracked while baking! A bit funny - don't you think? This is such an original idea I had to share with you!

http://claycorner.hubak.ch/blog/?p=749

And last, more related to the previous holiday - Halloween - take a look at this polymer "finger" crochet hook by Marlene Brady. It's so funny! She almost fooled me! :)

http://itsallaboutcreating.blogspot.com/2011/10/polymer-crochet-hook.html

Really last - I am reminding you about my free Christmas tree ornament tutorial offered in YouTube -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMTc4CNcYPY

Have a great Hannuka and a Merry Christmas!

Polymeri Online 12.12.11 | Crown pin, Gauged ears earrings, Embossed pendant tutorial, Fun memory game & Enchanted Garden giveaway

2011-12-12T07:59:00.011+02:00

Getting ready for the holiday, here is a super cute polymer clay crown pin for a little princess by Daria. Daria is from Kyiv, Ukraine and designs stuff as far as she remembers, first clothes and accessories for her dolls, fabric flowers, drawing, beading and so much more! she graduated from Fine arts school but choose another way and has PhD in molecular biology. Now, as a stay at home mom, she finds the time to create jewelry, some with polymer clay.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dariami/http://dariami.livejournal.com

These earrings by PeachTreats made me take a 2nd look. At first, I couldn't find how to insert them into the ear, then I realized, that she makes earrings for both gauged ears and for regular pierced ears. if you aren’t sure what she means by “gauged ears”—that is when the earring hole is stretched. They are all made of polymer clay!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/PeachTreats

Elsita posted an interesting tutorial on using both paper and polymer to create an interesting pendant. She is tracing a drawing on paper, cutting and pressing the paper against the polymer to create an embossed design. Looks like a wonderful project!

http://elsita.typepad.com/elsita/2011/12/my-papercut-on-polymer-clay-tutorial.html

http://www.flickr.com/photos/9510030@N05

Here is a fun memory game project, originally not created with polymer clay but we can do the same with clay. Take identical coins (use the smallest exchange you have) and glue on it a pre-baked polymer clay design that matches in size and color or pattern - 2 of each. Now you have a wonderful memory game to play with the children!

http://scrumdillydo.blogspot.com/2011/12/holiday-fun-edible-memory-game.html

I was a "proud mom" this week! 2 of my students - Fimomaus and chiccolove made wonderful "Enchanted Garden" canes and even held a competition between them who's going to be first to create them all! They were sure fast like a pasta machine motor! :)

The "Enchanted Garden" special holiday sale is still on with few giveaway sets left!

You will get "Enchanted Garden originals" to your door as giveaway gifts!

Don't miss your ooak holiday souvenirs!

How a trip to the gardening nursery gave birth to 14 new canes

2011-12-02T20:31:00.003+02:00

The Enchanted Garden project was born after a visit to a gardening nursery.

My friend was celebrating her birthday and when I asked her what is her preferred gift, she said - "buy me a nice plant for my living room, something to grow indoors".

While looking around for the right plant, I noticed one special plant with unusual leaf shape and pattern. This leaf almost looked like plastic! I couldn't believe such a plant is real, so I asked the salesman and he told me it's name was "Maranta", "Red Maranta" plant.

That sparkled an idea in my mind -

I'll create a special tutorial for unique, fantasy leaves canes!

I started a quest in search for exotic flowers and leaves, transforming them to polymer clay canes.

Advanced, sophisticated, un-usual, imaginary designs with surprising colors you won't see in nature.

When I sat at my clay table, I started with the traditional "greens" and slowly found myself "wandering" towards vibrant colors and "delicious" patterns. Planning is one thing and muse is a whole different matter.

All these fun experiments produced 14 quality classes for creating magical leaf canes.

After creating several leaves, I started playing with them, shaping them into flowers and they looked beautiful! Leaves that turn into petals that turn into flowers!

Create one cane - get 3 options! Leaves, petals & flowers!

In this new set of tutorials, there are no traditional everyday flowers!

In the "Enchanted Garden" you will discover imaginary, marvelous canes that will spark your inspiration and give you endless new ideas for your next designs and polymer clay projects.

Click here to read (and see) more

P.S - There is a great holiday giveaway as well!!

Polymeri Online 28.11.11 | Doll pins, Flower buds, Israel inspired quilt & Cool stylus tool

2011-11-28T13:39:00.005+02:00

Pilar (previously featured) posted some of her cool doll pins (or pendants) made of polymer clay mixed with fabric and metal as a base. There are bunch of those in her flickr gallery so don't miss it, they are so cute.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/amatista/6409447741/in/contacts/

Julie VanDuren made beautiful flower buds made of polymer clay. Millefiori canes and textured sheets all curled up into a beautiful bouquet.

Don't miss her Gerbera flowers posted on facebook, they look almost real!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jvdbeads/5839471039/in/photostream

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2179163333049.116438.1665890246&type=3

Mira Krispil from the Israeli polymer clay guild posted a link to a video showing Laurie Mika's work, which was presented in the Talmadge Art Show in San Diego. The art show featured 83 artists doing handmade, recycled art using materials used for other purposes before.

Laurie's work was a quilt inspired by her trip to Israel and included salt from the dead sea, tiles and more, roll forward to 3:28 minutes in the video. The show took place on November 20th.
Wish I had a better photo of the piece, I'm sure it's amazing as her other quilts.

Another link by Mira was this site - showing a VERY cool blade - Stylus QuickArt to use with metal clay but seems to fit polymer clay as well. Looks tempting - right? This site has some neat tools for you guys, I'm sure you'll add it to your wishlist.

http://www.metalclaysupply.com/QuikArt-Stylus-p/54381.htm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLZe3GQUzdQ&feature=player_embedded#!

That's all for this week! Have a great weekend!

Polymeri Online 20.11.11 | Treasure box pendant, Christmas tiny magnets, Experimenting with translucent clays and an Elephant cane

2011-11-20T21:08:00.005+02:00

Russian EvraZhka (Karina) posted a cool treasure box pendant tutorial along with diagrams and detailed info. You'll need to translate this page, I am using my chrome translator to translate the page from Russian to English.

http://evrazhka.blogspot.com/2011/09/blog-post_24.html

Cathy DiGiovanni is making Christmas magnets & pins for over a month now, take a look at these cute magnets decorating her fridge!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cathytx2001/6364919567/

Italian Francesca Di Cesare (MoKuCrea) experimented with translucent clays and shows her results in her flickr gallery. Her experiment is showing different clay types, in various curing temperatures over a sheet of book showing us it's translucency. Pardo, Kato, Cernit, Premo, Fimo - all the polymer "gang" is there.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mokucrea/

among her tests she is also enjoying her time with polymer clay art

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mokucrea/4624546351/in/photostream

Take a look at this amazing elephant cane tutorial by kalinkapolinka. According to her it is not as good as she expected (I disagree!) and it's for those who already tried to make pictured cane and understand the basic techniques.

http://www.kalinkapolinka.ru/publ/master_klassy/master_klass_po_lepke_kejna_slona_iz_polimernoj_gliny/2-1-0-16

New Video - Filling a metal bezel with polymer clay

2011-11-16T10:03:00.004+02:00

My sister is moving to a new home and asked me to create "mezuzah" (doorpost) to her house doors (in fact, I made 14 of them).

In jewish tradition the mezuzah cases are placed on every doorway at home apart from bathrooms. Inside the metal mezuzah there is a piece of parchment inscribed with specified Hebrew verses from the Torah. The mezuzah is also a symbol of Gods watchful care over the home.

While I was working, I kept the camera working and here is a short tutorial on how to place polymer clay design inside a metal bezel - in my case it's a mezuzah case but you can do the same with any metal bezel.

All you have to do is measure the size of the inside space of your bezel and draw it on a paper (white or parchment), then create your design.

I made a simple geometric pattern made of silver clay, square skinner blend cane and stripes cane. The design was placed on a second sheet (background) and then flatten a bit to tighten well to the background sheet.

Liquid polymer clay was placed on the metal bezel and the design is placed inside the bezel.

Texture and decorations can be added - and it's ready!

Dear sis! wishing you congratulations on your new home! :)

Polymeri Online 12.11.11 | Chain bracelet, Felt & polymer ring, Chess set, Christmas ornament and Rolled beads

2011-11-12T10:37:00.007+02:00

I'm home! Italy was wonderful! a little bit rainy on the beginning but after that the weather was great - Milano, Florence and Tuscany, Venice, Murano, Ferrari Museum (plus a real ride on a Ferrari car!), Piza, San Gimignano, Siena, Roma - an amazing trip and an amazing birthday!

But's it's always good to be back home :)

So back to work!

Spanish artist Mariana Constantinescu made an interesting chain bracelet

http://www.flickr.com/photos/marianna700/3288206081/in/faves-51136446@N06/

she is mostly working in the millefiori technique but you can find more intriguing designs in her gallery such as this black and white necklace -

http://www.flickr.com/photos/marianna700/3375659491/in/photostream

Zuzzik is working with Fimo and felt in her polymer clay designs, this ring, called "fire", is using polymer clay and orange felt bursting out of it - I love it!

She is from Prague, Czech Republic.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/zuzzik/4493786194/in/photostream

http://www.zuzzik.webgarden.cz/

Ana Kuhnen - Marmelinhas' was featured before in PolymeriOnline but this chess set is so cute I had to share it with you.

My DH is still waiting for his personal polymer clay chess set and every time I see one that I like I remember that I have to make one for him as I promised long time ago.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/marmelinhas/5960892058/in/photostream

Getting ready to the holidays here is a tutorial for covering round ornaments by Eilaine of Tooaquarious -

http://www.tooaquarius.com/learn/tutorials/covering-round-ornaments/

Luisa's flicker gallery has some cool beads and a cool tool to make beads using self-made 2 rollers made of plastic pipes

http://www.flickr.com/photos/-_lu_-/6325635575/in/photostream

See you soon with more news, links and new tutorials!

"The Polymer Arts" Giveaway Winners!

2011-11-03T09:12:00.008+02:00

I'm just about to start packing my suitcases so here is a quick note on the special giveaway by "The Polymer Arts" -

The winners are comments no. 9, 11, 44!

Congratulations !!! :)

A notification will be send to your emails and the subscription details will follow from the polymer arts editorial staff.

Thank you all for taking a part!

I'm off to make a birthday cake - it's my daughter's birthday as well, 15 years ago she was my birthday gift!

Have a wonderful day everyone!

Polymeri Online 2.11.11 | Ghost Shift Fish, Kyoto Geikos mix media, Fimo tutorials & Autumn bracelet

2011-11-02T13:15:00.006+02:00

I stumbled upon Sue Corrie's polymer clay and copper designs and was enchanted! This wonderful fish done with both materials is a refreshing combination and the possibilities are endless. When she thought to give up on being a full time artist she fell in love with polymer clay. Her projects are often completed in the moonlight hours when the family is sleeping- the Ghost Shift. She says ‘Dr Who’ fans know that the Ghost Shift was, I'm sure my son does!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ghostshift/6291429338/in/photostream

Sharon House from Victoria, British Columbia, Canada loves to clay, as a mixed media artist she entered into Fine Arts Shows and lately have had accepted into a local gallery. Among her many talents she is also a story teller, not just for kids, for grown ups as well! It took her a while to find her passion with clay and few years into it, she is starting to figure that out. Much to her surprise, it’s not caning but more sculpture and what she would consider “practical stuff”.

You're invited to take a look at her cool "toothpick bead tool" - wonderful to bake or to dry your beads after varnish!

and one of her polymer pieces -

http://www.mystoryart.com/2011/05/wonderful-birthday-surprise.html

If you haven't yet visited in STAEDTLER fimo Creative tips page with cool tutorials and colorful ideas - You are welcome!

http://www.staedtler.co.th/creative_tips_for_FIMO_home_decorating_ideas_th.Staedtler

"Autumn in Scottish Mountains" bracelet by Czech Katerina Tumova has wonderful pattern inside. She has made an additional brooch with the same technique, almost looks like wooden design.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/68592908@N07/6294511439/in/contacts/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/68592908@N07/6294511733/in/photostream

Stay tuned - Tomorrow is the big day - 3 "events"!! :)

1st, I will announce the 3 winners of "The Polymer Arts" Magazine, if you haven't yet entered - it's your last chance today.

2nd, I'm celebrating my 40's!! OMG, I don't feel 40!

3rd A short vacation in Italy for my birthday with DH, I'm sure it's going to be wonderful!

see ya!

Special Giveaway! The Polymer Arts Magazine & The Brocade Collection

2011-10-29T07:34:00.006+02:00

The Polymer Arts magazine, the new magazine on the block is about to publish it's 2nd issue, this time it's all about instruction & education with many new ideas, articles and content.

