This month's PCAGOE showcase theme was Minimalism. I had a couple different ideas floating around in my mind, but in the end I decided to use up some polymer scraps that have been sitting around my studio waiting to be put into action.
Because I'm an environmental advocate, I have a hard time throwing out things that I might someday use to create something. This can be tough to live with, especially as I generally must do a huge reorganize yearly just to keep track of what's what in my studio. And yes, I also save scraps of polymer that just didn't make the cut, or were actual cuts off of pieces that have since been finished. One half of the pieces I'll be showing in this blog post are an example of those kind of scraps, the other half of the pieces in this blog post use a completely different type of scrap. So, let's start with the first, the cured scraps...
These scrap strips of polymer that you see in the images above were cut off my polymer printing textured wall art that I made back in June of 2015. Here's a shot of those pieces:
Texture plate and Polymer Art Prints
I created those art prints with slabs of polymer that were then pressed with a handmade texture sheet and then colored. The pressing of the texture plate created edges that weren't quite even. So, once all three of the art prints were cured, I used an Xacto knife and a straight edge to make them perfect rectangles of the same size. The thin waste strips that were cut off the art prints still had the color and interesting textures, and I decided then to keep the strips and put them to use in some jewelry. These jewelry pieces were at the back of my mind for a long time, this guild showcase proved just the right moment to dust off that idea. I decided to bend some of the strips back onto themselves to create loops, and I grouped them together in mismatched groupings of loops and straight pieces, and one piece created with just the straight pieces. Each necklace is given a slightly different treatment for hanging, one is beaded, another wire wrapped silk sari, one has a single strand of aqua art yarn and the last one has 4 strands of the same aqua art yarn. Here are a couple close-ups of each piece in this collection:
Pick-up sticks necklace
Pick-up stick necklace pendant
Loopy necklace pendant
Loopy necklace
Simple loops necklace
Simple loops necklace pendant
Little loops necklace pendant
Little loops necklace
The next grouping of pieces I made with another kind of polymer scrap, these were raw scraps that came from the blades of my pasta machine. I took my pasta machine apart to clean my blades (I hadn't done that ever, so it was many years of thin polymer bits that had accumulated under the scraper blades of my machine). When I cleaned the blades there were these lovely pieces of multicolored polymer that I just had to save to use for something. Here's a photo of the pieces that came off the pasta machine blades, you can see one side is smooth and looks almost agate-like or resembles Fordite, and the other side has this interesting minuscule layered texture.
Smooth side of scraps
Textured side of scraps
I found the layered texture side so interesting that I used that side for all of the pieces that I created using these scraps. As of now, these pieces are unfinished... some of them will be brooches, some of them pendants and some of the will be convertible brooch/pendants.
I really had a lot of fun creating these pieces and using some of my polymer scrap stash. I think my favorite piece is the Loopy necklace, though... I'm looking forward to putting some time in the studio to finish up the pasta machine scrap pieces. I'm not sure if I've done Minimalism any justice, it's much harder to do Minimalist well than one would ever think! I always love to hear your thoughts on my work, so be a dear and tell me in the comments which piece is your favorite and why! Most of these pieces will eventually turn up in my CreateMyWorld etsy shop. I'm hoping to get the finished ones listed over this weekend. Be sure to check out all of the other Minimalist pieces that my guildmates have created at the PCAGOE Facebook page!
I don't consider myself to have more luck than the next person, but I sometimes stumble upon fortuitous occasions, for which I am always thankful. So today's post is about giving thanks for, and acknowledgment to those generous souls who offered up these recent gifts.
First of all, I must acknowledge the wonderful gifts I received in December from my PCAGOE guild mates, for our holiday swap. (yes, I'm very behind in the thanks for these lovelies, the holidays and start of the new year really ran away from me this year). These beauties were the work of Jackie Sieben of The Pleasant Pheasant and JAE Jewelry (Gorgeous pens and seam ripper, left), Susan O'Neill of 11BOLDstreet (Funky trinket box and fabulous pendant, center) and Linda Riopel of NKDesigns (beautiful caned pendant necklace, right) Check out their work, by clicking their names to view their respective etsy shops.
(I wanted these images to appear together, so please click on the image to see them up close). Thank you again, Jackie, Susan and Linda!! I absolutely love my swap gifts!
