More from Clay Back East 2019

We learned some great techniques at Clay Back East.  As you saw in my last posting,  some of the things we learned had to do with structure and form, others with design and color.

A really fascinating technique was taught by Sylvie Peraud.  She has developed a method for making multiple sided, hollow polymer shapes that really helps the shape form precisely, while keep finger prints totally out of the picture.  It was amazing!  We made 2 shapes in the same way, then used a special formula she has developed for applying paint and a bit of texture.  I ran out of time to finish my paint job and didn't convert these to a pair of earrings, but I thought you'd be intrigued by the concept she has evolved.  Being hollow, and made from Kato clay, these pieces were incredible light and would be soooo easy to wear!

Donna Kato taught another really interesting class.  In addition to showing us how to make her wave or ribbon stack, she helped us learn to make these pieces.  Because my ribbons were more angular than some others, I felt these pieces almost took on an aboriginal look.  The gold pieces are super thin foils.  Since these pieces were made with Kato clay, they are incredibly thin and light weight. You'd never know you were wearing the earrings!

Brilliant Bettina Welker!

A few weeks after Clayathon, I returned to southern New Jersey to attend Clay Back East, 2019. This polymer conference was sponsored by Donna Kato and her conference crew.  It was really marvelous!  The format was based on workshops from top-flight polymer artists.  We had 3 full-day and 2 half-day classes, with instructors moving from room to room.  This meant we all attended every workshop in reasonably sized groups.  Great plan!
Today I'd like to share the closing bracelet cuff that Bettina Welker developed.  The clasp is unique, hides itself within the overall design, and is comfortable to wear.  If you get a chance to take her workshop on this design, do so.  I can't go into detail, since it is her invention.  Just know that she really has come up with a clever and strong method of securing the cuff so you can wear it without worrying about it possibly slipping off.

That is the clasp between the pink and purple rectangles.  Pretty cool!





We also had fun decorating the various rectangular shapes and placing them on the cuff.  I used a ribbon cane that Donna Kato introduced to us to make the wavy stripes.  I like the different look.

New Earrings for Summer

The Westerly Gallery is gearing up for our June show, and I figured it would be fun to experiment with some new earring styles.  So here are a few of the designs I've made.

These three earring sets are topped with small cubes of pearl clay that has been covered with super thin slices of various translucent clay canes.  The color comes from striped translucent canes in which I had used just a tiny bit of color to separate the white stripes and add some interest.  The hammered pins holding the crystals add a different dimension, and the sparkle from the crystals are just the right touch.

The earring sets to the right were made from slices of petal canes that I made at the Carol Simmons workshop weekend. When I have made a cane in a workshop, and still have some left over, I'm always curious what else I could do with it besides what the instructor had us try.  Hence, these tiered and layered petal earrings.  Fun look and good colors for summertime.

These next two pairs are roll-up beads I made from a couple more canes I made at Carol's workshop. I used stone beads to embellish the ends of the rolls for a different touch.

Finally, I used translucent canes and some simple petal canes to make teardrop earrings.  This shape was inspired by these new earwires with attached caps that I got from Donna Kato. It's a fun shape and something new to play with.

"Happy Flower" Earrings

A recent email from Donna Kato regarding a free tutorial on CraftArtsEdu reminded me it's been a long while since I made what I call "Happy Flower" earrings.  The perkiness, color and simplicity of these earrings make me smile, hence the name.  They can be made from almost any cane or clay colors you may have lying around.  There are different ways to turn them into earrings, and certainly size can vary.

I had some Ikat pieces and some wedge canes around, and set to making up a few pairs.  I decided to make most of these dangling off ear wires, attached to jump rings on the earring backs.

The pink and purple pairs are based somewhat on the dogwood blossoms that will soon be opening around here.  Yay, Spring!  Note the purple niobium ear wires on the right.  They matched perfectly!

The pairs to the left are smaller than the others. Not sure what I like the best.










Just one pair ended up having posts attached. Something tells me I'll probably be making more soon.....