The 1st issue was so interesting, covering new articles that are informative both to pro and semi-pro polymer clay artists: articles such as how to become a wholesale seller, marketing skills and much more. I have the 1st issue next to my bed, with every page flip I find something new I haven't read before :)

The new and exciting feature is the digital subscription - -It's exactly the same as the print version, just in digital format! Digital purchasers receive a downloadable PDF file and, for the first 3 months after publication, have access to an online digital flipbook available from any computer.

Why am I telling you all this?

Getting ready to the 2nd issue with my "Brocade Collection" purses on the cover, dear Sage Bray has generously given you all a special giveaway!

3 of my PolymeriOnline blog readers will receive a digital subscription to the 1st and 2nd magazine issues. This means you will get instant access to the 1st issue and on Nov. 15th the new issue is published.

The 2nd issue is also full of inspiration and wonderful content - Christi Friesen talks about filling your “Well of Creativity”, Barbara McGuire discusses how to take advantage of and share the community’s Passion for Polymer through educating and being educated, Two brand new techniques, Review of new bezel molds, Interviews, Mentor and Emerging artist galleries

Resource list highlights...and more!

What do you have to do to win? (giveaway closed! thank you!)

All you have to do is post a comment under this post with your email and an answer to the question related to my purses photo -

..."What are the 2 things you MUST HAVE in your purse when you go somewhere?" :)

mirror? eye shadow? book? diary? polymer clay? (can't believe it if you do!)

My bag is always full full of "must have junk" & so heavy!!

Band aid, Advil pills, lip gloss, my "must have" hard drive with all the computer back up (in case my computer is lost) - you won't believe what I carry with me!

So now, tell me what's your "must have" 2 and maybe you'll win a free subscription!

Polymeri Online 19.10.11 | Christmas cats, Flowery door knobs, Cute light covers and Maya face cane

2011-10-19T16:05:00.007+02:00

Melody O'Beau Designs flickr gallery shows these lovely Christmas cats tree decoration which can be wore as a jewel, In her photos she is sharing some studio shots with us :) Melody is a professional musician by trade, and for the past 14 years she has made wearable art from polymer clay.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/melobeau/6175345031/in/photostream

http://www.artfire.com/ext/shop/studio/melodyodesigns

http://www.melobeau.blogspot.com/

Carmen Rose posted a lovely tutorial on making door knobs, she has 60 doors and drawers in her kitchen (sounds like the PERFECT studio!) Easy and fun!

http://croseprose.blogspot.com/2010/01/polymer-clay-cabinet-knobs.html

Mary Tempesta light covers caught my eyes and although I am not smoking they do look so cute! faces, bees and fish! what a lovely decoration!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/marymadeit/6230489443/in/contacts/

Mary was mentioned before in PolymeriOnline but these worth another one :)

Krokdo (real name?) blog posted a cool tutorial to create a face cane - a maya tribe face. I hope I got the translation correct.

http://krokdo.canalblog.com/archives/2010/05/01/17755863.html

We have a long weekend vacation here and the great weather is also on our side :) Have a great day everyone!

Special private collection fair

2011-10-14T07:42:00.004+02:00

As promised, I am posting the link to my special private collection PolyPediaOnline StudioFair. All my original designs, made during the last 2 years I am have been teaching online tutorials, are now offered for public sale.

These are not tutorials.
The items on the web page are real products.

These designs are very dear to me and always reminds me of the wonderful material we are working with.

So, if you're just wondering about a certain project, want to see it in close, wear one of my jewels, looking for a Christmas gift or a collector of polymer clay pieces - you are welcome aboard!
http://www.polypediaonline.com/133688/Private-Collection-StudioFair

Thank you :)

Getting Ready to Halloween! 2 FREE Videos!

2011-10-09T13:33:00.009+02:00

Although Halloween isn't a holiday we celebrate here (In Israel we celebrate a similar holiday on February - "Purim"), it's always fun to think of new tutorials and videos for it.

All the things I don't consider doing as a full tutorial over the year, pop up in my brain when it comes to a fun holiday like Halloween.

At our home, every year on December (2 months ahead), we start our family brain-storming on "What will be my costume this year?" As for my DH, every year he puts a blue wig and decide it's THE MOST ORIGINAL costume in the world, I try to be more artistic and original, I am frequently asked by neighbors, friends and family to help them with the makeup (hey, what do we have a makeup artist neighbor for?) and sometimes I even do my own (see the tiger? That's me! LOL)

Any way, this year I chose 2 creepy dark & fun projects for you - an eyeball ring/bowl/magnet/anything and a chopped finger (human/witch?) both of them as videos on YouTube.

I hope you'll have fun and will be happy to hear your comments!

Check them out on PolyPediaOnline Channel -

http://www.youtube.com/user/polypediaonlineTV

Polymer Clay "Catch 22" - The Artist's Paradox

2011-10-06T09:57:00.006+02:00

There is an irony with us artists selling our work. We spend so much time trying to make a living from our wonderful art only to discover that we’ve become way too emotionally attached to our work and can’t let it go.

Sounds familiar?

Think about it.

When you sell a piece of your art, how to you feel? Do you feel great about the sale and ready to pay some bills? do you feel a little sad to see it go, but hey, that’s a part of being a professional polymer clay artist! or do you regret the second you let it go and find yourself hurrying back to your studio trying to recreate a copy of it for yourself?

These feelings of "sale remorse" - We condition, play, shape and design our clay and tend to get physically attached to our final piece, can't let it go.

Many artists are happy to sell, but at the same time, they would also wish they could save a copy of the work for themselves. If not for emotional reasons, it's to “check back on it as a reference for how I made a certain piece”.

Why am I telling you all this?

When I started my way with polymer clay, every fair I participated in - I had mixed feelings.

Glad because I sold and sad because I sold it!

Crazy - isn't it?

In time I learned that although my designs are very dear to me, it's like finding them a new home and letting my customers have a "small piece of me". That's a nice thought. They chose me.

Tomorrow is one of those days. I am saying goodbye to some of my own personal favorites.

As a part of studio re-organization, making room for new things, I am holding a special pre-holiday studio fair - the first in 2 years.

Some of my most favorite PolyPediaOnline tutorial products will be offered for public sale.

These items are very dear to me and always reminds me of the wonderful material we are working with.

If you're wondering about a certain project, want to see it in close, wear one of my jewels or a collector of polymer clay pieces - you are welcome aboard!

Some of the designs have Only 1 item AVAILABLE!

The special link to the sales page will be sent to all PolyPediaOnline members tomorrow during the day, that's more than 5000 artists getting an email from me with a link to the StudioFair page.

If you are interested and want to see one of my pieces in person, you are welcome to join!

The items will be published here in the blog only after PolyPediaOnline members will have the exclusivity to be the first to know and purchase.

Hope to see you in my "booth"! Come & say hello... :)

Polymeri Online 4.10.11 | Grumpy pumpkin, Computer-game polymer, Polymer toilets, Dripping coffee cup tutorial and wicked witch legs bookmark

2011-10-04T12:41:00.006+02:00

Tina goodrich always carries a notepad and favorite pencil or pen. She has this need to create everyday. She says good thing that includes cooking or her family would probably starve to death. :) She has no formal art education, just a hunger for learning all things artsy crafty by reading anything she can get her hands on and then doing it!

http://ktdidclay.wordpress.com/

Don't miss her "Beware of the Graveyard" necklace in Etsy!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/handmademom

http://ktdidclay.wordpress.com/2011/09/13/poor-lil-polymer-clay-pumpkin/

and speaking of creepy/thingies, look at Angela Pyke's polymer clay Creeper from the PC game Minecraft, It took her over 10 hours to make! :)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/inspiredbyangelapyke/6033137891/in/photostream

Don't kill me for posting this link. Polymer clay toilets?

Well, polymer clay looks great any where - even on the toilets - right?

Take a look at Moebelkunst - Mareike Scharmer's (I think it's her name) bathroom design using polymer clay canes and pieces along with traditional mosaic.

http://mareike-scharmer.blogspot.com/2011/07/fortsetzung-toilettendesign.html

What a celebration of colors!

You can see more of her work in progress in YouTube, in this video she is creating her mosaics -

http://www.youtube.com/user/Moebelkunst

http://avokato.de/

shellony (olga gunkina) posted a tutorial for coffee cup dripping, isn't this cool?

http://polymerclayfimo.livejournal.com/3802618.html

and also, the girls from the russian forum took Kira Nichols's wicked witch legs bookmark and turned into their own tutorial version -

http://polymerclayfimo.livejournal.com/3894135.html#cutid1

Perfect for Halloween!

Tomorrow I will be posting about a special StudioFair sale I am doing -

Stay tuned!

Polymeri Online 23.9.11 | Millefiori sandals, Radial pendant, Polymer gaz pump and Angry bird tutorial

2011-09-23T08:05:00.006+03:00

Maria Ivanova (vokade) has posted a cool pair of sandals with polymer clay canes decorating it. Maria was featured in PolymeriOnline several months ago with her beautiful pendants. Don't you find these sandals creative? last days of summer to try your own!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/vokade/6169460783/in/photostream

Wolfschmuch latest designs of pendants are radial and rounded, carving, mokume, layering. Her carved pendant shown in this photo, used with black acrylic (I believe so) is so unique and somewhat hypnotizing?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/wolfschmuck/6119498335/

Nicolas (ANVRecife) is a designer who loves photography. This passion became more intense when he started working with design and Graphic Design many years ago. My eye caught his polymer clay gaz pump, making me take a 2nd look.

the little pump nozzle is about 2 inches long and all made of polymer clay, same for the question mark. not of the ordinary - isn't it?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/anvrecife/6068924283/

Tracy Rogers from "Cremedelagems" blog posted a super cute angry bird magnet tutorial. Tracy is a jewelry designer. Business owner & a blogger with lot's of goodies in her blog.

http://cremedelagems.blogspot.com/2011/08/angry-bird-tutorial-polymer-clay.html

check out her other polymer clay tutorials (click the tag below the post)

And a minute before we celebrate "Rosh Hashana" which is the jewish new year, I wish you all a sweet as honey year with nothing but good health and happy days! "Shana Tova Ve'Metuka"! :)

"Live Audience" Workshop - Brocade Collection

2011-09-22T13:10:00.007+03:00

Not always I get the chance to take one of my online tutorials and try it live.

Most of the time, the ideas are invented in my mind, carried out on my studio and from there packed into PDF files, videos and a CD sent to you guys.

In the last couple of weeks I had the opportunity to take the theory to action in front of a "live audience" :)

20 women from the Israeli polymer clay guild gathered together to create 20 colorful pouches, good food was on the menu and cheerful mood too.

The workshops took several hours, time flew so fast that we couldn't believe it, I had no idea how long it would take, it's different when you are creating a project yourself or doing the same thing with 20 women on board.

We started the class with choosing the colors for our pouches, prepared the base hemispheres and textured the clay with the brocade design using "good old" eye shadows (Yes! don't throw them away! they are great on polymer).

After several bakings, sewing and gluing, the little round pouches turned up, looking like small colorful balls (more like a pill shape but still so cute!)

I was delighted to hear the girl's feedback, they loved the fresh innovative design, mentioned that it was different than what they have done lately - planning their next pouch as a hanger on their bag, for small change, emergency pill or band aid, keys or even candy.

If you're curious to read more about it, you can click on the link below leading to the Israeli guild webpage (this means it's in hebrew, but if you're using a browser that can

translate it, you can try read it)

http://www.tapuz.co.il/Forums2008/ViewMsg.aspx?ForumId=1484&MessageId=155773653

Right: Bags by Daniella

and the wonderful beetle bag (and others) by Liat Ripp

I had so much fun! Have to do it again :)

Looks like a new addiction! :)

Polymeri Online 16.9.11 | Sculpted heroes, Pumpkin decoration, Locket Portraits and Art dolls

2011-09-16T11:27:00.006+03:00

Michael Leavitt hates making normal art. The Art Army Royalty, his new work, is a project in which Leavitt creates one of a kind, fully articulated sculptures by hand in an “action figure” scale, each in the likeness of a well-known artist, incorporating the style of the subject’s artwork.

Since 2002, this ongoing series of unique sculptures represent artists from every great movement of Modern and Contemporary Art, from Warhol to Banksy.

Each figure is sculpted from scratch in polymer clay, surface-finished and texturized with acrylic paint and mixed media. Leavitt engineers the miniature sculptures with articulating joints, assembling moving body parts with elastic cord so that the figures can be posed.

