Breathtaking Inspiration From Nature

Photo credit: LaBioGuía

This beauty deserves to be immortalized in polymer clay. It is called a bog-star. 

According to the USDA website (and Wikipedia), it is officially the genus Parnassia, also known as Grass of Parnassus. The plants are in the family Celastraceae.

The image is from a post on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/LaBioGuía. Click on it to get the most detail if you plan to make a cane.

Nature's inspiration is bountiful.  

Bangles & Bottles

Photo credit: Erin Lightfoot.

Banish the Ides of March by focusing on patterns as your inspiration for fresh clay projects. Check out Australian designer Erin Lightfoot's jazzy bangles and bottles inspired by Edwardian tile patterns. 

http://www.erinlightfoot.com

Balinese Filigree With A Twist

Photo credit: Jael Thorp.

Veteran polymer clay artist, Jael Thorp, takes the Balinese Filigree technique to a new and exotic direction with the addition of sculpted bits and flower canes. The colors are stunning and her assembly is masterfully combined. Visit Jael's blog for more mouthwatering designs: http://jaelsjewels.blogspot.com/.

Be Our Valentine

Photo credits: Elissa Powell, www.pcPolyzine.com

It just wouldn't be Valentine's Day without a tutorial from the pcPolyzine archives by our official "Queen of Hearts," Elissa Powell. From November 2001, here is Elissa's E-Z Hearts Lesson for clay heart-making without heart-breaking.

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!!

Busy Day at pcPolyzine World Headquarters

There are three new PDF files available on the pcPolyzine website:

• Polymer Clay Library: approximately 150 books with author's name. There are checkboxes so you can keep track of your own collection.
• pcPolyzine Tutorials Archive: alphabetized list of all pcPolyzine tutorials with author's name and links.
• pcPolyzine Tutorials Archive: alphabetized list of all pcPolyzine tutorials by author's first name.

I hope this helps you find our tutorials more easily. The PDF files may be printed and shared at guild meetings or with your friends.

Inspiration from the Rock Collection

Photo Credits: American Museum of Natural History, NY, USA

The group members over at Facebook - 52 Weekly Cane Projects - are busy making bullseye, lace, retro, and mosaic canes. I even saw a few Chrysanthemum canes which reminds me of this glorious image of Azurite and Malachite from the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. I found it on the Flickr page of "listentoreason."

Again, nature provides endless examples of artistic beauty to delight and inspire us. 

What inspires you?

A Love/Hate Relationship With Nature

California Red-sided Garter Snake Photo by vabbly

Leave it to the natural world to challenge us, as artists and crafters, to deny the beauty of these snakes. Even if you have a morbid fear of them try to look past what scares you and see their beautiful colors and designs. Or perhaps you have no fear and see snakes as mysterious creatures, dazzling and exotic. The juxtaposition of something that inspires strong emotions with one whose body is rich with myriad shades of brilliant color invites us to look at things from a standpoint different from our norm.

This collection of images, many of which are pinned to Daniel Carniglia's Pinterest board, holds a surprising number of design possibilities. Gaze at the colors and shapes and translate the images into extruded elements to make polymer clay canes inspired by the natural world. 

Be brave! Look beyond emotion into the inspiration nature offers us, at no charge. While you're at it, explore the mystical beauty of Daniel's Midnight Hibiscus pillow beads on the Polyform website. They are dazzling and exotic, too.

Red-sided Garter Snakes and Green tree Python from vabbly, i.imgur.com, and gartersnake.co.uk.

Happy New Year 2014!!

Photo Credit: Twisted Papers Vintage Postcards

Wishing everyone a Happy New Year filled with peace, prosperity, and polymer clay.

We are excited to begin our 14th year! Thanks for supporting us and being the inspiration for all we do. 

With warmest regards from Aniko, Jeannie, and the entire Team at pcPolyzine.com

We love Design-Seeds.com!!

Photo Credit: Design-Seeds.com

Each day the color wizards at Design Seeds send us two palettes drawn from real life. One of today's palettes, Cacti Color, struck me with its mixture of bold yet mellow tones of the desert. If you enjoy art of the Southwest, drink in the beauty of this color array.


PS - You can sign up for free emails at www.design-seeds.com.

Aniko and Jeannie (and Milo) wish you a Merry Christmas!
Remember to leave milk and cookies for Santa and some carrots for the reindeer.

Photo Credits: Twisted Papers Vintage Christmas Collection.

