Imagine Uncommon Things

Mixed Media Maven

2009-09-24T01:00:00.002-04:00

Cathy Johnston does mixed media so well! I love all of her fabulous little books. The photo shown above is what she'll be teaching at this year's Las Vegas Clay Carnival. In addition to Cathy, we'll have 7 other instructors there too. You can see a list of all the classes and more details on Cathy's website or at our new Carnival site.

In addition to her huge talent, Cathy's also extremely organized. I'm so envious of people who create beautiful and functional storage pieces for their tools. The bamboo handles she created on these are simply stunning!

I'm currently experiencing a bit of what my friend Leslie refers to as "pack stress". I'm leaving for Texas tomorrow and will be home for just a day before I fly to France for a workshop. I'm hoping to be able to post some photos while I'm there. The talent in Europe is absolutely incredible and I'm excited to have the opportunity to meet some of my wonderful online friends in person. This will be my first trip across the pond. I had to miss the one I'd planned for last year after my son developed kidney stones right before I was to leave. Keep your fingers crossed that no one makes any last minute trips to the ER this time!

Lone Star Retreat

2009-09-15T07:48:00.017-04:00

I'm looking forward to spending a few days in Texas at the end of the month. The Houston Polymer Clay Guild is holding its annual Lone Star Retreat Sptember 27-29, 2009 at the South Shore Harbour Resort & Conference Center in League City. I'm honored to be one of their guest instructors. They're also hosting Dayle Doroshow (her work shown above) who will be teaching Shimmering Rattle Beads and Barbara McGuire (her work shown below) who's teaching Mokume Gane Collage Pendants.

This guild really knows how to do a retreat! I'm so excited about the things they've planned and looking forward to the opportunity to finally meet some of my Texas clay friends in person. You can learn more about the retreat and the workshops here.

I can't thank you enough for all your nice comments welcoming me back to Bloglandia (thanks Cynthia!). I really appreciate you all and I've missed "seeing" you. It's going to be lots of fun to catch up!

Slightly Red-Faced

2009-09-09T01:00:00.001-04:00

Since I'm feeling a little embarrassed that I've been "on vacation" for so long, I thought this would be the best picture to mark the end of my five month long absence.

When I made my last blog entry on April 9th, I had no idea I'd be gone so long. My oldest son was getting ready to graduate from high school and there was a lot going on at the end of his senior year, then it was time to help him get ready for college and all the things that go along with that. It just seemed like the longer I stayed away, the harder it was to come back.

I can only imagine all the wonderful things I must have missed during the last few months. I know there are lots of new books out that I haven't seen and I'm sure I'll never catch up on all the new photos posted by my Flickr contacts. And, believe it or not, I've only visited Cynthia and Susan's blogs once or twice in all that time.

It feels a little strange to have been away from clay for so long. I just finished my first real project in more than 4 months and I'm still not sure what direction to take this blog in.

I just updated my teaching schedule (you can see it to the right of my post) for the rest of 2009 and I'm looking forward to getting back into the polymer clay groove. It would be wonderful to have the opportunity to reconnect with some of you during these upcoming events and I'm hoping I haven't been totally forgotten after so long.

Dreamy Dolls and Sweet Easter Wishes

2009-04-09T08:43:00.012-04:00

I've become enamored with the work of Christine Alvarado. Her wonderful dolls have the most beautiful faces and incredible detail. "Paloma and Rabbit Mask" seemed like a perfect fit for this time of year.

Her series of "lady bird" ornaments are so clever and original. I adore their little crowns and pearl necklaces.

Each of her creations have such a distinct personality. "Seneca and Julep" is part of a whole series that includes delightful little dogs.

In addition to her blog, you can see much more of Christine's beautiful work on her Flickr site. Be prepared to stay awhile. It's impossible not to be drawn in to the magic she creates.

Wishing you a sweet and wonderful Easter!

Inspired by Lime!

2009-03-27T09:42:00.025-04:00

Those of you who know me are probably aware of my favorite color. Yes, it's lime green. Specifically, what I like to call a "dirty chartreuse". I've seen a lot of gorgeous greens lately like this sea anemone ring from Psychotic Reactions. She isn't sharing her name anywhere. I've noticed that a lot of artists don't disclose that information online. Can anyone tell me what that's about? I'm perfectly fine with being called Kim CavendEr. After all, it's my name. Although the majority of people in the world would prefer I change it to Kim CavendAr. You can read more about that here if you'd like. And just a note, that really is me (Kim CavendEr) in the photo. Apparently my sarcasm was lost on a few people who told me they were amazed Kim CavendAr looked so much like me.

But, I digress in a major way. Psycho (please don't take offense, it was too good to pass up) has some absolutely gorgeous things listed on Etsy. The colors are marvelous and the designs are stunning. Well worth a visit!

Lisa Pakosh, the talented artist who created these yummy earrings and has to endure living in a tropical paradise like the Bahamas, has recently opened an Etsy shop with her equally talented mother Vickie Turner and her sister Sandra Mitchell called Three Cheeky Wenches. Besides being so artistically inclined, these three are crazy funny! Their shop is both beautiful and entertaining - the perfect combination.

Germany's Konstanze Filip, aka Madooli, is making some incredible new rings which she's just shared on Flickr. You can see what she has listed for sale here on Dawanda.

Have a dirty chartreuse kind of day!

Claying For a Cause

2009-03-23T09:04:00.013-04:00

Not only is Kaaren Poole a talented artist, she has a mission to help animals in need. Our new recording secretary for the IPCA donates 100% of the proceeds from her beautiful artwork like this piece titled "Bugged" to animal charities.

Having seen it in person, I can tell you that Kaaren's work is even more breathtaking in person. She has an uncanny ability for realistic sculpture.