See Cynthia tinnaple (PCD) post and video on how Michael builds his figures.

http://intuitionkitchenproductions.com/

Spanish artist Noia Land posted a cool photo tutorial to create a cute pumpkin decoration -

http://www.flickr.com/photos/noialand/6140484251/in/contacts/

check out her blog for more cute tutorials and art -

http://noialand.blogspot.com/

Reinhard (Männeken) uses Fimo clay to create perfect portraits of people and other entities, this ability is something I admire so much as I don't have any sculpturing talent :)

Take a look at this photo of him, showing some kind of wooden clip covered with polymer clay to be used as legs.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/63875527@N07/5821331152/in/photostream

http://www.flickr.com/photos/63875527@N07/

and speaking of portraits, ClayCatShop special portrait lockets reminds me something from my childhood, their smiley faces, colors and innocence. I love it.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/claycatshop/6147936904/in/photostream

Have a great weekend!

In memory...

2011-09-11T19:18:00.006+03:00

It was a year before 9/11 that I stood on the highest floor of the world trade center, looking at the breathtaking view of NYC. That was my first visit in the US with DH, touring the wonderful east coast for 16 days.

A year after that, while I was on a train, getting back from work, I got a call from my mother asking me if I heard. I didn't know anything since I was on the train, and she told me.

I couldn't believe it. Impossible to believe.

In our last visit, 3 years ago, we went to see the area and saw the big sphere, all squashed.

Today, my thoughts are with all of the families that lost their loved ones 10 years ago .

I wish for a better, peaceful and safer world to all of us.

Image by Brian Nieman and adopted by the Library of Congress for their 9/11/01 exhibition.

Polymeri Online 5.9.11 | Santa is near, Neon jewelry, Candy pails and Happy weddings

2011-09-05T16:27:00.005+03:00

How do we feel that Christmas is close? Santa canes! this time it's Deb Tuchsen's cane sending some cool air to my direction :) It's still too hot in Israel!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rengalsa/6101392054/in/contacts/

Italian Ilaria Anselmi has a wonderful collection of polymer clay designs in her blog and flickr gallery (mostly delicious looking), she also works with resin and created 'neon' colored designs.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/filoecoloridiila/sets/72157605162714737/

http://filoecoloridiila.blogspot.com/

Jessica Hamilton's Halloween doll candy pails are SO cute! Made of polymer clay and 1.5" wide - perfect for small treats!

When Jessica was a girl, she wished her dolls would come to life so she could feed them tiny bread, sew them teeny socks and make their tiny beds. With the exception of the bread, she quickly realized she could do those things without the whole semi-creepy ‘coming to life’ part. Her dolls are amazing.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dollproject/6084044171/in/contacts/

http://www.etsy.com/shop/dollproject

What better way to end this post with love? These bride and groom by Dorothée Vantorre looks as if they were taken from fairy tales. Dorothée is a French polymer clay artist, a former student of art history and graduated in architecture and the creator of Mad Marquesas, creates jewelry and other designs. She is currently working on her first polymer book! I'm curious to know which tales she will tell us!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/69939106@N00/6080363372/in/photostream

http://lesfollesmarquises.blogspot.com/

Ready, Set, Fold! & Guessing game winner!

2011-09-01T21:52:00.008+03:00

66 comments! Wow!

I just love giveaways both as a giver and as a winner ;) LOL

Congratulation Ms. Small Idea! You've won my new tutorials!

Want to know what you won?

What those mysterious tiny pictures are?

Well, the story begins 2 months ago, I was invited to my friend's daughter birthday party: "Come join us, Iris, Let's drink a cup of coffee", said the mother, "I have invited a wonderful entertainer - she makes paper folds! You'd love it!"

So I came. and... I was fascinated!

Remember when we were kids and made scoubidou strands and friendship bracelets? That was it, only with paper - the kids LOVED it!

It took me a while and I decided to take this idea, adapt it to the polymer clay world and create a more sophisticated technique using polymer.

Being a long time blogger, knowing many of the polymer clay artists around, I browsed and looked for more info about folding techniques in polymer clay and didn't find any, so I took the time to experiment and learn more about it.

When I started experimenting, I found that folding with polymer gives our designs a very special 3 dimensional effect achieved by the special characters of the material, the special colors - solid or marbled, metallic or glittery, skinner blended or extruded.

The adhesiveness of the clay makes it very easy to fold and to compress the folds - bead or jewel - these techniques are turning any piece to an intriguing, attractive, interesting and almost impossible to believe it is clay.

Although not as stretching as ribbon or flexible as paper - polymer clay with it's wonderful color palette, patterns and textures take these techniques into a whole different level.

Looking back at the history of weaving and folding, weaving was used by our prehistoric ancestors as an aid in their quest for basic needs of food, shelter & clothing, and folding, especially paper folding (japanese Origami), is an art of folding objects out of paper without cutting/pasting - that's perfect for clay! the clay will stick to itself!

These ancient techniques soon became very popular and moved to the modern era in the shape of recycled and found materials.

So, why not use use traditional folds to create entirely new and exciting designs?

After 1.5 months of work, trials and error, investigating these techniques from every possible angle - It's finally ready.

In this new set of PolyPediaOnline tutorials I chose to use our medium - polymer clay - to create folded, weaved and rolled fine jewelry and accessories.

Polymer clay folding, weaving and rolling are new techniques you'll want to add to your skills repertoire!

Want to read more about it?

Click here for more details!

New Tutorial Guessing Game!

2011-08-24T15:39:00.007+03:00

While I'm working on my new PolyPediaOnline tutorial (quite a thick volume with 11 products and 10 videos) I want to play a little guessing game with you guys.

I am posting 2 partial photos of the designs.

The photos are tiny, I know, but that's the whole point! guessing!

Guess what you think it is, what technique it is - anything you think of!
Of course, I think it's easy :)

Everyone is invited to participate in the guessing game, I won't be commenting until the tutorial itself will be ready and posted here in the blog with the right answer (and full photos).

One of you guessers (no matter right or wrong) will WIN this tutorial as a GIFT! I will choose one of the numbered comments using a random drawing.

So, what are you waiting for?

place your guess!

Polymeri Online 22.8.11 | Colorful creations; Wedding on glasses; Eyelets Jewelry and a Daisy tutorial

2011-08-22T15:23:00.007+03:00

Klio from Athens, Greece works with polymer clay as a hobby, as a busy mom and working lady, she only works with polymer clay late at night.
Her recent art in flickr are so happy and colorful! cut outs, skinner blends, dots and circles - every piece is a joy to the eye!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/klio1961

Miriam from Italy makes such cute cake toppers. In this post I found
the nice couple hanging on the glasses! how sweet! I think they are adhered to it, don't seem to hold the glass in another way, Cheers!
http://lalbicocca.blogspot.com/2010/08/flute-da-cin-cin-e-sopratorta-cheers.html

Nikolina Otrzan from Croatia have a wonderful line of polymer clay jewelry using rivets and eyelets. Her flower pendants and animal bracelets are wonderful!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/orsons/6025506134/in/photostream
Don't miss her geometric collection of beads and jewelry using head pins and metal parts - very unique!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/orsons/5879103588/in/photostream

Marina originally from Magadan, now live in Moscow, She combined her studies and work and fond of paper art which is mostly featured in her blod. Here is a simple and cute tutorial for daisies flowers -
http://bond-mary.blogspot.com/2011/05/blog-post_09.html

And, last announcement, a new PolyPediaOnline tutorial will be announced very soon!

It's a technique never seen before using polymer clay (I'm 99.9% certain!)

Trying to keep kids quiet in their last days of vacation while I record my videos...

Will be posting about it very soon!

Polymeri Online 15.8.11 | Scorpions ahead! Fairy doors, Psyzoo animals and play with some paint!

2011-08-15T17:05:00.007+03:00

Stephen Lavedas is an amateur sculptor. According to him, he has no formal art training (unless you count one class in 8th grade). He sculpts in polymer clay as a hobby and is a software engineer by trade. I hope I'm not disappointing Stephen but every time I see a scorpion near my front door (and we have quite a few!), I'm **** the hell out of it. wouldn't want to meet it inside my slippers! Take a look at his various galleries, some dedicated to his sculpturing.

https://picasaweb.google.com/stephen.lavedas/Scorpion#

https://picasaweb.google.com/101263776772198593001

Here is another polymer clay project of a fairy door from "cut out and keep" website, this project is by Lisa H.

http://www.cutoutandkeep.net/projects/polymer-clay-fairy-door

Ekaterina is a young artist and fashion designer, creator of handmade clothes, accessories and the russian project Psyzoo. Psyzoo is based on cool, funky jewelry featuring animals of all kinds - cats together with elephants and some creative imaginary animals seen only in Ekaterina mind :) cool!

http://psyzoo.ru

http://facebook.com/psyzoo.fanpage

http://www.flickr.com/photos/psyzoo/

and a cool painting tool when you're in the mood, I found this flash app in this website

wonderful to play with the children or just for ourselves! Click the link to get the code to your website.

Tomorrow I'm going to have fun with my 12yrs old boy celebrating his birthday, hope you're having fun as well! :)

Polymeri Online 6.8.11 | Special cake toppers, Crayon's necklace, Spoon bead core and Polymer clay horns

2011-08-06T20:39:00.011+03:00

With a degree in Sociology and Psychology, Christina Robinson worked in the mental health field, and pursued various avenues of careers. Before finally settling on the fact that she wanted to work

full time on her art, she took classes toward finishing a degree in Biology in hopes to do research in genetics and nutrition. Her current interests include creating beautiful accessories, oil painting, and sculpting art dolls in her own unique style, with a special face expression I can't really describe in words....

http://www.etsy.com/shop/OhMaudlinMe

http://www.christinazimmer.com/dolls/

Don't miss her "in process" photos of one of her pieces -

http://christinarobinsonblog.blogspot.com/2011/03/mr-modesty-in-progress.html

Dany Teysseire-Mlanao is a graduated from the Regional Academy of Fine-Art in Valence (France) specializing in painting. his (I hope I'm correct) artistic expression goes in three diverse directions: paint on textile and creation of clothing, plastic animation and dressmaking. He has been creating jewelry since 1994 and produced costumes for shows and the

theatre. In his free time he enjoys 7 hours per week of kick-boxing and 800 sit-ups later (Did I mention I walk the dog??) :) In this piece he is using resin, paper, drawing crayon and of course polymer clay.

http://www.etsy.com/listing/64316503/girls-and-eyes-polymer-clay-necklance

Galina (Grgalina) has posted a cool tutorial for creating a a bead core made of aluminum foil and... spoon! It's a bit of an oldie but who's counting?

Galina was a guest in my blog but was not introduced in full in my previous post (here) - she was born in Russia, but since 1998, lived in different places around the world, from Singapore to Ireland. At present time she lives in Dublin, Ireland. For many years she worked as a computer designer, but discovered polymer clay few years ago, and since then her soul & mind are into it.

http://grgalina.livejournal.com/38490.html

I found these polymer clay costume horns using aluminum foil in cut out and keep website which is full of simple projects using polymer clay.

http://www.cutoutandkeep.net/projects/clay-costume-horns

Have a great weekend! I'm off to my studio planning my next project :)

Playing with Cubes!

2011-08-01T20:48:00.004+03:00

Several weeks ago I was walking at a fair and saw this guy creating wood mind games, one of them was a 3*3 cube challenge. I was immediately hooked and couldn't rest until I solved the whole cube. THEN I figured I must create one with polymer clay!

My cube is just one option among many!

Now you can play with your jewelry while you're waiting at the dentist's reception :)

Here is a free video tutorial - How to Create Polymer Clay Cube Puzzle Necklace including a diagram for stringing and it's solution!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIZrSHxFv9k

Have fun! :)

Polymeri Online 28.7.11 | Mosaic with 6 kids, Carving beads, Carnivorous beads and Egypt god decoration

2011-07-28T13:21:00.008+03:00

Sandy loved polymer clay ever since her daughter introduced it to her quite a while ago, she is creating one of a kind pieces, faces, masks and wall decorations (photo: Solar God of Ancient Egypt), in addition to cute small figurines.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/mstp

Kael Mijoy, a mother to 6 kids ages 2-14 and a cat, is running a home computer repair business with her husband, homeschooling the older kids, play with the younger kids, and pretty much ignore the cat, BUT she has some time to clay!She has generously shared her cool mosaic technique with us, I think she has more than 24 hours a day! :)

http://kaelmijoy.blogspot.com/2010/10/cured-on-raw-mosaic-tutorial.html

http://www.etsy.com/shop/kaelmijoy

Elena Aleshina is a lawyer from Moscow, Russia, her wonderful looking polymer clay beads look like carved using a lathe but I'm not certain that is her technique. very interesting.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tavostia/page4/

Denise Scheiben is from Switzerland, working with polymer clay since 2007, when I first saw her red necklace some how I was thinking about Carnivorous plants! The red halves of the beads seemed like they are planning to take a bite! :) I loved the colors and combination of beads & wire!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nislia/4423827047/in/photostream

Check out her mesh jewelry too, as you know I love mesh with polymer clay :)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nislia/4423827045/in/photostream

Polymeri Online 19.7.11 | Walk on Clay, Talking Faces, Hibiscus Flower Tut and Graphic Necklace Design

2011-07-19T12:26:00.006+03:00

Violette Laporte from Canada has a great tip for softening very very old clay.