Rob Driscoll, a clever magician also known as Robbie the Wizard, has been busy the past year making a unique balloon model each day. The Portsmouth, Hampshire visual artist also makes popular cartoon figures such as SpongeBob and Sonic the Hedgehog which he gives to children at his shows. Click the Christmas Elf link to view more of his balloon creations. 

A quick search on Etsy and Pinterest reveals a sizable community of polymer clay balloon art. Most popular is a dog. A red dog. A red dog used as a charm for phones, etc. I was able to find a rainbow group of dogs, a single purple dog, along with an imaginative balloon dragon. All made of polymer clay and most available on Etsy. Or, maybe you will be inspired to create your own fantastical balloon creatures.

Photo Credits: Christmas Elf, Rob Driscoll (CATERS); Balloon Animals, (1) laughingsquid.com (2) katkraftukon on Etsy (3) PaperPastels on YouTube (4) minniekitchen.com (5) upcyclepatch on Etsy

A Reason to Celebrate

A huge thank you to Professor Diane Levesque at Carthage College in Kenosha, Wisconsin, who will teach ART 200E Polymer Clay in the Spring 2014 semester. According to the college website, this is one of the first college-level, full-credit courses available in polymer clay.

Congratulations to Maggie Maggio and Lindly Haunani, whose book, Polymer Clay Color Inspirations: Techniques and Jewelry Projects for Creating Successful Palettes, will be used as text for the course. Way to go, ladies!!

Spring 2014 Pantone Color Forecast

Get ready to brighten up your clay color palette with the new Spring 2014 colors from Pantone. Radiant Orchid is the Color of the Year. We'll be seeing it in fashion, jewelry and home decor.

Rabbits, rabbits . . .

Click image to view larger size.

Photo credits: 1-Christel Jensen; 2-Madre Olius; 3-Trina Prenzi; 4-Aniko
Kolesnikova; 5-AbsoKnittingLutely; 6-Free Heart; 7-Billie Beads

Call it legend or superstition, saying "rabbits, rabbits" on the first day of November assures luck throughout the year, so they say. I've been saying this phrase since I was 17 and have yet to see my luck improve significantly because of it.

During fact-checking for this blog post, I see on Wikipedia that I should have been saying "rabbits" three times, not two. And I am to say it at the beginning of each month, not just November. Maybe that is why my luck is always just so-so.

Lucky or not, I couldn't resist this colony of polymer clay rabbits found on Etsy, DeviantArt, and the pcPolyzine Tutorial Archives. From steampunk to wedding cake toppers to Aniko's sweet little Honey Bunnies, the range of styles on the Internet keeps multiplying like, well, rabbits.

Pantone Color-of-the-Year Spring 2014

Blue, blue, blue. Thanks, Pantone, for selecting a Color-of-the-Year in blue for Spring 2014. My personal favorite shade of blue is Cornflower, or as I call it, Havel-blue. The Spring 2014 COY is called "Dazzling Blue," and the swatch from the Pantone website looks, indeed, dazzling to me. Look at the color block on the left; that is the swatch from Pantone. Then, look at the swatch on the right; that is a swatch I found over and over again on a Google search for "Pantone Color of the Year Spring 2014." As usual, the variance in the shade is dramatic. That is to be expected since not all monitors display color in exactly the same way. But this time, the two colors are not even close, and that is just the two most-frequently posted swatches I found. 

Every time a new Color-of-the-Year is announced, we see variations in the tone and shade of the swatches posted online. The moral of the story is, for best results where accuracy is concerned, go with the Pantone swatch. It is, afterall, their color. Just keep in mind that one person's "Dazzling Blue" is not always going to look the same as the official Pantone color.

Official Pantone color, left side; popular swatch from Google Image search, right side.

Aniko Goes to the Big Bead Show 2013 in London

Wind Summoner's Necklace by Anna Kolesnikova.

Waiting, excitedly, to hear from Aniko, reporting live from the Big Bead Show in London today. Hoping she brings home a lovely prize.

This is her entry entitled, Wind Summoner's Necklace.

Wish her luck...


UPDATE: Congratulations to Aniko for bringing home Second Prize!! First prize went to Lydmyla (or Ludmila) Heggland.

To Your Health

You won't feel much like claying if you are sick with the flu, that's why we are recommending flu shots to everyone over the age of 6 months. Here is a flu vaccine location finder for the USA. Just plug in your Zip Code for a handy list and map.