The first of 2 surprise gifts happened last month, when I was notified that I had won a giveaway from the website, BeadingGem Journal by Pearl Blay. Pearl partnered with one of my favorite polymer artists, Helen Breil, to give away a bunch of Helen's silkscreen designs. I was one of the lucky winners, and I had my pick of Helen's silkscreen designs! I chose the design "Cabaret". It arrived in the mail about a month ago, and I still haven't had the time to play with it, but here's a photo of the silkscreen package that I received:
I have yet to try the silkscreen technique... so I am really looking forward to a day when I can play around with this fantastic design! Helen has many other designs in both silkscreens and textures, if you're not familiar with her work, please do check out her website (which includes links to where you can purchase her designs for your own use!) And don't forget to check out Pearl's site for tons of inspiration, tips and giveaway opportunities!
The second windfall that came my way happened on Valentine's day. I entered Deb Hart's (of Renaissance Gal of San Antonio) Facebook event, where she generously gave away 3 of her polymer pieces. Deb is known for her fabulous millefiori cane work. The other 2 prizes were a bunch of her original canes and one of her caned owl pendants. The prize I was so very lucky to win was one of her sea turtle trinket boxes!! If you know me, or follow this blog, you probably know I have a little adoration for sea turtles and Native American inspired art... so, to say I was thrilled about winning this treasure was an understatement! Well, my beautiful sea turtle arrived last week. I've taken a couple shots of her to show you how fabulous she is, and for the first time ever, I shot a video to post here on the blog. The idea for the video came about because one of my most favorite features about this treasure is not easily displayed in a still photo, check it out for yourself: (crossing fingers that the video actually works)
And since the video doesn't do justice to viewing all the wonderful details, here are the still shots...
Can you tell I'm absolutely in love with this turtle? ;) She has found a permanent and prized spot on my nightstand, where I can admire her every day. If you love this as much as I do, and you don't know about Deb Hart's work, you should definitely check her out! You can find Deb here on her blog, etsy (where you can purchase a turtle similar to this one!), and Facebook. And if you want to learn how to make some of Deb's creations, she offers a great variety of classes at CraftArtEdu.
So, again, a big Thank you to (my guild mates) Jackie Sieben, Susan O'Neill and Linda Riopel for my holiday swap items, and huge Thanks to Helen Breil, Pearl Blay and Deb Hart, for their generous hearts and the wonderful prizes that I received! Aren't they all wonderful? Have you had luck in winning online contests or participating in swaps? Leave me a comment below, and tell me your thoughts!
And as an aside; if the video worked in this post, I hope to do some tutorial videos to post on the blog in the future.... and, if you like the Thank you image (first image of this post), you can find that as a printable digital postcard file in my graphics shop YourDigitalWorld.
Over the past couple months, I have been busy working on the development of four new polymer clay techniques. {Hint: I've saved my favorite for last, so keep reading! ;) } The first technique involves bonding food grade plastics to polymer clay. A design is drawn on the clear food container plastic and it is bonded to the polymer clay. I have much more work to do on this idea, but here is a sampling of my initial test pieces (more detailed photos can be found on my flickr photostream):
There's something about the ring that I just love (even though it is so basic and you can't really see the drawn paisley design very well, I just like the look of the raised clear plastic on the ring face), and I will be keeping that piece for myself, but plan to make others. I have a few other favorites in here, specifically, the stained-glass-look piece, the large center piece, the small marquis shaped fish piece and the silver piece with the vines. I'm having fun with the process and hope to have better results with the next firings.
The second idea with which I've been playing involves incorporating dyed tyvek material (upcycled from used mailing envelopes) into polymer clay. This idea has much more experimental work needed, but here is a photo of the preliminary results of this technique:
The third project I've been working with involves "harvesting" the fine sanding bits from finishing my polymer clay pieces and incorporating it back into raw clay material. I decided to try doing this to keep as much of the fine bits of polymer from being washed down the drain and into our water system, because I am very concerned about the environmental impacts of plastic pollution to our water ways. Though these first beads are a bit drab, because all of the sanding bits in this batch were of many hues, which combined creates a muddy color... I have ideas for separating like hues into separate containers to keep colors more vibrant. Here is a photo of my initial set:
Finally, (this is my favorite) I've been working on another brand new technique of transferring patterns from fabric onto polymer clay. I'm so excited about this technique, as it is producing some great batik looks and there are so many possibilities yet to explore with this. I will be concentrating the bulk of my work in the coming months on this technique and expect to have much more to come, but I wanted to share my favorite pieces from my first exploration. Here are a two photos from my initial testing of this idea...
So, as you can see I've been very busy, and continue to be so. I'm also in the process of writing a magazine article on the fabric transfer process. Something I'm simply thrilled to be doing! So, keep your eye out here for new photos and news of my ongoing experimentation... and at my etsy shop, as some of these new pieces will very soon be making their way into my shop. And please leave me a comment either here, or on my photostream, about which pieces or which technique ideas you like best. Thanks!