Even after you roll it in the pasta machine, If it is still crumbly, we are moving to the heavy artillery ;) take your clay, place it in a plastic bag with all the crumbs and pieces, form a ball inside the bag, take a good pair of shoes and yourself in the shoes (the heavier the better!) and squish the ball to flat! after several times (from ball to flat) you are done with your daily exercise and the clay is ready to be inserted in the pasta machine! how about that?!

http://violette-laporte.blogspot.com/2009/11/tip-11.html

Violette has some other interesting experimental designs in her blog, take a half of hour (or more) to browse it.

If you are looking for more tips for rolling stiff clay, you can see my tip as well in PolyPediaOnline TV in YouTube.

A mans face appears out of the tile; A face emerging from a leaf; Face Pendant - ReedDesigns Etsy's gallery is "telling us something", the faces expression, colors, eyes shape - talking faces.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/ReedDesigns

ZudaGay posted a tutorial on how to create a hibiscus flower using main polymer core and petals around it, Thank you Tonja for this link!

http://clayinthehands.blogspot.com/2010/10/how-to-make-hibiscus.html

Polyette's graphic necklace has beautiful color combination, dots and shapes. I can imagine how stylish it will look on a white dress!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/polyette/5574017229/

Polymeri Online 8.7.11 | Dori Csengeri in PC, Fantasy art in swirling, mix media with polymer and clay flowers

2011-07-08T14:22:00.005+03:00

Art-rukodelie from Russia made a tutorial inspired by Dori Csengeri using stones, beads of different shapes and using polymer clay strips instead of ribbons.
Dori Csengeri is known for her elaborated colorful looking jewelry and this tutorial is another proof that everything is possible with polymer clay! :)

http://art-rukodelie.com/fimo/urok-3.html

Don't forget to check her Puzzle cane tutorial for more fun stuff!

http://art-rukodelie.com/fimo/Uroki-Fimo.html

Jane Priser creates original fantasy art, sculptures, paintings, jewelry, greeting cards and prints. She is all for being confident, express yourself, be special, unique and she is certain that life can be much better with this mind set, it's all a matter of our perspective!

Her sculpturing are filled with thin swirling and twirling lines of many clay colors - spectacular!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/auntjanecan/

and her etsy store - http://www.etsy.com/shop/auntjanecan

Maria Ivanova (vokade) is sharing in her flickr website photos from the bulgarian polymer clay workshop with Isabela Nowak and Martina Mahdavi, as well as her unique designs - raffled beads and bracelets, decoupage work and mix media art with polymer clay - fun!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/vokade/5460868029/in/photostream

There is something magical about polymer clay flowers, I can almost smell their scent. Katerina is working both with polymer clay and deco craft clay (which is an air dry clay) to create her flowers bouquets.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/katerina-klyopa/

and this link will lead you to a colorful flower group using clay, deco clay, cold porcelain and many more -

http://www.flickr.com/groups/1153652@N23/

I'm off to family and friends camping this weekend, tents and sleeping bags - wish me luck! (i'll need it!)

Polymeri Online 2.7.11 | Disc-Chic Jewelry, Dolls Tutorials, Miniatures and Monster Beasties

2011-07-02T12:42:00.006+03:00

Suzanne Baer is a dear friend and a loyal PolyPediaOnline customer. We exchanged several emails and I had so much pleasure in looking at her polymer clay work.

She discovered polymer clay about 8 or 9 months ago and soon it has become her main hobby. She has taken classes with Jana Lehmann, loves Christi Friesen dragons and now into making her own jewelry, recently using my Disc-Chic jewelry tutorial. She is having fun with seed beads, stamps, glitter and creating metal bezeled beads into beautiful jewelry.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/seefeldsu

Amanda DeVirgilio has been a doll artist for over 7 years. Illness forced her to find a way to make money from home and creating art was all she could manage. When she first

started sculpting, there was a severe lack of free online tutorials to help young doll makers learn the artform. She is constantly working on her site and her goal is to provide you with an arsenal of free beginner tutorials enabling you to start making your own dolls.

http://www.dollmakersdream.com/polymer-clay-tutorials.html

eyes, armatures, fantasy art, faces -

http://www.dollmakersdream.com/sculpt-a-face.html

Alexandra Christensen's favorite things to do outside of making OOAK miniatures is skateboard, She volunteers several times a week with kids in a Christian skateboard ministry. She says she loves flying down the ramps at break-neck speed and dropping into a 5.5 ft bowl (which is an empty pool)! OMG, my bones are cracking just to think of it! Her Etsy store is full of wonderful earring tree displays and other sculpted miniatures made from Sculpey and polymer Clay.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/AlexandraDesign

In HappyMoonBelly Creations Etsy store by Jennifer Clark you will find a place full of miniature whimsical monster beastie creatures and fun yeti's. All miniature sculptures are hand-crafted using no molds. Take a look at her beautiful Gooberzillas! :)

http://www.etsy.com/listing/72097497/gooberzilla-monster-stack-miniature-hand

http://www.etsy.com/shop/happymoonbelly

What Will Those Mosquitoes Do Next?

2011-06-29T11:04:00.010+03:00

Ever wondered If it's possible to create very thin polymer clay beads and forms that are strong, durable, flexible and light weight?

Actually, It's (almost!) impossible!

Guess what?

I developed a special technique allowing YOU to create the impossible!

When we were building our home several years ago, I noticed that the builders used a simple technique of pouring concrete to form walls using a metal mesh inside to reinforce it.

I watched them, not realizing that one day I’ll be using another form of that technique on my polymer clay creations.

A few years later I was looking for something to help me create a thin yet strong polymer clay piece that will not break after the first time it falls out of my hand. This was the result of my dropping a few delicate polymer clay beads on the floor, and being very upset because they broke could not be repaired.

As you probably know, polymer clay does not handle breakage well, and it was not bad luck on my part having those beads shattered to pieces, just a disadvantage of polymer clay. A disadvantage that caused me and many polymer clay artists to avoid creating delicate and thin pieces.

This really got me thinking, I wanted to find a way around the problem, not to avoid it.

Eventually the technique the builders used crossed my mind.

Click here to read on about the Mosquito Technique...

http://www.polypediaonline.com/133688/mosquito_technique_tutorials

Bzzzz here....

Polymeri Online 25.6.11 | Pumpkin Beads, Ribbon Bracelet, Norwegian PC and Recycled Labyrinth

2011-06-25T14:00:00.005+03:00

A cool fun and free tutorial by Slovenian artist Roberta Mohar for her wonderful pumpkin beads!

http://www.scribd.com/doc/58625130/Robertine-bu%C4%8Dke-navodila

http://robertam.blogspot.com/2011/06/robertine-bucke-navodila-za-izdelavo.html

UK artist Hazel Ward started making polymer clay beads in 2009 after finding, like many of us, that she prefer to use artisan handmade beads in her jewelry designs.

Most of her art is based on millefiori canes, look at this ribbon style bracelet, and her blog is full of wonderful posts and tips for all us polymer clay lovers

http://allthosethingsandtheotherstoo.blogspot.com/2011/01/polymer-clay-tips.html

and this one is definitely for all addicted PC people -

http://allthosethingsandtheotherstoo.blogspot.com/2009/06/polymer-clay-addiction.html

http://www.flickr.com/photos/continuumdesigns/

http://www.continuumdesigns.co.uk/index.html

Christel Jensen is a Norwegian, married mother of two grown up girls. She has been claying since the 90-ties and written several craft books in norwegian, but that was a long time ago. Currently she is very busy building a new home and is excited about making a new studio in it!

You can find some of her miniature tutorials in Youtube - mini polymer teapots and cupcakes and jewelry in her blog.

http://www.youtube.com/user/ChristelJensen

http://www.polymerart.blogspot.com/

This Fimo labyrinth using a CD case from Teri of Giddy Giddy for kids is a wonderful example of reuse and recycling. She shares several versions of maze styles, and I imagine kids would have fun coming up with their own as well! a summer vacation project!

http://bkids.typepad.com/bookhoucraftprojects/2011/05/project-85-cd-case-labyrinth.html

Polymeri Online 16.6.11

2011-06-16T21:16:00.004+03:00

My dear Israeli friend Liat Ripp has the most wonderful fish tank I ever saw - and it's all polymer! Her whimsical colorful design of fish pins/magnets/anything you can think of, has it's own unique style and brings a smile :) Her tutorial is offered for a special reduced price for the next few days!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/liatripp/sets/721576268

06083833/

http://www.etsy.com/listing/66481048/fish-magnet-pdf-tutorial-in-english

Shirali from India is an artist, a trained fashion designer and ceramist. She has worked with many different mediums in past like mixed media, terracotta, paper, fabric, resin, but she is relatively new to polymer clay, and plan on developing new products! Her USB designs are so cute!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/s_smallidea/sets/72157626641795485/

Kate Tracton is a jewelry designer with an eye for tiny details. Currently she is enjoying beadweaving and polymer clay, though not at the same time according to her :)

Her art is available in her online Etsy store. Kate also has a blog where she discusses her artistic process and sometimes features other artists.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/katetracton/

Here is one of her posts - drawing the process of a design - http://shiborigirl.blogspot.com/2011/02/fancy-schmancy.html

SteamTimeJewelry's Shop by Anne Berry has some cool stylish and edgy necklaces and rings handmade from vintage watch parts and polymer clay. All of the glamor of an alternate reality filled with gears and metal, filigree and finery.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/SteamTimeJewelry

Interested in her special parts for your own designs? You can find her steampunk supplies store too!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/steamtimesupplies

Have a great weekend :)

Polymeri Online 9.6.11 - Animal Kingdom!

2011-06-09T17:11:00.007+03:00

Today's post is all about animals!

Polymer Clay by Deb & Co. features Deb, a polymer clay artist of 32 years and her cat, Felix. Deb shares her tips, tricks and secrets in her step by step tutorials. Here is one of her videos tutorials creating a polymer clay kitten -

http://blip.tv/Polymer-Clay-By-Deb/polymer-clay-tutorial-how-to-make-a-kitten-or-cat-5252897

Sofie grew up next door to her family's veterinary clinic.

Animals, both domestic and wild, have always been intrinsic to her world. She is a full-time artist who moonlights as an illustrator and a poupettiste (poupette maker).

http://www.etsy.com/shop/bonjourpoupette?ref=seller_info

Kirsten and Cortney, identical twin sisters have always enjoyed creating art together. From crayon rubbings as small children to works of art as adults, they have always given each other inspiration. They create paper clay & polymer clay folk art sculptures.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/indigotwin?ref=seller_info

Tina creates cute whimsical animal figurines, jewelry and beads - look at this sweet cat!

http://www.etsy.com/listing/68142178/sitting-happy-cat

And here is the last animal on the block - this time a real one!

Our new poodle puppy!

After many years I couldn't decide about this issue, I eventually "surrendered" to my sweet kids appeals, this is the new member of the Mishly family! "Buffy" (how original! - kids chose it :)

She passed with honor the "polymer bite" test and didn't eat a piece of clay from the studio floor!

Have a woof-derful weekend!

Polymeri Online 2.6.11

2011-06-02T12:24:00.005+03:00

xixonesina flickr gallery is full of special looking figurines, this one caught my attention. According to her description, the doll, Sally is related to Tim Burton movie "Nightmare Before Christmas" (didn't see that one) :) made of sculpey and premo. You'll find many more in her flickr.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/xixonesina/5788244858/

Take a look at this hollow russian marquises necklace made of polymer clay by french artist Dorothée Vantorre's, this and many other creations made of clay -

http://www.flickr.com/photos/69939106@N00/5681873546/in/photostream

also her cute acrobat on a necklace!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/69939106@N00/5579641445/in/photostream

Blog - http://lesfollesmarquises.blogspot.com/

Deborah Ross describes herself as an old artist but a new clayer, she's into

jewelry, sculpturings and many more, in this photo she wanted to express her personal true story. Not an easy photo but made me think... wish I knew more about her.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/25802107@N05/5735518292/in/photostream/

http://debrossart.blogspot.com

Michell Covington unique handcrafted polymer clay art and art jewelry is creepy scary yet facinating - devils, skulls and even creepy bunnies!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/CovingtonCreations

Animal Farm, A peek behind the curtain

2011-05-26T21:10:00.008+03:00

It's been a while that i was waiting for an opportunity to create my own animal collection of charms, ever since i saw felt and fabric folks do it, I wanted to make some from polymer clay.