I have a passion for helping to feed homeless animals and I've added a wonderful link to my blog so all of you can help too. Simply click on the purple paws in the top right of the screen and it will take you to The Animal Rescue Site where you hit "click to donate". It costs you absolutely nothing but 3 seconds of your time. Please, please do this each time you visit my blog! You can also sign up for a daily reminder from this wonderful organization. One click a day from all of the members of the polymer clay community can help to feed a lot of homeless animals. It's a wonderful feeling to be a voice for those who don't have one.

Cross-Pollination

2009-03-11T08:39:00.016-04:00

I'm SO MUCH happier writing about and showing other people's work. I don't mind posting photos of my work on Flickr but blogging about it makes me nauseous for some reason. Hopefully, it won't make you nauseous too. Queasiness aside, I'm going to write about myself today. When I first started this piece, I was thinking of the magnolia tree at my parent's old house. I was fascinated by their tree and it was the first time I'd ever been up close to a magnolia seed pod. But, at some point during the creative process, a lotus pod got involved and the cross-pollination resulted in something that would probably make a botanist cringe. It's growing on me though (no pun intended) and I think I'll explore this design a little further. I've listed it in my Etsy shop if you'd like to take a closer look.

Speaking of Etsy, those of you who sell your work there or on other online sites, know how difficult it is to drive traffic to your shops. There's a brand-new site called LuvHandmade that's meant to be a way for artists to promote their items. The have a blog, a forum, and an online community and it's totally free to sign up. I was chosen as their rise and shine seller this week and you can read my interview here. Hopefully, the site will continue to grow and bring exposure to many online sellers.

Have a wonderful Wednesday!

A Rainbow Sort of Day

2009-03-09T10:39:00.007-04:00

It's a beautiful day here in West Virginia! The sun is shining, a breeze is blowing, the sky is blue, the birds are singing and the air is warm. What more could you want? How about a rainbow around your neck? Germany's Margit Böhmer is the talent behind this lovely piece. Her color choices are stunning and this piece makes me really happy.

Whenever I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed by all the bad things that seem to be happening in the world today, this is the type of work that perks me up.

And when things get too crazy, I bury my head in the sand and repeat the following: In my world, everyone's a pony and we all eat rainbows and poop butterflies.

May there be a little bit of rainbow in your day today!

Katherine the Great

2009-03-03T07:44:00.015-05:00

Katherine Dewey is one of the most talented sculptors around. I've heard other artists refer to her books as sculpting "Bibles". Her artwork is absolutely breathtaking and even more so in person. I'd consider giving up a limb to see and touch this piece, which is the first in her "Fossil" series.

Several years ago, Kato Polyclay sponsored a competition and asked various artists to make shoes out of clay. Katherine's entry was an incredible alligator shoe and secretly, my hands-down favorite. If you'd like to see all that's involved in making a shoe like this, she recently began to document the process here on her website.

This mask was constructed over a felt form, which became a part of the completed work. It's crazy beautiful and the hair is so aesthetically perfect with the face.

In addition to her awe-inspiring talent, Katherine is one of the kindest, most unassuming and humble people I know. Her website is packed with information for anyone who aspires to create beautiful sculptural pieces. As for me, I know my limitations. I'll just continue to worship at the Kathy Dewey shrine.

Berry Inspired!

2009-03-02T08:26:00.012-05:00

Russian artist Oksoon recently created these wonderful polymer clay berries that make me long for the warmer days of spring. As soon as I saw them, I was reminded of one of my favorite Flickr photos and sure enough, that's exactly where her inspiration came from.

Tamara, of Block Party Press, in addition to being a talented polymer clay artist, takes amazing macro photographs like the one of these berries she discovered on a walk last year.

Nature provides us with a bounty of free inspiration. Embrace it!

Painting With Clay

2009-02-19T05:00:00.003-05:00

One of the polymer clay artists I'd most like to meet is Mary Lamoray of Florida. Her clay paintings are beautiful beyond words and so rich in color and subtle details that they seem as alive as the subjects they're based on. She uses no paint or inks of any kind in her work. Everything you see is 100% clay. She may not readily admit it, but I think she adds a bit of her heart and soul in each one, too. Her newest painting, the dolphin that you see here, was recently posted on her blog and she talks a bit about how she created it in this post.

Mary has spoken publicly about her life as an artist dealing with an advanced form of MS. I've read some of her essays (which I'm now unable to locate online) in the past and they are every bit as profound and moving as her artwork. I feel such a deep sense of admiration for her and her art that I'm struggling to even find the right words.

If you'd like to read more about Mary's fascinating process, she's written about it here.

Perseverance, optimism, grace, and talent - she's the total package.

Semi-sweet

2009-02-18T09:43:00.016-05:00

All of last weeks posts about hearts and flowers sent me into sweetness overload. I've found the perfect artist to help me make the transition back to semi-sweetness. Horriblesweet (after a bit of detective work, I think her name is Lydia) is an artist from the Netherlands who specializes in amazing art dolls, like "Naked", shown above, and unusual headgear.

She has a wonderfully soft and beautiful color palette and when it's combined with her edgy-looking sculpts, I can understand where the name Horriblesweet comes from.

This sculpt belongs to a series she's created called "Birdman".

I'm fascinated by the thought of several of her "Heads" lined up on the mantel in my studio. To see more incredible work by Horriblesweet, visit her Flickr site here.

Cuff Love

2009-02-14T06:00:00.000-05:00

Just in time for a Valentine's day delivery, a beautiful bracelet bouquet from Israel's Tami Shvat. See more of Tami's work here. Have a wonderful love-filled weekend!

All You Need is Love

2009-02-13T08:44:00.010-05:00

Where does inspiration come from? If you're anything like Leslie Blackford, it comes from everything you see and everything you do. Leslie (along with myself and Judy Belcher) had the good fortune to see Cirque du Soleil's The Beatles LOVE show while we were in Las Vegas last year. What a stunning tribute to the greatest band in the history of music and what a treasure trove of inspiration. The costumes and characters are simply incredible! Leslie's "Walrus and Eggman" is the first in what I hope will be a whole series of sculptures inspired by the show.