Black & White Magic: The Art of Contrast

The topic for the March show at the Artist's Cooperative of Westerly (RI) is "Black (and white) Magic:  The Art of Contrast.  I'm one of the featured artists, and I've been working on pieces for the show.  I've been trying some techniques that are new for me, so I thought I'd share some of the pieces here.  I think that polymer is a perfect medium for this theme.  Not only do we have contrast with black and white, we can easily contrast other colors as well as textures, shapes and sizes.  Love my polymer!

The first couple of items were inspired by tutorials I saw on the CraftEdu site.  This first set is made from a sheet I constructed based on a traditional Japanese pattern I saw in a tutorial from Nikolina Otrzan.   I used textured clay to construct the pattern, and I think it really fits the show theme.
This next pendant is based on directions from one of Donna Kato's tutorials.  I liked the way Donna constructed the basic black and white base, but found my clay was too soft to use her technique for adding bands of color.  So, I used my own cutting ideas to add the lines of red.








The idea of inserting lines appeals to me, so I decided to try some straight lines rather than curves and waves.  The next set is an example of this type of insertion.











I also experimented with inserting lines and circles.  I particularly like this new shape that comes from a template produced by Melanie Muir.








The last photo shows a larger pendant made using a mokume gane technique.  This piece has a high polish and I like the way the beads look flanking each side.

I'll be back soon to show you some black and white earrings and bracelets in the next post.  Then on to some color!

An Ikat Avalanche

My workspace looks like a snow storm made of ikat pieces!  Perhaps "ikat obsession" would have been a more appropriate heading for this post.  As I look back through this blog, I see at least 5 other posts on the ikat cane.  It is such fun to create, and there are several different versions "out there" to choose from - or to help you develop your own.

My first exposure was through Donna Kato's book,The Art of Polymer Clay Millefiori Techniques.  Donna demonstrates a couple different approaches for making ikat canes.  Lindly Haunani has developed her own approach incorporating her wonderful rainbow approach to color, and I have had a lot of fun experimenting with her method. Iris Mishly has a lovely tutorial demonstrating 3 different versions of ikat canes.  In addition, there are several free tutorials online.  Obviously, I'm not the only person who finds this look and its variations fascinating!

However, the credit (or blame) for my current ikat spree goes to Lindly.  At the polymer master class workshop in July, Lindly spent part of the last afternoon demonstrating and discussing some of the ways in which ikat can be manipulated.  While the bracelets in the photo on the right do show their ikat origin, some of the manipulated sheets don't look anything like ikat!

I decided I had to share here some of the results of my experimenting.  Hope you enjoy the show!

This little set on the left showcases my favorite ikat sheet (so far).  The ikat cane is not manipulated here except to be cut and placed in strips next to itself.  I did experiment with the spacing of colors, their order, and strip width, and particularly cut down on the amount of base or background color that I used to set the other colors apart.  I love the almost-but-not-quite Skinner blend look.  It definitely looks like fabric to me.


The leaf shape on the left is another ikat cane cut diagonally with the opposite sides flipped and butted up against a center strip of color.  I had to add some wave to the edges and it has a "leafy" feel.  If you find a tree this fall with leaves like this, I want to know!
The next two sets are examples of feathering with ikat canes.  I have always loved the look of feathering in lampwork beads, and have experimented a bit with feathering striped polymer clay sheets.  It took a nudge from Lindly, however, to make me realize I could try this with ikat.  Oh, the results!  I found that stretching the sheets out on the pasta machine after doing the initial feathering created a simply wonderful look.  Both the lavender and the yellow sets show the results of stretched feathering.
 Now for another twist:   herringbone!  This particular manipulation makes the clay look three-dimensional.  I textured this surface for a couple of reasons.  The herringbone treatment just seemed to be somewhat "rustic" and therefore more muted to me, and texturing helped ease and set the joins between the strips.  Don't you love it when form and function work together!

Here is one last example of ikat with large neutral separating strips between the colors and feathering tossed in for good measure.
Now run out and play with some ikat canes!