A week ago I got a phone call from a lady, she is a director in one of the collages here in Israel, theater department. The lady asked me if I can create animal keychains, she said that they are doing a play called "Animal Farm" based on a novel by George Orwell, each actor will receive a special gift at the "finale'" of the play featuring his own character.
What a great idea!
Exactly what I was waiting for.

I made about 25 charms, some not even in the play (penguin? polar bear?)

I had so much fun creating them I couldn't stop :)

You can see how 4 of them were made in 2 videos - The pig, the sheep, the horse and the chicken.
It's really all about working with cookie cutters and creating a flat, 2D design, playing with colors, shapes and having fun.

Let the show begin!

Part 1 - Pig and sheep

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJ9AfsMZy_w&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL

Part 2 - Chicken and horse

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anBSGS034cc&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Polymeri Online 21.5.11

2011-05-21T21:43:00.006+03:00

I was digging a bit in Etsy and found this COOL group called PCETeam = Polymer Clay Enthusiasts Team. This team is for anyone who makes, sells, & enjoys the art of polymer clay (and is on Etsy).

Lot's of goodies can be found under their team - wonderful artists!

http://www.etsy.com/teams/6726/polymer-clay-enthusiasts

Here is the 1st batch, I'll have to find some time to go over the rest -

Fauxhead! After years of working with paper sculpture, Stephen

Kinsey made the leap to working with polymer clay - faux wood,

ivory and steampunk! so cool!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/fauxhead

http://fauxhead.blogspot.com

Freehearts has been creating things with some form of clay for

38 years and discovered polymer clay about 27 years ago, started at a very young age carving animals out of soap, knitting Barbie Doll clothes, and building tiny houses complete with furniture, her main goal when she designs something is to get a smile :)

http://www.etsy.com/shop/freeheart1

twistedcreatures grew up on a farm surrounded by animals of all kinds, always loved drawing and other creative activities. Some years ago came across polymer clay and ever since have been having fun combining this medium with the love of animals. All animals are ooak, each individually sculpted, many including

embellishments such as beads, crystals and metallic paints and powders.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/twistedcreatures

This Polymer Clay Bear Roasting Marshmallows is perfect!

Today we are having "Lag-Baomer" holiday, and the most well-known custom of Lag BaOmer is the lighting of bonfires. The traditional "dish" (if i can call it a

dish") is roasting marshmallows on fire! Thank you Molinda from BranchesofMyArt for this cutie! check out her lovely sculpturings!

http://www.etsy.com/listing/68930683/polymer-clay-bear-roasting-marshmallowsref=v1_other_2

last one - If you're into sculpturing and always wanted to know how to sculpt heel shoes - here is a tutorial for you by Doll Street Dreamers website - You'll find many other tutorials related to doll making (although not all polymer clay related)

http://dollstreetdreamers.com/BackAlley.htm

http://dollstreetdreamers.com/back_alley_articles/rivkah_high_heel_shoe_tutorial.pdf

Have a great weekend!

Oreo Model :)

2011-05-18T09:31:00.013+03:00

I'm 39, turning 40 in 6 months.

That sounds like old to some people (my 15 yrs daughter?) but I feel young! I do! 40 is the new 20 when it comes to being a model.

Several months ago I was going to buy cloths at my favorite shop, they sell casual, soft fabrics, "flowing" cloths, ~gipsy like cloths, some of them are for pregnant women (and some for those who can't stop eating Oreo - me!) - Rainbow Gipsy is their name.

Any way, I bought a dress and a shirt.

The lady at the counter looked at me and asked -

"We're getting ready for summer, would you like to be in our catalog?"

"me? In a catalog? why? are you sure?

"We're looking for REAL women, not models, and you'll look nice (thanks!) and fit exactly to our needs, in fact, there will be about 30 women, if you have friends - please invite them to send us an email".

That sounds like fun! I said yes and waited for the day.

The catalog shooting took place on a nice sunny day, in a small wonderful house surrounded with trees and flowers, It was so nice to meet new friends who all were dressed so nicely, talked, chatted about everything and in between photos were taken all the time.

What a day!

Why am I telling you all this?

Because the catalog photos made me think again of my fears - camera fear.

Dealing with our fears, whether it's every day fears, artistic fears is something almost each of us do.

The fear of rejection, of fail, embarrassing ourselves and many others.

Over time I found out more about how I think and overcome my shyness and fears (camera fear as well), I proved myself I can!

How? placing the fear in front of my face and dealing with it! trying and trying again! till I accomplish the mission!

I try to do one thing that scares me each day.

Can you do something today that scares you? whether it's art related or personal. I'm sure you'll feel different once you're done. success or fail - this will always lead us to the next step which will be much MUCH better.

Psychological & emotional talk, sometimes that's all we need! :)

Becoming an "ELITE Caner" - 24 Hours Left!

2011-05-14T18:52:00.005+03:00

I got this wonderful feedback from Maria -

..." Iris! I can't tell you how excited I am with my new purchases!

Up until these 2 new tutorials were published I was making flower canes but wished I could see HOW YOU do it in person.

Since I live so far from you, I can't come to visit, BUT! the videos made me feel as if I was sitting next to you in a private class.

THANK you so much for sharing this, everything looks so much clearer!

Now I can become an ELITE caner!..."

Maria, NC USA

Millefiori canning looks so much easier when you clearly see the steps, video is the perfect

medium, and you got 9 of them included! Each cane with it's own video tutorial.

The new PolyPediaOnline Vol. 26 & 27 invites you to a spring tour with fresh ideas for new flower petals and canes, elaborated and more intricate designs - Learn all my secrets for accurate & perfect results with your millefiori canes!

PLUS - a bonus of a free tutorial - Vol. 1 backgroundless flower canes or any other from vol 2-10! FREE!

100% quality guaranteed!

Don't miss the special discounted price!

price will be 20% higher on the 16th!

Polymeri Online 14.5.11

2011-05-14T17:17:00.004+03:00

"ThatBluCat" is the artist behind these wonderful shawl pins, the special structure, form and colors, you can almost feel the texture! don't forget to check out her beautiful bracelets.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/thatBluCat?ref=pr_shop

Another amazing jewel purse by Tanja using my "Brocade Collection" tutorial, Tanja is taking this tutorial to her own unique style with carving, bats and skulls - love it!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sturi/5653752404/in/photostream

Olga's flickr gallery is full of graphic designs using polymer clay: stripes, curls, dots, retros & skinner blends over one shaded clay sheets - a celebration of colors.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/disenyarte/5449600992/in/photostream

Croatia polymer clay artist - Sandrarts creates these colorful one of a kind polymer clay jewelry, buttons and miniatures - small street pendants, a vegetable necklace - so beautiful!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/SandrArts?ref=seller_info

p.s. - PolymeriOnline blog is mentioning 601 posts! thank you all for being part of it :)

Polymeri Online 7.5.11

2011-05-07T11:05:00.005+03:00

Mags Bonham has been working with polymer clay since 1999. I couldn't agree more with her say that "the special properties of polymer clay allow for an infinite range of techniques and final outcomes and each day in the studio is a revelation of what can be done with this medium".

Take a look at her purse necklace and other goodies in her site and flickr gallery.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bonkos/4637107670/in/photostream

http://vtcrafts.net/

http://www.etsy.com/shop/magsb

Celine B. from France has a beautiful collection of designs in her flickr gallery - jewelry, pins & beads in wonderful colors, some millefiori based, some with an organic "touch", rounded, soft, with a perfect sense of color.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/celinefabrique/5676511724/in/photostream

Ravit, a fellow polymer clay artist from Israel, recently got married and made herself a wonderful polymer clay flower bouquet! What a brilliant idea! This one will last forever!
I loved the design and wish i worked with polymer clay 20 years ago... :)

http://www.tapuz.co.il/Forums2008/ViewMsg.aspx?ForumId=1484&MessageId=152052364

Pilar (amatista) created a cool variation of retro canes, combined with sheets of clay in between, all made into round millefiori canes, she also made disc beads using the same canes or oeftovers

http://www.flickr.com/photos/amatista/5683507769/in/photostream

http://www.flickr.com/photos/amatista/5676199030/in/photostream/

Have a great weekend!

Polymeri Online 3.5.11

2011-05-03T11:40:00.004+03:00

Georgie Galante from NY is a mixed media artist, working in polymer clay and metal clays, recycled parts. Her designs made me take a 2nd and a 3rd look, the mix of materials sometimes leaves me wondering, what is what, hard to tell the differences :)

http://www.georgiegalante.com/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/14298216@N08/5434350818/in/photostream

Thanks god I am not gaining weight every time I see miniature sweets made of polymer clay, Cindy Teh from Singapore is a very talented artist creating beautiful items you'd want to take a bite from. Cakes, ice-creams, vegetables - Yummy!

http://snowfern-clover.blogspot.com/

http://www.etsy.com/shop/snowfern

Here is another example of the wonderful options with polymer clay by Rachel Grieg, a stamped book, polymer clay cover, she added vintage pages together with some watercolour papers inside and bound it all with silk ribbon.

http://rachelgreig.typepad.com/darkroomdoor/2011/04/playing-cards-polymer-clay-

book.html

Lostinwonderar's Etsy store has "Quirky home accessories" in it as she calls them. She creates sugar skulls. I had no idea what they are until i read in her listing - Sugar Skulls are typically made of compressed sugar with icing decoration and other embellishments. They're made for the holiday of Day of the Dead (Dia de los Muertos). Her sugar skulls are made of polymer clay. It can grace a shelf, decorate a cabinet, or sit charmingly in a potted plant.

She has been making and selling her crafts since she was about 12 years old, dreaming of having her own shop where she could sell her art.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/Lostinwonderart?ref=pr_shop

Natalya is an artist from Russia, her cute stapler caught my eyes - so cute!

Her flickr site and blog is filled with beautiful jewelry as well - pendants, bracelets and more - take a look.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/45360874@N04/5064117904/in/photostream

http://epi.kgn.ru/afina/blog/index.php?blog=2

Blindfolded in April; Challenging My Senses

2011-04-30T10:14:00.006+03:00

April is the month of Spring in my town.

Not too long ago I was living in Haifa, the 3rd biggest city in Israel and getting up every morning to the sound of bus engines, breathing smoked air.

About 10 years ago, my husband decided we can't stay in Haifa anymore and we should look for another home for ourselves and children. He looked for a place not too far from our families, where the air is cleaner, birds are singing in the morning (instead of singing buses) and you can smell the flowers blooming - a small piece of nature.

One of the days, he didn't tell me where we're going, blindfolded my eyes and we got in the car.

All I could smell along the way was an amazing smell, later I learned it was the blossom of the Citrus trees with their intoxicating scent. That was April, 10 years ago.

Since then few years have passed, we built our home and planted many citrus trees around us - Lemons, Mandarine, Pomelo, Grapefruit and several others.

Every April I enjoy sitting in my garden, 6am in the mornings, smelling the Spring fragrance with it's colorful flowers, fresh leaves, shining sun and watching the world waking up after the winter.

How does all this relate to us, polymer clay artists?

As you probably know, flowers and polymer clay are a perfect match - Millefiori!

So i figured - what's better theme for April than new flower canes tutorials?

9 new ADVANCED canes joined the crowd!

The new PolyPediaOnline Vol. 26 & 27 invites you to a spring tour with fresh ideas for new flower petals and canes, elaborated and more intricate designs - Learn all my secrets for

accurate & perfect results with your canes!

9 canes, 9 videos = endless ideas!

Skinner blending, folding, inserting, cutting, pinching, shaping, inserting, layering and 2 techniques for precise background filling & reducing!

Do you smell the Spring?

Follow me!

Polymeri Online 21.4.11

2011-04-21T16:38:00.005+03:00

Polymair' de Rien is a forum celebrating these days its first anniversary and 850 members.

A contest was held and the aim was to reproduce a work of art and add a signature design. The inspiration were a picture of a famous painter with his style, shapes, colors, etc. Not an easy task! Miro, Matisse, Magritte, Monet and many more.

Of the 57 designs submitted to the vote, 4 were rewarded after a public vote was opened to 850 members of the forum. You can read more about it in this link

http://paroledepate.canalblog.com/archives/2011/03/30/20760162.html

Here is one of the winning polymer clay pieces by THE ETHIOPIA Blog (didn't see her name) who was inspired by Nicholas Roerich, fascinated by its light and dark, mystical and spiritual dimension of his painting and of course the Himalayas Mountains.

http://lesethiopiques.over-blog.com/article-defi-peintre-70279617.html

Look at these cute cats by Louanneblue - a tutorial is included!

http://paroledepate.canalblog.com/archives/2011/04/12/20873926.html

Easter bunnies are always a great gift both for the holiday and for mother's day, Gesine Kratzner of Blobhouse makes these bunny sculpturing from epoxy clay (more sturdy for the delicate parts) and polymer clay. The sculptures are hand-painted with acrylic paint and a little gloss for an extra spark on the eyes and nose. Along with bunnies she has squids and grumpy pets in her etsy store.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/blobhouse

thank you Elaine for finding these lovely animals.

