Polymeri Online 7.5.11

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

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

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

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

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

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

more in her facebook page

Mommaschickens was born because of Helen's 4yr olds love of her cuddly toy chicken - Mommas chickens are hand-made figurine chickens made with Fimo, each chicken takes around two hours to complete and, because they are hand-made, each is unique

and slightly different.

Read about their story in their "about" section, it's pretty cool!

http://www.mommaschickens.com/index.asp

http://www.flickr.com/photos/59318343@N05/

have a great weekend! :)

Polymeri Online 1.4.11

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