It's cold here in West Virginia today so I'm going to pretend I'm sitting in an English garden waiting for the sun to come. If you'd like to join me, click here. Coo coo ca choo!

King of Hearts

2009-02-11T13:02:00.000-05:00

Intelligent, generous, kind, dedicated, funny, charming and talented are all adjectives I use to describe my friend, Dr. Ron Lehocky. Unless you've been hiding in a cave recently, you've probably read about this Kentucky pediatrician's great passion for raising money to benefit the Louisville Cerebral Palsy KIDS Center. With one heart pin at a time, Ron has raised nearly $80,000 for this deserving organization over the past few years. That's almost 8000 hearts at 10 bucks a pop. He makes each and every one of them himself in his "spare" time and each and every heart is as wonderful and special as he is. The one shown above is a custom sticks and stone heart that he made just for me. It's truly one of my most favorite pieces and it hangs on the wall of my studio with many other hearts I've collected from him over the past few years. I've given a few away as gifts but I just can't bear to part with most of them so my collection (shown here) continues to grow.

You may have read Ron's excellent article "Skinner Blending My Passions" in the February 2009 issue of Polymer Cafe. It provides a wonderful insight into his passion and includes a great tutorial for making a heart of your own.

If you want to read more about Ron and his hearts, see Cynthia's past posts on Polymer Clay Daily here and here.

To purchase one of these wonderful heart pins (which is what I suggest), contact Ron and let him choose something special for you. It will be one of most rewarding $10 purchases you'll ever make.

Heart Attacks

2009-02-10T09:51:00.024-05:00

Hearts are everywhere this time of year. Marcia of Mars Design has made two of my favorites. I love this translucent pendant with the heart accents.

And what could be better than a piece of her rainbow peace heart cane?

David Revonav's elegant earrings are perfect for a romantic Valentine's dinner. You know, the kind you enjoyed before kids and life happened to get in the way.

I love this piece from Janet of Chickie Girl Creations . She has such a unique style.

Germany's Susanne Dingendorf created a liquid clay heart as the focal of this beautiful wire-wrapped ring.

It's refreshing to see so many variations on the cookie cutter hearts from long ago. There's definitely no shortage of creativity in the polymer clay community!

Wes' World

2009-02-02T16:00:00.007-05:00

If the terms Warrenator, Reducerator, and Kochanator sound like something from another world to you, you may be right. These are all things found in the world of Canada's Wes Warren, polymer clay adventurer, inventor, and cane-maker extraordinaire.

He's made some recent posts on his blog explaining some of the work involved in building extremely precise canes that weigh in at more than 7 pounds. And, believe it or not, bungee cords ARE involved!

A recent YouTube video offers a glimpse into his reduction methods. Prepare to be amazed! For more incredible photos, check out his Flickr site.

A Face in the Crowd

2009-01-28T10:20:00.013-05:00

Not only is "A Face in the Crowd" a great title for this blog entry, it's also the name of North Carolina's Julie Eakes' new business. Here's a photo of some of the pieces that I've been lucky enough to collect over the past few years. This talented lady builds some of the most beautiful face canes I've ever seen.

Her newest cane, which she writes about on her blog, is based on a Da Vinci drawing. I think this one is my favorite so far. In addition to being so very talented, Julie is one of the nicest people I know and has a wonderfully fun personality. If you're lucky enough to live in the Albuquerque area, she's planning a class on face canes in March. Further information can be found on her blog.

More off the cuff remarks

2009-01-27T05:00:00.017-05:00

I know it hasn't been that long since my last cuff post but, it's been long enough! Long enough for me to find and fall in love with some more fabulous new work. This "Decode" cuff from Austria's Eva Ehmeier is so edgy and cool. Her work has such a clean, modern feel to it.

Rosanna Ohlsson-Salmon is a charming polymer clay artist I just "met" yesterday on Flickr. She describes this wonderful mosaic cuff as something she "made on a rainy day." I describe it as absolutely delicious!

French artist Sylvie Peraud has some wonderful new work on her Flickr site, including this gorgeous bracelet. As usual, her work is beautifully designed and finished to perfection.

I'm beginning to feel the urge to shovel out the mess in my studio and get back to work myself. Anyone have a small dump truck I can borrow?

Ringing in the (Lunar) New Year!

2009-01-26T12:26:00.043-05:00

Happy Chinese New Year! May the Year of the Ox be a healing one for all of us. Thanks to everyone who sent me get well wishes. I feel as if I've been gone forever but I believe I'm beginning to rejoin the land of the living due in part to all the beautiful new work I've been seeing online. Polymer clay rings, like this one from Susan Turney, are popping up all over the place.

Jana Roberts Benzon has been on a recent ring making binge, as well. This one was made for the lucky man that happens to be her hairdresser.

I ran across this ring from Nemesia while I was checking out some new photos on Flickr. She's been using recycled flatware to make spoon rings and other new jewelry. Very clever!

Seeing all of these rings reminded me of my own collection of rings that I've recently acquired from other artists. I gathered them together to take a group shot and realized just how many creative ways there are to construct these fun jewelry items. Zsuzsa made the green eye ring using a purchased adjustable metal ring blank. I've seen similar blanks for sale from various online companies. The small band ring in the foreground was made by Donna Kato who's been using some sort of ceramic base to form and bake her rings on. Leslie Blackford sculpted this cool party animal and used an oversize o-ring for the band. The pretty ring with the flower cane slices was made by Kathy Caldwell, a member of the Kentucky/Tennessee Polymer Clay Guild. Below is a photo of the socket she confiscated from her husband's tool box and adapted for use as a form to both build and bake her rings on. I love this idea. It would be so easy to make rings in the exact size you need using this method.