Wishing you all happy Easter!

Polymeri Online 16.4.11

2011-04-16T07:43:00.006+03:00

A great sunny good morning everyone! :)

Before moving to our wonderful polymer clay weekly links I wanted to share with you a beautiful purse made by one of my "Brocade Collection" Students - Tanja Stumpp, she took this fun and clever product and gave it her own interpretation and her own design - I loved it!

Thank you Tanja for sharing your photos!

Miranda Farrand (photo of elephant) is an avid crafter and stay-at-home mother. She loves to share her clay creations and also works in quilting, primitive stitchery and photography.

http://mirandascritters.blogspot.com

http://www.etsy.com/shop/mirandascritters?ref=seller_info

Check out these cute pacman and tetris retro barrettes by Gimmeswords in deviantart- so cool!

http://gimmeswords.deviantart.com/art/Retro-Gaming-accessories-142617570

Design Sponge posted a tutorial for making a terrariums for plants and little polymer clay mushrooms and gnomes. Use a small glass vessel, soil, decorating rocks, sand and crystals, plants of course and small polymer clay figures - great for a gift!

http://www.designspongeonline.com/2011/04/around-the-world-with-bash-please-california.html

Ludie Amos is a retired school secretary, wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother. She is also a prize-winning doll maker, quilt-maker, tapestry artist, painter and sculptor. Her dolls appear to be so real that you expect them to rise from their chairs and walk. She says that they communicate to her their names and what they want to wear while she’s working on them.

http://www.clarksvilleonline.com/2011/03/23/american-treasure-the-artwork-of-ludie-amos/

http://customshousemuseum.org/uncategorized/ludi-amos-dolls

Polymeri Online 8.4.11

2011-04-08T10:22:00.007+03:00

Marmelinhas / Ana Kuhnen gallery is full of yummies and cuties! miniature food, figurines, animals clay toys - all made with colorful clay and put a big smile on my face!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/marmelinhas/

http://www.marmelinhas.com.br/

Don't miss her YouTube channel for more inspiration and instructions how-to's, it's in Portuguese but it's worth it!

http://www.youtube.com/user/marmelinhasoficial

Rebekah Payne is a self taught artist. works mainly with polymer clay creating handcrafted

pendant necklaces, beaded bracelets, earrings with sculpted dragons, romantic winged hearts, skeleton keys, rustic trees, horses...and much more.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/TreeWingsStudio

Blog - http://www.treewingsstudio.com/

Winter is slowly leaving my country but it's always great to see a scarf decoration made of polymer clay, I love scarves, especially fabric ones.

Ilenia Moreni from Italy made a polymer clay scarf "buckle" to wrap her scarf in it, made with coiled polymer clay and a bit of antiquing if i can guess correctly.

http://leggendesegrete.blogspot.com/2011/02/scarf-buckles.html

Polymeri Online 1.4.11

2011-04-01T15:41:00.005+03:00

1st of April! don't worry, i won't be fooling any tricks on you today :)

Nancy Richardson's main focus is dogs in various breeds. She creates sculptures, pen/ink artwork, pendants, note cards and works in other mediums. she is an extreme dog lover and makes amazing pandora dog beads - Maltese, white terrier, german shepherd - You name it!!

http://nanjodogz.etsy.com

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nanjodogz/

A while ago i got an email from Joseph Lieuallen, a very talented artist who makes amazing fantasy artwork using Super Sculpey. After a lapse of 20 years he picked up his sculpture tools again now that he is semi retired and have more time. He have recently sent these sample photos to the the Sculpey company seeking part time employment to produce. I hope it works well for him!

More of Joseph's artwork is on Deviantart.com under gallery as sculpey-guy.

and in this link

http://browse.deviantart.com/?qh=&section=&global=1&q=sculpey-guy

Selda Tokman from Turkey found herself in the middle of her intense life in an unbelievable world called “polymer clay”. In the past, she had the opportunity to make some oil paint with various Turkish artists. With the Millefiori technique, she is projecting pictures in both 2 and 3 dimensions, ornaments, key rings, magnets, pins.

http://www.seldaart.com

http://www.facebook.com/seldaart

Donations - 6th Annual Fandango Polymer Clay Retreat

2011-03-26T17:51:00.007+02:00

Orlando Area Polymer Clay Guild in Central Florida, is holding the 6th Annual Fandango Polymer Clay Retreat at the May 19-23 this year. I was asked by Charline Ahlgreen, OAPC Guild President and Donations Chairwoman, to donate some of my favorite items to be used in the auctions and "goodie bags" for the participants.

As I was told the proceeds raised from the auctions will be used to fund polymer clay community outreach programs (demonstrations, public library classes, "Bottles of Hope" for cancer patients and many more). The guild also provides two internal scholarships annually that enable their members to take master classes so that they can expand their polymer clay skills.

It was an honor for me to donate these items given for such important causes, I hope they will raise enough! :)

Have fun! wish i lived a little closer...

Polymeri Online 24.3.11

2011-03-24T11:54:00.003+02:00

Wall cakes's store is full of wonderful hand crafted decorative switch plates.

Her story reminds me a little bit of my own, when she lost her job she re-discovered her love of art. She says that "losing something is sometimes the best thing that can happen to anyone". As a teenager, she took classes, made things on a loom, watched and helped, her mother and aunt ran a small business making ceramics. Her inspiration comes from the mediums she works with. Polymer clay can be whatever you want it to be - so true.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/WallCakes

Olena Mysnyk is a 26 year old designer, studied architecture in Kiev, but once found herself in creating jewelry - she tried to work with polymer clay and could not stop. She creates delicate, bright and tender flowers made into beautiful jewelry.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/HoneyCase2

Katie Oskin has been crafting for the majority of her adult life, but about 2 years ago she began to experiment with polymer clay. Since then she has fallen in love with its affordability, its multi-purpose uses, and the relaxation it provides (squish, squash, bake, crack, paint, oil, cure, etc.) Their designs are mostly whimsical, fun, and humorous in nature. From the cute & cuddly, to the monsters & robots!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/toystorynutty

Amy was always into the arts in one way or another since she was a toddler. Her latest obsession is working with polymer clay. She has been trying different techniques & experimenting, but still pretty new at it. She loves sea creatures, mainly cephalopods. Octopus & squid are her favorites as you can tell by looking through her shop.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/societysedso

Think Outside Of Your Jewelry Box!

2011-03-18T18:48:00.001+02:00

It's been quite a while I've been looking for a new design that would be both innovative, creative and challenging to create - Thinking outside of the box.

Mix media was something i was very interested in when i studied fashion design in high school.

The combination of materials and techniques seemed very appealing to me.

One day, I was sitting at my craft table and looking at fabric leftovers i had from sewing my daughter's 'Purim' costume (Purim is like Halloween); Suddenly a throught came to my mind! (Imagine a huge light bulb on top of my house) How about creating a mix media design: fabric, clay, zipper and chain?

From that moment on, I "heard" the ideas running in my head and started to make variations of purses, pouches, bags and boxes designs.

The combination between the soft materials (fabric & zipper) with the stiff polymer clay, were a perfect match.

The Hemisphere pouch, Prism square case, Pyramid box and the bracelet are only the beginning of an ocean of ideas.

The simplicity and practical uses of this design can show you how you can develop it further with any design, pattern, color or texture - There are infinite options!

If you want to learn more about my new innovative Brocade Collection in a step by step tutorial, with 8 videos & a complete Kit to create your own hemisphere purse and other 3D designs - Follow me!

You are a click away!

http://www.polypediaonline.com/133688/polypediaonline_brocade_hemisphere

Polymeri Online 18.3.11

2011-03-18T18:32:00.002+02:00

Amber Elledge working with polymer clay since age 11, but still discovers new things every time she picks up a block (like all of us, I guess). She makes unique and fun pieces that are also useful. Her favorite technique is "filigree", a process of coiling, placing and cutting individual strands of clay by hand.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/starless

Kristie B Kristie-Lou is a full time artist with a split personality. Her two passions include creating wire wrapped jewelry and polymer clay faces. She never knows what the day will bring and let her hands guide the way.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/sculptedwindows

I've stumbled across Anna Shchelkunova flickr gallery and loved this pendant! the mix of flowers, coiled clay and the pearl look was so nice and delicate.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/59089123@N06/5532744503/

Here is more of her interesting pieces made into beads

http://fenek.gallery.ru/watch?ph=qim-bV9JT

Katrin Joonas from Estonia posted a magical poppy pendant with a necklace inspired by Estonia's ethnic embroidery. She is using Premo! Sculpey, Sculpey Ultralight & Sculpey III, Acrylic paint, brown antiquing medium & glossy glaze

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8304472@N02/5519443770/

https://picasaweb.google.com/olikolm/Kati#

Hemisphere Quiz - WINNER!

2011-03-16T10:30:00.012+02:00

WOW! 110 comments! So many creative ideas from such creative people!

This guessing game was so much fun, with every comment I discovered a new way to use my "things" :)

These new "things" are the a part of a new and exciting tutorial launching this Friday - Here is another sneak pick to the final project ~The Brocade Hemisphere Tutorial~

THAT'S ONLY 1 project out of 4 included in the tutorial!

Can you tell what they are now?

Only 9 of you were very close to guessing what these small half "bowls" are planned to be -

guesses like "jewelry box", "pill box", "wedding ring case", "Box topper" were almost it, all of your wonderful ideas can be easily executed with the new tutorial, but no one mentioned a pouch or a purse - what they really are :) I know it was a tricky quiz but that's the best part of it - imagination!

BUT! I couldn't leave this fun game without a winner!

All 9 "finalists" in the order they commented - Anna (9), Fymux (49), Melitta (50), Phil (54), Cherie (69), Debbie McLelland (71), Webdzynz (85), Eclectic beader (91) & Judit (110) were entered into a random number picker and the winner is....

Cherie!

Congratulation! :)

The 8 "runner ups" will receive a 20% discount when purchasing the new Vol. 25 - Please email me and i will be happy to send you a discount coupon.

For all the others, you still have a chance to win -

Christine Dumont from "Voila" website is having another "launch party" - and 2 additional lucky winners can get a FREE copy of the tutorial! all the details in "Voila" site.

An official announcement with all the details, photos and other deli's will be posted here on Friday -

Stay tuned!

Want to guess what these are?

2011-03-13T12:38:00.006+02:00

Quiz!

here is a little teaser to my new upcoming tutorial :)

want to guess what they are planned to be?

They are part of a final piece.

The correct answer will WIN my new tutorial for FREE!

let's "hear" your comments and don't forget to leave your email or contact info!

Quiz ended! - thank you!

Here is the winner announcement

Polymeri Online 10.3.11

2011-03-10T20:55:00.005+02:00

Australia!

Melody Tallon from Australia, like very many people, has always needed to create and was fortunate to have parents who encouraged both her and sister to explore different ways of being creative while children, her designs in polymer clay are multicolored and unique and match the fact that her favorite subjects in school were science and art - it looks like a pure research in polymer clay abilities :)

http://www.melodytallon.com

http://www.madeit.com.au/Artefacts

http://allchainedup.wordpress.com

Donna Griggs lives in the east coast of Tasmania and inspired by so much around her ,always documenting journeys around her beautiful state using photographs along with the colours and textures she sees. She discovered polymer as a medium two years ago, and after her studies in Contemporary Art Craft and Design at Tasmanian Polytecnique College she uses precious metals with polymer in her work.

http://www.artaspace.com/certificate-iv-galleries/jewellry/150-donna-griggs

Debbie Crothers lives on the west coast of Australia, she has been a "clay addict" for about 3 years :) Her favourite things to play around with would have to be liquid clay. She has been working on trying to create faux-glass for a while with medium success - "still lots more to play with though" as she says :).

She is the manager of the Aussiepolyclayers Online Forum, through it she made some fantastic contacts and many friends and learnt much from her extremely generous and talented Aussie clayers.

They are a fairly small but very active group and involve with their monthly challenges and swaps and numerous other fun stuff throughout the year.

This year they have organised a major competition for the group with some great prizes, so keep a look out for more information on this one!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/DebbieCrothers

http://www.flickr.com/photos/debbiecrothers/

Zarina Ahmed is a west Australian, her passion for polymer clay began many years ago by chance and has developed into somewhat of an obsession.

In her home studio, she hand-makes each bead lovingly using her favourite techniques such as mokume gane, canework, inks, metallic powders and metal leaf.