Fall Color Inspiration

If you are working on your polymer clay color palette for autumn, aside from Pantone, where can you look for the season's most popular colors? An almost foolproof guide to color forecasting is fashion, especially cosmetics. This year, fall makeup colors are anything but ho-hum. The season features subtle tones of bold shades. What?? How can a color be a subtle tone of a bold shade? By starting with a palette of bold, exciting colors and dialing back the volume a bit, the result is a happy medium of pizazz and don't-look-like-a-rockstar. 

Allure magazine offers detailed information about "The 8 Sexiest Fall Makeup Colors" in their online edition. Look for a list of brand names as a guide or go straight to the cosmetics department of your favorite store to pick up a few shiny eyeshadows. Use them to match colors with your clay, then add them to your collection of Mica powders. http://www.allure.com/makeup-looks/2013/sexiest-fall-makeup-colors#slide=1

1-Plum; 2-Chocolate; 3-Emerald; 4-Garnet; 5-Taupe; 6-Lilac;
7-Turquoise; 8-Violet

Color mix recipes can be found at www.pcPolyzine.com.

Image Credits: David Cook for Allure magazine

[Posted by Jeannie Havel]

Remembering Gwen Gibson (1934 - 2013)

As the mystery of polymer clay unfolds for each of us, there are those who leave an indelible mark on our journey. Their spirit, skill, and ingenuity forge paths for us to follow that branch off in infinite directions. Such is the soul of Gwen Gibson. She died September 24th leaving a legacy of unique style, innovative techniques, and a degree of excellence for us to follow. In true Gwen fashion, what she wrote about "departing" on her website - although her meaning was about art, not death - is exquisitely fitting as we bid her goodbye.

"...'Departure' is about an impossible faith faced with the imposed limitation of gravity. Yet, the yearning to transcend is so strong that one is prepared to take off in the shakiest of contraptions."

Dear, dear Gwen, as you transcend, may your contraption be sturdy and your passage filled with peace.

Image credits: Gwen Gibson.com

[Posted by Jeannie Havel]

Product Review: Lucy Clay Extruders

The older I get, the more I appreciate polymer clay tools that are kind to my hands. When I think back to the old syringe-style extruder, I shudder at the memory of how painful it was to use. I've talked to many clayers over the years who, like me, stopped extruding completely because it just wasn't worth the trouble. Then, a new little green extruder made its way onto the market and ta-da! I was extruding almost every day. Many of the old problems were solved - the extruder was easy to use, held a generous amount of clay, and was designed to be self-cleaning. Wow! Could things get any better?

Fast forward to 2013 and the answer is yes! Things not only got better, they got seriously better. The new clay extruders from Lucy Clay in the Czech Republic have most of the now-familiar features of the more modern extruders already on the market with one giant advantage: the Lucy Clay extruders are designed to work with an electric drill. This one feature pushes the Lucy Clay extruders into the stratosphere. While the extruders - two sizes: 10cm and 18cm - have a standard ratchet turning handle, the ratchet can be removed to fit the extruder with an electric drill. This makes the clay extrude quickly and easily, and for me, with no pain to my hands at all.

Although I know many people already use a drill with their current extruder, there is not an extruder already on the market - in my professional opinion - with the strength to withstand the torque of an electric drill over an extended period. In addition, any adaptations to existing extruders will, most likely, invalidate any type of warranty offered by the manufacturer. This includes devices added to make twisting or turning the extruder easier. Extruders from Lucy Clay, however, are heavy-duty in design and can hold up under strong use.

Lucy Clay extruders come in a variety of colors and are well packaged. Currently, there are four sets of extruder shape disks available. Of note is the shape sometimes called the "kitten nose." Clay extruded with the kitten nose shape disk fits perfectly in the crevice created between two round logs of clay. This means fewer air pockets and better-looking canes.

Extruder add-on tools are in the works including a cleaning brush, vise, and more extruder disks. If you are serious about extruding clay or have been avoiding extruding for whatever reason, extruders from Lucy Clay are the answer.

Visit the Lucy Clay Facebook page to find a distributor in your country: https://www.facebook.com/LUCYpolymerCLAY

Image Credits: Lucy Clay

Disclosure: One Lucy Clay Extruder and one standard extruder disk set furnished to pcPolyzine for review by Lucy Clay, Czech Republic. Extruder shape disk with "kitten nose" shape purchased at full retail price by pcPolyzine.

[Posted by Jeannie Havel]