This polymer clay hostess gift from Maryland’s Mari Odell to Taz Chaudry has a lovely story. Mari pressed transluscent faux jade into antique Japanese sweet mold fragments to create the centerpiece of the necklace. The side beads are a combination of extruded polymer, serpentine jade and antique brass.
Mari taught high school art in Maryland and Taz was her student. Twenty-five years later Taz contacted Mari to thank her for that high school inspiration and Taz, now in Colorado, hosted Mari on her visit. And once again Mari had an opportunity to teach Taz art, this time polymer clay.
Golden Information
Elise Winters passes along this interesting link about gold that gives us more support as we polymer clay artists struggle to defend our medium. The article reports that:
The ecologic, economic, social, and political price of gold is far costlier than we imagine. We are in the midst of a new gold rush, one that is consuming wilderness areas, contaminating watersheds, destroying ecosystems, and imperiling the economics of poor nations and the well being of indigenous people throughout the world. Some cumulative, irreparable consequences of mining will be with us, in this country and around the world, forever.
This new gold rush is the result of a converging complexity of circumstances on a global scale, including:
The development of highly effective and extremely toxic methods of gold extraction,
A continual rise in worldwide demand for gold,
The demise of gold as global monetary standard,
The continued withholding of enormous stockpiles of gold in the vaults of national banks, and
Huge, multinational corporations very eager to cash in.
Frustration…web surfing on a pc…grrrrrr. You’ll just have to believe me and visit One of a Kind Chicago and look at Debra DeWolff’s new work. Yummy. Once I get to a good connection, I’ll add a better picture. Search the roster for other polymer artists as well. Sorry…too much wine with Colorado friends. Have a great weekend and be ready for good stuff next week.
Here’s a 4-minute video that gives you a peek into the process and production of Ford/Forlano metal and polymer clay artworks. Those of us who’ve been around a few years will appreciate a glimpse of their canes from yesteryear still squirreled away in the studio. (Go here for a full view.)
That these two have been able to collaborate, evolve, and succeed in polymer clay since 1986 is quite remarkable.
Their links led me to a fun fashion show at SandraWebster and to a preview of the prestigious Philadelphia Museum of Art Craft Show. And whose name did I spy in the "emerging artists" category? Melanie West with her biobangles! Congratulations to Melanie and thanks to David and Steve for the studio tour.
Today I felt like Priscilla, one of the polymer clay mealy monsters. Faced with packing and organizing for a trip out West I was overcome with inertia and ended up sitting, sneezing (allergy season), gazing into space.
These endearing creatures speak to me even though I’m rushing the Halloween season. They’re the creation of a Buffalo, NY artist who describes them as, "whimsical, creepy, fun, strange, cute, weird, one-of-a-kind, decorative, art dolls." You can see a little of her behind-the-scenes work on Flickr and on her blog.
If you share my mood, you’ll enjoy kindred spirits at MonsterEtsy. Now I must go pack, really. Thanks to Susan Lomuto for the link.
Time to stop worrying about my polymer clay pebble beads being too large. I found this post on Kris’ Color Stripes that links to the Vogue prediction that jewelery will be supersized this season.
I keep running into reminders of fall like these polymer clay leaves from Judith Liedtke of Dortmund, Germany. I like the spare, minimalist design. You’ll like some of her canine cane work as well.
Here in the US it’s Labor Day, our symbolic end of summer holiday.
Perhaps you’ll enjoy some pictures of the project I’m working on, a last minute entry into a local gallery show. My engineer husband created a wonderful system for firing polymer clay inlays. The system uses two paint stripping guns, a bench vice and the wind-up turntable from our aging microwave. Ingenious.
Libby Mills has redecorated her site and freshened her pictures with some great new work, including more silver and polymer combinations. The graphic feel of her polymer designs is mirrored in her treatment of the silver.
Each time you refresh her home page, you’ll be rewarded with a different photo. Like Pavlov’s dogs, I sit and click again and again for a treat. There are some new pieces on her Flickr page and a peek into friends’ studios as well. Have a treat-filled weekend.
Discovered that one of my statistics-gathering widgets was bogging down the page load time. Things should be smoother now and I’m doing a little code-monkey dance.
This polymer clay hostess gift from Maryland’s Mari Odell to Taz Chaudry has a lovely story. Mari pressed transluscent faux jade into antique Japanese sweet mold fragments to create the centerpiece of the necklace. The side beads are a combination of extruded polymer, serpentine jade and antique brass.
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