Her jewellery is classic , yet contemporary and inspired by nature.

and... Jon Anderson uploaded a new and exciting video on his canning process - watching it again and again and still i can't believe the detailing in his canes - speachless.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYhnTu7Mz6g

Have a great weekend :)

Polymeri Online 5.3.11

2011-03-05T22:17:00.004+02:00

Dimitra is a greek living in the Netherlands, since she can remember herself, she was always creating things with her hands. she has worked with different kind or materials : oil and acrylic paint, papier mache, wire, porcelain, wood,and many others. Polymer has always been her biggest passion. Take a look at her colorful circle shape beads necklace using millefiori canes

http://www.etsy.com/listing/51640107/circles

Polka dots sheet tutorial by Grgalina from Russia, and there are several more in her blog

http://grgalina.livejournal.com/99194.html#cutid1

Polymer clay crochet hook handles are one of the hundreds ways we can use millefiori canes, UK artist Cara made these lovely decorated hooks

http://surfingcatclay.blogspot.com/2010/05/crochet-hooks.html

Tapestry blog also posted about covering her crochet hooks with polymer clay and have a video showing it, she says crocheting with a hook that has a handle is better than crocheting with a naked hook. Not only do you look very cool crocheting with a one-of-a-kind work of art, the handle makes crocheting tightly much easier.

http://www.tapestrycrochet.com/blog/?p=398

To tell you the truth, i am starting my affair with crochet, you'll be hearing about this soon, this is one craft i can take with me anywhere!

FloRaeMe decorated drill tools handles also using colorful millefiori canes

http://floraeme.blogspot.com/2010/11/tool-handles.html

You may also want to check her Makeshift light box post on how to photograph her art

http://floraeme.blogspot.com/2011/02/makeshift-light-box.html

Have a great weekend!

See Through? Hexagon? Leather?

2011-02-25T19:55:00.002+02:00

A year ago, when i visited the cakes supplies store (another favorite store for polymer clay goodies b.t.w), I couldn't resist that hexagon form and knew it's a future piece. It waited for a while and now the time has arrived :)

This new bracelets tutorial combines the perfect mix of polymer clay, a leather like finish, cut-out classic shapes, double/triple layers peeking through the cut-out holes and all kind of textures and designs hidden inside.

My tutorial demonstrates 2 different ways and 6 designs of creating elegant and attractive jewelry using triple/double layer clay sheets and cut out shapes.

In this class you will learn how to create 6(!) designs and incorporate the pattern in circular bracelets, hexagon bracelet, a round ring and a "mosquito" mesh bracelet.

plus - a 21 minutes VIDEO is included!

Like all my tutorials, this PDF is packed with tips, photos and step-by-step instructions.

What will you find in the NEW PolyPediaOnline Vol. 24 tutorial?

Click here -

http://www.polypediaonline.com/133688/polypediaonline_see_through

Polymeri Online 22.2.11

2011-02-22T10:10:00.004+02:00

Russia this week!

ktb_82 or T.kitina from the russion forum made a beautiful night city bracelet made of cut and sculpted buildings and formed into tiles. Her creation is based on a tutorial by another artist - be_main which uploaded a cat tile bracelet made in a similar technique.

Here is the night city bracelet post

http://community.livejournal.com/polymerclayfimo/3545129.html

and here is the cat tiles tutorial

http://community.livejournal.com/polymerclayfimo/3463010.html

natusiken / Natalia Vorobieva from russia is working with various materials and in polymer clay too. Her "soft" looking curly flowers caught my eyes, almost as fabric/felt looking - loved it!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/crazysparrow/5187153468/

A cool mini-tutorial by aller12 from the russion forum - a sculpted rose on recycled disc to use as a fun decoration

http://aller12.livejournal.com/95000.html?nc=10

And speacking of roses and leaves, here is another version of leaves by Mingle-ua, another multi-talent artist from russian -

http://www.flickr.com/photos/25416084@N02/5046793310/

My grandmother roots comes from russia, too bad i don't speak the language...

спасибо! google translates thank you :)

Master your favorite techniques - Special Offer!

2011-02-13T09:27:00.004+02:00

The first two Millefiori Celebration tutorials were released last week and were a great success! Thank you!

3 NEW PROJECTS are joining the 9 tutorials available

and...

They offered in "a never seen before" price for a limited time only!

Now you can Make YOUR OWN MIX of projects -

for only 10$-12$ each! (instead of 16-19$)

Special price expires soon!

See your skills grow with up-close shots, full length videos, and step-by-step instructions.

all the details in this page -

http://www.polypediaonline.com/133688/how_to_use_polymer_clay_millefiori_canes

Have a great warm weekend!

Polymeri Online 13.2.11

2011-02-13T09:11:00.003+02:00

DesignTheory is a curator of contemporary art (as well as former visual artist and chef) who is obsessed with great design, in all its forms.

This piece is a real statement one, the organic forms of this necklace were inspired by the modernist sculpture of Brazilian artist Sergio Camargo and the song 'Fire of Love'.

http://www.etsy.com/listing/59120508/fire-of-love-necklace

Jessica made a beautiful christmas ornament which is perfect for valentine as well :) this golden heart cupcake is made of polymer and painted with acrylics.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jessicajanelove/5257113386/in/contacts/

and a group photo

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jessicajanelove/5249487503/

Kindred Spirit Studios / Michelle DP's work is inspired by African tribal colors, patterns and motifs and the natural world. She works with paper, ink, stamps and her mix media work is full of color. I am almost certain i can see polymer clay in her pieces.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kindredspiritstudios/with/4314307768/

http://www.etsy.com/shop/camida

Supplies! I am always fond of goodies shops - In whysperFairy store you'll find silicone molds for wonderful quick and easy pieces -

http://www.etsy.com/shop/WhysperFairy?ref=pr_profile

FREE VIDEO! How To Cover Cutlery With Millefiori Canes

2011-02-09T14:37:00.005+02:00

Here is a quick free 10 minutes "How-To" Video for covering simple cutlery with polymer clay retro millefiori canes.

Choose your cutlery - small or big and make an original set with colorful millefiori canes!

How about you?

What is YOUR favorite millefiori project?

"The Millefiori Celebration" is Here!

2011-02-05T11:23:00.008+02:00

I got an email, from one of my customers, Martha, asking a question almost every millefiori "caner" asking him/herself from time to time:

"...Hello Iris, I love making polymer clay millefiori canes, I have SO many cane boxes all around my house and working table,

BUT I have no idea how I can use these millefiori canes once I've created them? Help!

I'd love to see new ideas!...""

Millefiori canning in polymer clay is probably one of the popular niches in the polymer clay world and it's also one of my favorites!

I love making millefiori canes, trying almost every cane I can think of, so most of them end up in boxes for "future use" :)

If you are also, making lot's and lot's of polymer clay millefiori canes and store them in a box waiting for the "next project";

If you are in a "forever search" for a new cheerful, irresistible & exciting idea on how to use your millefiori canes and make beautiful products out of it -

"The Complete Millefiori Projects eBooks" are the

thing for YOU!

My 2 new ebooks are demonstrating HOW to USE millefiori canes rather than how to make canes, and show numerous ways you can use your millefiori canes to create a variety of colorful, sophisticated, stylish and magnificent projects!

I'm officially announcing "The Millefiori Celebration"!

Would you like to join me?

Click here to see all the details

http://www.polypediaonline.com/133688/how_to_use_millefiori_canes

Polymeri Online 5.2.11

2011-02-05T11:11:00.004+02:00

Isabelle d'Hauterive is from Québec Canada, when she was twelve, a neighbor ceramist introduced her to the art of modeling clay. Creating, giving life has enchanted her, thus giving rise to her passion for sculpture. Years has passed and she paralleled her work as a ceramist with obtaining a degree in teaching. For years she left the arts behind, until the discovery of polymer clay, and her creativity has since been reanimated along with her passion.

http://www.isabelledhauterive.com/anglais/figurines.html

ClayCenter / Berit Hines has worked many years in ceramics. She has moved from Holland to the US in 1999, and retired from Ceramics, after having sold her studio and most of her work in order to be able to immigrate. After just doing some water coloring she couldn't stay away from clay forever, and now indulging herself in the art of polymer clay and window paints.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/21863654@N07/

http://www.etsy.com/shop/claycenter

ArtWen / Ainhoa is originally from Barcelona but now living in Avellino, Italy, her smiling figures, lovely eggplants and cute carrots are so sweet!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ainhoacr/5311464411/in/contacts/

Tampinha from Portugal started her polymer clay work in 2007 as a joke according to her flickr profile (and google translate) and since then it has taken shape, she is considering herself a perfectionist and her polymer clay art looks not less than perfect with her tiny designs and delicious miniatures :)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tampinha/5264420614/

Polymeri Online 29.1.11

2011-01-29T08:55:00.005+02:00

Tania Podoleanu has posted a mini tutorial in the israeli blog, it's a nice variation for making a beaded bracelet to people who are allergic to metal of any kind. She is demonstrating a bead tiles bracelet mounted on felt, with no metal accessories, and velcro finish. The beads are being glued on the felt strip. Take a look, even though it's in hebrew, the small DOC icon over there (it's small but there) is downloading an english doc file tutorial.

http://www.tapuz.co.il/Forums2008/ViewMsg.aspx?ForumId=1484&MessageId=148936225

Pieces of Dream by Deanna / Deanna Miller is a mixed media artist working primarily with polymer clay, my eyes was caught on her steampunk butterfly - at first look it looks like real copper!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/26779959@N08/5310154476/in/photostream/

Kirsten Miller - QuernusCrafts has cute sculpturing of animals, she is a former lawyer who finally realised the error of her ways and left behind a successful career to follow her heart! It only took her 15 years! what an inspiration!

http://www.quernuscrafts.co.uk

http://www.flickr.com/photos/quernuscrafts/

http://www.etsy.com/shop/QuernusCrafts

Valentine is so close, even though this project is not polymer clay, i thought you may like this one - a paper clip heart: easy and cute!

http://howaboutorange.blogspot.com/2009/02/heart-shaped-paper-clips.html

Have a warm weekend, finally rain again here :)

Pile of crumbs all over your table and floor?

2011-01-27T08:01:00.006+02:00

Did you ever try conditioning dry clay and got a pile of crumbs all over your table and floor?

Here is my solution to this mess!

I took a chocolate box and after it's content has vanished (I'm innocent!! ;) ) I used it for storing short canes and I figured that the lid can be used as a small tray under the pasta machine to catch all those crumbs falling from the dry clay conditioning.

This way you don't have to clean the table and floor, and the tray is helping us to collect the leftovers back into the clay sheet, every falling crumb or piece is waiting to be cleaned or back to the clay for further conditioning.

When you're done, all you have to do is take a baby wipe and clean the tray!

Watch my Youtube video demonstrating it! In the video you will find other conditioning tips i am using for old, dry and even fresh clay.

Now, get yourself some chocolate :)

Polymeri Online 20.1.11

2011-01-20T11:35:00.003+02:00

Geek millefiori for cool people! That's Bear Duck description of his stuff, "Bearduck" is actually what they call their pet Newfoundland, who looks like a bear and acts like a duck :) Those millefiori canes are super fun!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/bearduck?ref=seller_info

SilverLeafShiny is handmade mixed media jewellery by Anna Roberts, combining polymer clay with foil, shimmer powder, metal leaf and any other shiny things she can get my hands on. :)

http://www.etsy.com/shop/SilverleafShinyStuff?ref=seller_info

In Fizzyclaret Etsy store you will find handmade miniature items as well as other unusual pieces of art.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/fizzyclaret?ref=seller_info

I loved her silver tinted rose pendant!

http://www.etsy.com/listing/61304612/silver-tinted-rose-ball-pendant-on-chain

My Fimo Kitchen is Gordana Radovanovic from Serbia, and indeed she has some cool polymer cookin'! check out the strainer she is using for displaying her beads, I think it's a briliant idea for drying them after varnish too! cool!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/46880285@N07/

http://myfimokitchen.blogspot.com/2010/07/ikebana.html

Have a great weekend everyone!

Polymeri Online 14.1.11

2011-01-14T11:38:00.002+02:00

Cassandra Graham uses stones, bones, crystals, feathers & leathers in her jewelry. Her new obsession is art dolls which are ooak polymer clay with wire armatures to which she adds the costuming.