I think a trip to the garage to look for a socket set is in order. Keep warm and stay creative!

Edited to add: If you'd like instructions on making the flower and leaf canes like the ones on Kathy's ring, you can find them here.

Kudos to Will for bringing back neck scarves

2008-12-02T09:22:00.014-05:00

It's been a while, hasn't it? Thanks so much for all the messages wondering if I've run off to the Caribbean with Vladimir, the pool boy. For those of you who've written and received no response or, a response that's so delayed, you don't even remember why you wrote to me in the first place, I apologize. I'm finding it difficult to maintain my usual pace.

As much as I hate to do it, I have to admit that I'm not the bad-ass warrior I thought I was. For the past 2 or 3 years, I've had some pretty unpleasant symptoms that have progressively gotten worse. I shouldn't have waited so long to go to the doctor. Lesson learned. I've spent the past few months having a lot of tests and enjoying the anxiety that goes along with all of that. On Thursday, my under-performing whacked-out thyroid gland is being removed. I'm looking forward to a much healthier 2009 not only for myself but, for the rest of the country, too.

As soon as I'm feeling up to it, I'll be back. In the meantime, I'm wishing all of you a happy and healthy holiday and all the good times you can handle.

Faeriology

2008-10-16T09:51:00.008-04:00

Pittsburgh's Lesley Polinko is one of the most talented people I know. Besides being an incredible sculptor, she's an incredibly nice person with a fantastic sense of humor. You may have seen her "No Fear Sculpting" articles recently in Polymer Cafe .

She has two pieces available right now on Ebay, including this gorgeous ghost fairy just in time for Halloween. Be sure to check out the hot merman, too!

I'm getting ready to head to Mammoth Cave for a retreat and workshop with the Kentucky Tennessee Polymer Clay Guild. Hope you have the perfect fall weekend!

Plum Perfect

2008-10-03T15:13:00.012-04:00

Iowa's Keila Hernandez created her "Plum Blossom" necklace after being inspired by a Chinese painter she saw at Baltimore's ACC show. You can read more about the story here. The initial pieces she made have merged into this lovely creation. Kelia's work continues to evolve and I 'm looking forward to seeing more beautiful things from her.

I'd like to end what's been a pretty rotten week on a happy note. After months of dedication, hard work and an extraordinary amount of courage, our good friend Ponsawan Sila finally has her daughter Ada home again! Because Ada has lots of rehabilitation ahead of her and many special needs that must be met, Ponsawan and her family have had to remodel part of their home in order to care for her. This expense, added to the massive medical bills they've incurred, has become an additional burden on a family that's been through more than I can even wrap my brain around.

Give some thought to skipping the next 99 cent clay sale at Michael's and making a donation to help them start to heal. You can go to the blog that Ponsawan started for Ada and click on the link in the top left corner to donate through Paypal.

Hope all of you have a wonderful fall weekend!

Let Freedom Ring!

2008-10-01T08:00:00.010-04:00

I haven't fallen off the face of the earth or anything and I appreciate the emails asking where I've been the last couple of weeks. I've been feeling a little wiped out and haven't spent much time on the computer since I returned from Philadelphia. I just wanted to take the time to offer a much belated thank you to one of the most wonderful polymer clay guilds out there. I had such an amazing weekend with the talented ladies in Philly and I got to see some incredible things while I was there. Standing so close to the Liberty Bell was just awe-inspiring and a very moving experience, especially in light of the fact that our country seems to be totally falling apart right now. Not really a big surprise considering the way things have been handled the past few years. That's my fleeting version of a political rant and I'm moving on to more pleasant topics now!

Returning to my weekend in Philadelphia, it was a total affirmation as to why teaching is so incredibly rewarding to me. This gorgeous necklace was made by Barbara Egnor of New Jersey. She approached me first thing Sunday morning to thank me for inspiring her to work in a more organic fashion and for giving her the incentive to abandon her previous ideas of what constituted "perfection". She was so sincere and I was moved to tears to have inspired someone to make something so incredibly special. This piece represented freedom of creativity to her and to me, as well. I think that's truly one of the best gifts we can be given in our artistic journeys. Thank you, Barbara, for allowing me to share this story, and to all the members of the Philadelphia Polymer Clay Guild, your talent, kindness, good humor and generosity will stay with me always. I'm so grateful to you all.

Time in a Bottle

2008-09-18T03:00:00.003-04:00

I'm off to the City of Brotherly Love to share my love of polymer clay with the ladies of the Philadelphia guild. I'm leaving a day early so I can take some time to do a little sightseeing. I can't believe I'm going to be standing in front of the Liberty Bell tomorrow morning!

Here's a photo of my newest excuse to keep working with these organic chips. It reminds me of a sea slug. I have pages and pages of designs to try but, to borrow a line from an old Jim Croce song, "there never seems to be enough time to do the things you wanna do once you find them . . "

Have a great weekend!

Enviable Design Skills

2008-09-15T01:00:00.002-04:00

I know very little about this talented artist. I believe her name is Ingrid and her native language appears to be German. I'm hoping that some of my international readers will see this and be able to give us a bit more information. I ran across Ingrid through a comment she left on one of my Flickr photos. Her profile on that site gives nothing away. Update: This talented artist is Ingrid Ulrich and she is from Germany. You can read the delightful comment she left by clicking on the comment link at the end of this entry.

I'm smitten with her unique designs and these extruded tubes that she arranges in totally brilliant ways. Seeing such fresh work is a great and inspiring way to start the week.

I hope you'll indulge me in a brief bit of shameless self-promotion today, too. After putting it off for a year or so, I've finally managed to put together a "kimcavender" shop in the vast wilderness of Etsy. I'll be listing more things in the coming weeks and maybe I'll even figure out how to fix that sucky banner I have up there now.

Hope your week gets off to a positive start!

Falling Leaves

2008-09-08T10:50:00.011-04:00

As far as I'm concerned, fall can't get here soon enough. It's my favorite time of year and it looks like I'm not the only one who's inspired by the wonderful colors and rich textures that nature shares with us during this season. This wonderful ginkgo necklace is from Delphine Roche de Montgrand of France. Her work is, to put it simply, nothing short of incredible.

Who wouldn't be inspired by Camille Young's expertise with Lumina clay and the way she sews these leaves together to fashion beautiful neck pieces like this lariat? These are amazingly realistic looking leaves and I can almost feel how soft and pliable they are.

Eva Ehmeier of Austria has fallen in love with Louise Fischer Cozzi's etching technique and has created this wonderful stylized leaf necklace. Eva's sense of color and design are pure perfection.

Fall hasn't quite reach the mountains of West Virginia but, I'm waiting patiently and I know that soon I'll be rewarded with glorious colors everywhere I look and that wonderful sense of crispness in the air.

Who says you can't do it all?

2008-09-04T07:58:00.006-04:00

Elvira Lopez Del Prado of Spain is out to prove them wrong! This multi-talented lady not only works with polymer clay , she also makes magic with felt, fabric, wire, wood, paper, and metal clay. I'm totally taken with her felt designs and the wonderfully appealing colors she uses.

This piece combines her passion for metal clay and polymer. She has a wonderfully organic sense of design, doesn't she? If you'd like to see more of her lovely work, you can also follow this link.

Until I sat down to write about Elvira, I didn't realize how long it had been since I'd posted an entry on this blog. I've been fixated on some new work I've been doing and when I get in the zone, it's hard to break free and even think about writing or trolling around the Internet. Now, back to the clay table!

Need a little retreat?

2008-08-22T10:48:00.014-04:00

I know I do! The Kentucky-Tennessee Polymer Clay Guild is sponsoring their fourth (I think) annual retreat at one of the most awesome places in the eastern United States, Mammoth Cave, Kentucky. The dates for this event are October17-19, 2008. Marla Frankenberg will be there teaching workshops on Friday night, Saturday and Sunday. She'll be covering her unique and oh-so-amazing caning techniques for flowers, ferns, leaves, and the fabulous dots which we all adore. I'm crashing the party on Saturday night to teach a class myself.

I can't think of a more relaxed and stress-free environment than the one at Mammoth Cave. The members of the KTPCG are wonderful and talented and so much fun! Because of the space limitations, they only have room for 30 people at the retreat and the last I heard, there were only 6 spots left.

Here's what I'll be teaching and since we'll be getting all dotty with Marla, you'll be able to embellish your pendants just like I have here.

Here's a few more details if you want to snag a spot before they're all gone. The cost for 3 days of non-stop claying is $150 and each attendee is also responsible for their own food and lodging at the Mammoth Cave Park Hotel. The food at the hotel is great and the rooms are clean and well-priced at a special rate of $59 per night for this event. To register for the workshop/retreat, you can contact Leslie Blackford. Yes, she'll be there, too and I won't blame you a bit if you decide to skip my class on Saturday and just gather around her workspace to watch her make some magic. Reservations for a room at Mammoth Cave Hotel can be made at 1-270-758-2225.

Hope to see some of you there!

Bracelet Envy

2008-08-19T03:00:00.001-04:00

I had planned to feature Maureen Thomas and her fabulous work yesterday but the queen of polymer clay blogging beat me to it. I've changed my post to include some exciting new work from other artists but I couldn't leave out this wonderful photo I asked Maureen to send me. I love the organic feel of her jewelry. Maureen told me, "I try to venture out, but texture always seems to work it's way into most of my pieces. I guess it's my 'thing'. My husband is afraid to throw anything away without holding it up first and saying, '....texture????' What a good guy." She's lucky to have a partner that notices the details and takes a real interest in her work.

This breathtaking cuff by Christelle is titled "Dreamtime". She made this piece for the Australian polymer clay guild's competition "Australia Speaks" and her inspiration came from the symbols and patterns of Aboriginal artwork. This is truly one of my most favorite polymer pieces ever! I'd like to grab it right off my computer screen, slap it on my wrist, and run away quickly.

Germany's Bettina Welker has a wonderful new cuff design she's experimenting with, too. I love the unusual shape and the pattern is different and refreshing. As usual, everything Bettina does is beautifully designed and finished.

I'm a sucker for a cool polymer clay bracelet and these amazing pieces have given me major bracelet envy!

Philly's got talent!

2008-08-18T11:37:00.025-04:00

They also have a fantastic polymer clay guild, a great website, a blog, a Flickr site just for guild photos, an online newsletter, and 70 over-achieving members to keep it all running smoothly.

This beautiful hollow pendant was created by Martha Aleo, one of the guild's most active members, a very talented mixed media jewelry artist, and a fellow blogger.

Update: This striking jewelry set was made by Patty Pickup.

They have some wonderful show and tell photos from past meetings posted on their website. Unfortunately, I don't have a name to go with this lovely image or for the two below. If you're a member of the Philadelphia guild and/or the artist that created these, please leave a comment so I can fill in the blanks and you can be recognized for your artwork.

Update: The red tile box was created by Dr. Sarah Fisher, who also photographed these three items.

In addition to the Polydelphia Retreat that they host every year, the guild also sponsors several workshops with visiting instructors. I'm thrilled to be heading their way for a workshop the weekend of September 20-21, 2008. We'll have an actual class on Saturday and then on Sunday, I'll be their official "guest artist" and share lots of tips and techniques for creating rocks and beach stones. If you're a member of the guild (I really wish I lived closer!) or considering becoming a member, the price for a whole weekend of polymer clay fun and learning is shockingly reasonable and I'm hoping to see a lot of you there. For more information on joining the Philadelphia polymer clay guild or for registration details on my upcoming workshop, just go to the guild's website and follow the links.

Update: Gwen Agard is the talent behind this striking piece.