I like her slogan - "Life is too short to wear the ordinary!"

http://www.wildejewels.com

http://www.beadersshowcase.com/profile/CassandraGraham

http://www.international-art-doll-registry.com/Default.aspx?pageId=787897 - Witches sculpturings

Amy Crawley is a mixed media artist who creates fine art and functional art. Her spirit messengers, icons, and fortune pyramids are inspired by nature, the spirit of ancient cultures and her travels around the world. She uses polymer clay, air dry clay, foil armature & wire in her creations.

http://www.amyacrawley.com

Suzanne Anderson background is in painting and graphic design but she has always been deeply interested in jewelry design, body ornamentation and the relevance of fashion. In particular, she is intrigued by how what we wear affects our perception of ourselves and others’ perception of us. She defines her work with polymer clay as a material that is not precious but is transformed through the process into a precious item - couldn't agree more!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/Yikes?ref=top_trail

http://www.yikestudio.com/YIKES_09/YIKES!_Studio_~_Home.html

Thelma Aviani has various designs and materials in her site, she is from Brazil and work also with polymer clay.

http://thelmaaviani.com/home-en.html (see red necklace)

Poly-Dictionary and polymer clay basics

2011-01-11T14:48:00.005+02:00

When i created PolyPediaOnline site, my intention was to make it comprehensive as possible, in my vision i saw artists and talented friends, discovering polymer clay, find everything they need to start their journey in polymer clay - how to start, important tools and materials we need without spending a lot of money right from the start, types of polymer clay, tips on how to condition, how to store polymer clay, how to bake, safety tips and information i have learned over time.

After these pages were ready i listed all the tools, materials, terms and techniques i know and prepared the Poly-Dictionary so that every person browsing the web, gooling or reading a tutorial will understand the terms and materials listed - What does "slicing" or "wrapping" means and what is "a plug", for example.

The list is not complete, but ready to publish, I'm sure i missed some terms but they will be added, I am sure this list may become handy to every polymer clay fan.

I will be happy to hear your comments and if there are missing terms or something needs correction - let me know!

Polymeri Online 7.1.11

2011-01-07T08:04:00.003+02:00

"Siman-Tov" which means in hebrew - "good sign" is a website belongs to Israeli Mirit and Ilan Eliyahu, very talented and special people which can not hear. They are creating special decorations using sign language sculpturing in polymer clay, mostly with the sign "I love you" in a hand form. Their challenge is to teach who ever is interested the unique sign language and a person can order his/her own name in polymer clay signs/hands showing the letters in sign language.

I was wondering, is sign language global and words (not letters) looks the same in every language? wished they had an english version of the site so you can read about these lovely people.

http://www.simantov.co.il/

http://www.simantov.co.il/69566/Sign_language_products

Another artist with beautiful polymer clay sculpturings using sign language is Krystal Zimmerman aka MoonlightAura (photo on right). She chose the name Moonlightaura due to the fact that since she works a second shift job, most of the items she creates occur within the moonlight hours. The majority of her work revolves around sign language and this stems from her working with children. At her current job she works with children who are mainly temporary with them, waiting to be placed in foster care and although none of them are deaf, she noticed that it is much easier to teach them something with some sort of prop. Thus birthed the idea for ASL hands.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/MoonlightAura

Nina Nell is an artist and author. Since her childhood, she creates One Of A Kind sculptures and write different kind of stories.

http://www.ninanell.de/

Lovely collection of cross stitch canes by Zoeowyn / Laura M

http://www.flickr.com/photos/23398795@N07/5314122559/in/contacts/

Puffy heart beads and "diamond-like" magnets?

2011-01-03T22:58:00.004+02:00

Valentine's Day is around the corner!

Although Valentine's Day isn't a jewish holiday, it's still one of my favorite days and it's a good excuse to leave all the laundry/cooking/dishes (& kids) at home and show my love to my sweet other half that makes my artistic passion possible :)

Among the gifts given as a Valentine's Day gift, jewelry is the most common.

Why not make it ourselves? Handmade jewelry goes a step farther by being a gift that is truly from the heart.

I have been playing with ideas and came up with 2 new tutorials for the holiday. They can be used for Valentine's Day but not only! they are also great for any time of year and you will learn a new technique to use in your future projects!

The new heart themed tutorials make perfect gifts for the upcoming Valentine's day!

Puffy heart beads and "diamond-like" magnets?

Carving and molding?

Click here to see what's in the Valentine's Day 2011 tutorials!

Wishing you a LOVEly day :)

Polymeri Online 31.12.10

2010-12-31T09:53:00.003+02:00

Alice (from wonderland) is a designer from St-Petersburg, Russia, she has a wonderful sense of color and her jewelry made me smile, their color combination is beautiful.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/alicefromwonderland/sets/72157625560567887/

DeliciousHobo is addicted to crafting. She (i'm guessing) makes wearable art and her passion for painting, sculpting, and accessories has given birth to her one-of-a-kind jewelry. Many of her pieces are made over the course of several days – clay molding, baking, sometimes sanding and/or painting, sealing, and assembling.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/DeliciousHobo?ref=seller_info

Check out these cool colorful millefiori frogs by Nancy Welch, and her Picassa is full of goodies as well!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/15239491@N00/

http://picasaweb.google.com/crazynancy91/

creastefy / stefania published a sweet tort cake tutorial, she works with various materials and polymer clay is one of them :)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/creastefy/4691141374/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/creastefy/sets/72157611517782606/

Last day of 2010 - wishing every one a happy (and healthy) new year!

Polymeri Online 25.12.10

2010-12-25T15:11:00.003+02:00

Biliana is from Sofia, Bulgaria. She is 31 years old illustrator and painter and a graduate from National Academy of Art, Sofia, Bulgaria. Her talent for illustrating works perfectly with polymer clay. In the specific piece (shown here) you can see Alice, a lovely art doll, a one of a kind piece.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bilui/3785045852/in/faves-49117171@N02/

http://www.etsy.com/shop/biliana

Joojoo made cute little trees with sea salt as a "snowy" ground - so cute!

http://www.joojoo.me/2010/12/merry-christmas.html

Petalcove has a unique way with roses, her petals are millefiori canes which makes the roses look very interesting. she loves to paint with acrylics, and handcraft jewelry out of polymer clay, sells her work all over Southern California, mostly at art shows and different music events.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/petalcove?ref=seller_info

ZiZou ArT's photostream has a cool bag collection that you can wear as brooches!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/52144917@N05/5246182869/

Merry Christmas! :)

Winners of 1st PolyPediaOnline Anniversary and Happy Christmas!

2010-12-25T00:10:00.007+02:00

Hope i am catching you in the middle of your holiday celebrations (or getting ready), i am sending everyone happy holidays, best wishes and a wonderful creative new year!

It's just past midnight here in Israel and time to give my own Christmas gifts, i have found a great plugin for blogspot comments so i can number them all and use a random number picker to choose winners - that's a brilliant tool.

83 comments has been posted in the 1st anniversary post, I've got wonderful comments and thank you each and every one of you for taking a moment of your time and filling it out.

These are the winners of the the 10 PolyPediaOnline tutorials (click on the photo above to enlarge), you can check your number in the original post.
Each winner is asked to contact me to my email imishly{at}gmail.com and tell me what is his/her chosen PolyPediaOnline tutorial (out of Vol. 1-16) that he/she would like to receive to his/her email. Please mention your winning number and make sure you include your personal name.

The additional 2 winners are also asked to contact me and send me their personal address to send them the gifts by regular post.

Tomorrow i am back with a PolymeriOnline links post after a short break i did not post.

thank you for celebrating with me, and wishing you all the best :)

Polymeri Online 13.12.10

2010-12-13T13:20:00.007+02:00

Alessandro Marco from Italy is a long time cyber-friend, He was one of the first customers in my Etsy shop back in 2007.

He always thought that polymer clay is a magical material and his passion hasn't stopped since.

These days he is working on a Lamp collection made of polymer clay and glass. According to his process, he uses lamps with glass base , He attaches glass tiles to the base, wait a day, clean it all with some oily materials, and then place neon "fimo" or liquid "fimo" between the different pieces of colored glasses.

After that, the lamp will be sent for oven curing in not more than 100/120 Celsius for 20 minutes, when it is cooled it is cleaned up. Marco always gives a name to all his creations before going on sale! :)

Take a look at this Picasa gallery to see more photos -

http://picasaweb.google.com/ambarabaciciccoco/LAMPDalMarzo2002#

And one sweet desert -

BlingAndPink's etsy store makes me wanna open the fridge looking for something sweet! :) Her macarons & whip cream looks so real!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/BlingAndPink?ref=seller_info

PolyPediaOnline 1st Birthday!

2010-12-10T20:20:00.006+02:00

Finally the time has come!
This month - December, marks PolyPediaOnline 1st Birthday.

Time really does fly by. It doesn’t feel like a year has passed. This first year was wonderful, thanks to all you polymer clay enthusiastic, wonderful readers and customers! :)

To celebrate, this magnificent year, I’m giving away free gifts! (hey it’s the that time of year :))

Today is the beginning of my Birthday Bash!

Want to know what I’m giving away?

10 lucky winners will win a FREE tutorial of their choice! up to 250$ worth gifts!

The winners will get to choose which tutorial to receive out of vol. 1-16.

1 lucky winner will win a FREE Kit of my new Disc-Chic Jewelry tutorial!

1 lucky winner will win one of my Disc-Chic Necklaces sent to his/her home!

I guess you want to know what you need to do to win these prizes?

Actually it’s very easy- all you need to do is post 2 comments (or more but always in pairs) in this page and answer 2 questions to enter the raffle.

What do you need to comment about?

First, click on the PolyPediaOnline product link and take a look at the 18 tutorials I have published so far.

http://www.polypediaonline.com/133688/1stanniversarypolypediaonline

=> In your 1st comment Choose your favorite tutorial on that page and tell me why is that tutorial in your wish list, OR if you already purchased any of my tutorials - why you like it.

=> In your second comment include something you wish to learn using polymer clay. Something I haven’t covered yet, you can suggest creative ideas, even if you’re not sure that they are possible, but this comment has to be clear and easy to understand. These "wishes" may become my future tutorials!

Comments should be posted on here, in PolymeriOnline Blog by December 24th 2010.

At midnight (my time) I’ll hold the raffles and on Christmas day just before you open your gifts I’ll announce the winners, on my blog.

You are welcomed to post about this giveaway in your facebook wall, twitter, blog, or website and double your chances!

When commenting here, don’t forget to mention where you shared this giveaway (facebook/twitter/other) so i'll know you deserve a double chance in the raffle :)

Let the comments begin! This merry event will last until the 24th of December.

Come and check back on the morning of the 25th of December, the winners names will be posted here!

Thanks again for taking the time to stop by PolyPediaOnline. I really, appreciate it!

Merry commenting and happy holidays to all!

A quick holidays freebie! make your own polymer clay tree decoration :)

2010-12-09T16:03:00.008+02:00

Even though it's still hot & dry in Israel, i am joining the festive atmosphere of upcoming Christmas.

Snow? i don't think I'll see any where i live, but the weather man promised rain this weekend! let's hope for some showers :)

Enjoy this free video on making a Christmas tree decoration using a snowman figure, tree cutter and holiday colors!

thinking of the things I wanted to save

2010-12-06T14:52:00.005+02:00

The past week was impossible to bear; Monday morning started with a relatively small fire near my home, the smoke could be seen from my front porch, the smell was very strong and I started thinking about what's going to happen when I’ll be ordered to leave my home.

I was walking around my house, restless, I couldn't do anything useful besides thinking of the things I want to save.

The emergency authorities said there is nothing to worry about at the moment, planes were flying around us. It took a full day for that fire to be put out and that night we went to sleep calmly.

Little did I know, that it won’t last for long. Last Thursday I was terrified. Just before noon I was listening to the radio and I heard that a huge fire has started, only a 15 minute drive from my home.

What does that mean? Do I have to pack? Do I have to think about leaving the house? Again?! What do i take first? The firefighting service declared it as the biggest fire in Israel's history, I decided to pack : My kids, a few albums, my laptop & camera. DH found the perfect timing to be in Los Angeles on a business trip; We all drove to my mother's house, I felt like I have a huge rock on my chest, and all I wanted was to make this disaster go away.

The following days were so awful: roughly 17,000 people were evacuated from their homes. The 82-hour fire claimed the lives of 42 people, burnt dozens of homes, destroyed thousands of acres of land, and raised many difficult questions.

These days left me thinking about the power of nature. I am sure some of you have heard or experienced similar wild fires in your country.... If it wasn't for the great international help we got from so many countries, I am not sure I would be writing this post from my home. I wish I could thank every single nation that helped in this effort. I am sure that when the time comes Israel will be there to help others. Fortunately, nobody thinks about politics when human lives are involved.

So, thank you for being here, reading my post, I really needed to share this, I couldn't ignore everything around me and go on 'business as usual'.

Just before the fire started, I was about to publish a post about a big giveaway I’m having for my 1st anniversary of polypediaonline, but it felt wrong without saying a few words about my personal feelings.

In a few days when life will return to normal, I’ll go live with my planned giveaway, See you soon.