Don't forget, I need some names to go with these beautiful images. This one reminds me of aqua terra jasper, a stone that embodies the colors of water and sand. I may just have to claim it as my own if no one comes forward!

A beautiful beginning . . .

2008-08-11T04:00:00.001-04:00

. . . to what I hope will be a much better week! This amazing orchid is from Celine (you may know her as Gris Bleu), one of the many talented ladies from France who are doing wonderful and exciting things with polymer clay.

The use of wire in many of her pieces, like this alien poppy, makes for a bold statement. Celine shares snippets of her creative process on her blog and it's definitely worth a visit if you've never checked it out. I adore her work!

It may be several days before I get the chance to make another post. Adam's elusive kidney stones are going to be lasered today and, if all goes well, I should be packed and headed to Louisville by the end of the week for a workshop at the Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft. Anyone have a lucky rabbit's foot I can borrow?

Dirty, rotten concretions!

2008-08-08T06:00:00.001-04:00

Amelia Earhart once said, "There are two kinds of stones, as everyone knows, one of which rolls." Unfortunately, my son Adam's kidney stones seem to be the non-rolling variety. They've managed to cause plenty of pain during the past 2 weeks but they don't appear to have any plans for rolling away anytime soon. We'll give it a bit longer but it's beginning to look like surgery is the next step.

I've featured Jay King on my blog in the past and he's become one of my favorite artists. I admire his talent and his wonderful sense of humor. When he heard that Adam was dealing with kidney stones, he created a polymer clay kidney stone just for him and labeled it a "dirty, rotten concretion." It gave us a much-needed laugh. Jay has quite a fan club and the comments under his daily Flickr offerings are almost as witty and wonderful as he is.

Although it clearly states at the top of this page that Imagine Uncommon Things is a blog about "polymer clay, creativity, rocks and other things", kidney stones aren't exactly the kind of rocks I had in mind when I wrote that. So many of you sent nice notes and left comments here when I talked about this last week and I just wanted you to know how much I appreciate all the good wishes you've sent to Adam.

I've had some requests to list my teaching schedule so I added a few upcoming classes right under my mug shot. You can drop me a line if you want info on the particulars for any of these events. I'll have more dates to add soon.

Playing with Fantasy

2008-08-07T00:00:00.006-04:00

"It's my escape from myself, my salvation and despair happiness and boundless longing for the unhappened. It's like expectation as well."

Speaking about her work, this quote is from Olga Roehl, maker of some of the most extraordinary art dolls I've ever seen. It took me a long time to savor all the amazing images found on her site like these masks and the piece below, titled "Blue Windy".

When I see sculptural work like this, I'm in total awe. If you're looking for a head start on weekend web surfing, I highly recommend losing yourself in the beauty and fantasy that Olga creates.

The things we do for love . . .

2008-07-30T09:00:00.009-04:00

This has to be the coolest thing I've ever seen polymer clay used for! Bill Robbins, aka Elmer Presslee, may have a somewhat sick and twisted aesthetic when it comes to his artwork (personally, I enjoy a bit of that) but he also seems to be a great dad who knows what little kids really want. He made this zombie head stroller for his adorable daughter and you've got to check out the photos he took of her riding in it. She must be the luckiest little girl in Utah.

I've been trying to find time to put a blog entry together for almost two weeks but I've been busy with packing and preparation for a workshop. If you're a regular reader, you probably know that the Euro Clay Carnival starts Friday in Nottingham, England. I've been looking forward to my first trip to Europe for months and thrilled, of course, at the opportunity to meet so many of my European online friends. I've been excited about our poker chip swap, too and made sure that I had enough to trade with everyone.

Sadly, although my chips will be there, I won't be able to head across the pond now, at all. Right before my plane was to leave, my son Adam became very ill and after spending the better part of two days in the emergency room, he was diagnosed with kidney stones. He's only 15 and leaving him here while I jetted off to another country was just out of the question for me. To call this the week from hell is definitely an understatement. There's been enough incompetence, misdiagnoses, and complications to send a sane person over the edge. Adam's home now and we're managing his pain, hoping that the stones will pass on their own and that he'll soon be back to normal.

I'm heartbroken to be missing this wonderful opportunity and terribly sorry to disappoint the students (a double class with Donna Kato will more than make up for my absence, I'm sure!) but, I'm where I need to be and doing what I need to do right now. He may be 6' 2" but he's still my baby!

Talking to the Trees

2008-07-10T10:00:00.007-04:00

I'm drowning in a sea of things that need to be done! I may be on the mend but I'm overwhelmed with how far behind I am. It's so bad that I may just have to change my name and start over. I have lots of half-finished blog entries sitting around but I chose this one today because I find the artwork so calming and peaceful.

Tamara of Block Party Press shares several photos of this piece during the creative process and being able to see it in these various stages makes me love it even more. You can't even IMAGINE how wonderful it would look in my studio against the aqua walls. I hear the trees telling me to breathe deeply and begin . . .

Balancing Act

2008-07-07T11:06:00.017-04:00

Ah, vertigo . . . U2 recorded a song about it but to TRULY appreciate the video, it's helpful to watch it while you're actually experiencing the phenomenon yourself. Just be sure and hold on tight. Alfred Hitchcock made a movie about it and if you've ever seen it, you know just what kind of trouble it can lead to.

As if the freakishly bizarre dog-walking accident I experienced last month wasn't bad enough (The dogs are fine. I, on the other hand, almost lost a perfectly good finger.), I've spent the last week or so on the merry-go-round that never stops spinning. This isn't my first bout with vertigo so I know there won't be too much accomplished until it runs its course. I'm making lots of sketches and lots of lists but it still sucks that I can't do the things I'd really like to be doing or the things I actually NEED to be doing.

So, if you've been wondering if I've jumped ship and escaped to a tropical island with my personal pool boy Vladimir . . . no such luck. I applaud your creative imagination though and I believe I'll give some serious consideration to adding that to my list of things to do when I've regained some of this missing equilibrium.

When Pigs Fly

2008-06-23T12:50:00.009-04:00

Today is a sad day for millions of George Carlin fans. The comic genius passed away yesterday evening at the age of 71. I adored his off-color, irreverent humor and although I know it was too explicit for some people, I loved the fact that he poked fun at the truth in ways that I sometimes found shocking and pretty twisted. I went to see him perform many years ago and got to hear his "incomplete list of impolite words". I still laugh when I think about him rattling those off. If you've never heard this part of his routine and think you can handle it, click here. I recommend not having children in the room while you're listening to this. It's full of "bad words" so don't watch it if you have delicate sensibilities about that sort of thing.

I guess I have a bit of the twisted thing going on too, especially late at night when I'm surrounded by funny people like Marla Frankenberg. The above photo is our version of a flying pig, aka Heavenly Ham, that we made after a weekend workshop that Marla did here in WV. I keep it hanging in my studio as a reminder that sometimes life is so absurd all you can do is laugh.

Toni Ransfield from New Zealand has a much more elegant take on the flying pig theme. This one is made around a real chicken egg.

We're all familiar with the whole idea of the phrase "when pigs fly" as a comment on an absurd notion but maybe it's become a bit trite and overused. Perhaps, "when pigs dive" may be a more up-to-date choice in today's world.

May your day be filled with much laughter and minuscule amounts of absurdity.

Mystery Man

2008-06-18T15:34:00.010-04:00

I know very little about David Revonav (I think that's his last name) other than he's a Washington, DC - based artist who recently started to work with polymer clay. Here's one more thing I know: I adore this ring in his Etsy store and I'm really sad it's not my size!

Beautiful, simple, clean work with a modern aesthetic. I love it!

One thing I'm not too fond of right now is AOL. I'm struggling to get anything accomplished online. All the more reason to stay at my studio table and keep my hands in the clay. Have a wonderful rest of the week!

All Over the Map

2008-06-13T09:16:00.020-04:00

Thanks to the magic that is Flickr, I've traveled the world this week looking at some wonderful artwork from talented individuals that I may never have otherwise had the opportunity to experience.

Enno de Kroon is an artist from The Netherlands who paints on egg cartons and has totally blown me away with his whole concept of two-and-a-half dimensional art. When viewed at an angle, his paintings provide a totally different perspective than the frontal view that's shown here. This is how he describes his choice of canvas and the viewer's experience:

"As a painter I consider egg cartons as two-and-a-half dimensional objects which offer me remarkable possibilities for imagery. The waves of the egg cartons limit the viewer's perception; they also make him aware of his positioning towards the image. The intentional limitation in subjective perception gives room for imagination and recall: the process of occlusion. By a fusion of direct and indirect perception conventional imagery is overtaken. At first sight this leads to a physical and mental incompleteness, that forces an integration which can only take place within the inner experience, apart from time and space."

His Flickr profile is full of fascinating glimpses into the amazing work he calls Eggcubism and the process it entails. You'll be missing out if you don't make a stop here yourself.

A trip to Spain brought me this beautiful necklace by Natalia Garcia. It reminds me of some vintage inlaid mother of pearl beads I have in my stash which I can't bring myself to let go of. I love the look and the feel of this piece, which is also very reminiscent of capiz shell. For those of you who are attending the Euro Clay Carnival in England next month, you'll get to meet Natalia there as she is one of the instructors.

A quick jaunt off to Scotland and I was enjoying the cool fantasy sculptures by Marc and David Green. This one is Tricksy, riddle-maker and master of manipulation.

These artists have provided much-needed relief from what I will always remember as "the summer of the locusts" here in the U.S. The irritating sound they make is bad enough but I happen to have a bad-ass locust eater living in my house that takes every opportunity to chase them down and devour them when he goes into the backyard under the guise of relieving himself.

The poor slow-moving locusts don't stand a chance against the cunning and speed of Baxter, the Wonder Dog. However, they take their revenge a couple of times a day when we're treated to the unmistakable sound of a retching schnauzer who deposits half-eaten locusts in the floor. I'm sure you can guess who has the honor of cleaning that mess up. Flickr is the only thing keeping me sane at this point.

Day of the Dead

2008-06-09T09:57:00.011-04:00

I know it's a little early for a Day of the Dead celebration. My research showed that it's observed early in November. But, Tamra Kohl, a Texas artist whose background is in commercial sculpting, celebrates her appreciation for this traditional Mexican holiday every day of the year. I love her caterpillar which brings to mind a strange mutation of Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Jack Skeleton from The Nightmare Before Christmas.

And coming to a parade near you, the shriner in his little car is just perfect!

Her tribute to Hank Williams, Sr. is another of my favorites. The talented Tamra shares more of her work here, including some wonderful photos of the process she goes through to create these fascinating, colorful sculptures.

Decoupaged Polymer Clay

2008-06-02T08:21:00.011-04:00

Julia, aka White Guppy, is a Spanish artist who's come up with a way to decoupage onto polymer clay. Her beautifully patterned pillow beads first caught my eye on Ebay. Although she sells these beads herself, she's been generous enough to share her method for creating them on her blog and like so many of the talented European clayers, she's also included an English version of her tutorial.

I think her method would translate wonderfully to tube beads, as well. Or perhaps, this half-moon hollow bead design by Michele "Luny" would be a nice way to show off some interesting patterns.

I like the fact that both of these ladies have taken the time to experiment and come up with something unique in their approach to bead design. Hope you find the time to try something different yourself this week!

The world may be going to hell in a handbasket . . .

2008-05-29T21:48:00.009-04:00

. . . but Jim Sheely ALWAYS makes me smile! Nope, it's not clay, it's carved basswood. I've blogged about Jim before but his artwork is so cool and edgy that I could talk about him every day. I love his wonderful spirit and the way he never takes himself too seriously. This is what he says about his art:

Imagining things and making them real is my beloved hobby.

If you're a collector of creatures who love to go swimmin' with bowlegged women, check this piece out on Ebay. The bidding is fast and furious!

Back tomorrow with more clay . . .

Save a cow, do some clay!

2008-05-27T07:37:00.015-04:00

Thanks to Michael from Mossy Owls, it's easy to get your leather on. She recently shared her method for making faux leather tags that are wonderfully realistic. If you're not into leather, check out her other tutorials on Polymer Clay Web for lots of interesting techniques to try.

Michael recently opened a "button bakery" on Etsy. Her polymer buttons with a liquid clay glaze are just lovely!

She has lots of photos of her polymer clay work on her Flickr site, including several examples of pastries, burgers, pizza, and other foods, like this cool sushi necklace.

Fearless in France

2008-05-23T09:43:00.011-04:00

I'm such an admirer of Sylvie (aka Maniquette) and her work. She's been involved with polymer clay for about three years and is totally fearless when it comes to experimenting with different techniques and applications for the clay. The Bubble bracelet above is one of her newest pieces and she's generously shared her technique for these on the English version of her blog.

This seems like the perfect occasion to thank all of the talented European polymer artists who have invested so much time and effort into learning other languages, namely English. As a selfish American who has never bothered to learn anything other than English (the 4 years of Latin don't really count since no one even speaks the language!), I appreciate the fact that I've been able to talk to so many of you. Please don't ever apologize for your English, I'm always humbled by and grateful for your efforts.

Okay, back to Sylvie's lovely work. I love the way she successfully combines pattern and texture in so many of her pieces. This tissue box is a great example of that. In addition to jewelry and tissue boxes, she also makes amazing lamps, clocks, and mirrors. To see more examples, you can check out her Flickr site here.

Her blog is full of fascinating glimpses into her process and I could spend hours lost in her archives. If you have some time this weekend, read about the lovely face cane she made based on a painting by her friend Cat and see her finished bracelet here.

Have a creative weekend!

The Birds and the Trees

2008-05-19T08:35:00.008-04:00

For me, there's nothing more rejuvenating than immersing myself in the things I love most about nature - trees, birds, rocks, and the peaceful, calming effect it has on me. I spent last week surrounded by my favorite things and I'm feeling anxious and inspired to develop some new work.

The piece shown here is a collaboration between myself and my talented friend Leslie Blackford. I made the piece of "faux tree" and handed it off to Leslie who sculpted the amazing little bird prince.

It's time to unpack and hit the clay table. New things coming soon!

Ah, the soft colors of Spring!

2008-05-12T06:00:00.000-04:00

These calm, peaceful colors are showing up everywhere I look. Lucia Fanjul of Spain just put this beautiful necklace up. It reminds me of soft new flower shoots with stylized buds and blooms attached.

Germany's Bettina Welker has lots of new work available that's just as lovely as she is. I adore her memory wire bracelets that I found on Flickr.

Dee Wilder has chosen to showcase these delicate flower petals in what looks like copper with a wonderful added patina. What a wonderful earring design!

Think soft thoughts and create a piece of your own that's worthy of the beauty found in spring. I'm taking a little time to refresh and renew my own creative spirit and I'll see you next week.

Paying Homage to a Polymer Legend

2008-05-07T15:52:00.020-04:00

I was on the phone with a friend today and she asked me if I could name the artists who have been the most influential in my own work with polymer clay. I've been asked that question before and I always give the same two names each time - Lindly Haunani is one of them. The other shall remain nameless until a future blog post. The photos I've included are all pieces of Lindly's work that I've acquired over the years. Although my camera and photography skills don't do them justice the way David Terao does, I'm sure Lindly will forgive me.

When I think about all the ways that I've been inspired by Lindly, color, of course, is the first thing that comes to mind. Taking Lindly's color class was an amazing and clarifying experience that truly gave me the ability and confidence to mix any color I can imagine. Although I'll never have her talent for combining colors that, on their own, don't seem to work, but together, sing so beautifully and perfectly, she's given me such a wonderful gift. She has a magical way with all things involving color and I'm looking forward to her new book which will, no doubt, be just as helpful as her classes.

Lindly's use of texture and simplicity of pattern have both been inspiring to me. I love her jewelry designs that contain numerous tiny bits and pieces and always manage to look clean and uncluttered at the same time. I have to trace my love of mokume gane and inclusions in translucent clay back to Lindly's Tantalizing Translucents DVD. It was one of the first instructional tapes I purchased and remains one of my favorites today.

Although I can't credit Lindly with my love for asparagus, her jewelry and shrines were definitely the force behind all the asparagus clocks I made several years ago. When I was asked to be a guest on the Carol Duvall show, the first question out of the producer's mouth was, "Can you make your asparagus clock for us?" If you read down to the bottom of the tutorial on the HGTV website, you can see who I gave credit to for the design idea.

Today, Lindly continues to inspire and influence me. Her blog is a source of wonderful information and the interesting color tidbits she faithfully posts are always entertaining and insightful. I admire her kindness, her unique sense of humor, and her ability to see the big picture. In addition, as a founding member of the NPCG, Lindly has done more than anyone I know to spread her love and passion for polymer clay and to help promote it as a true art medium. Thank you, Lindly, for sharing so much of yourself with so many of us and for being such a wonderful inspiration along every step of my polymer clay journey.

A Guitar Hero

2008-05-02T08:25:00.017-04:00

This Blue Glass Guitar was created by Bryan Helm, who is a talented musician and artist in addition to being a guitar hero. He also happens to be the husband of Sarajane Helm. The mosaic work that he does with discarded and unrepairable musical instruments is beautiful and I love that he's turning objects that would no doubt be headed to a landfill into amazing pieces of art. The details on this guitar are incredible and in addition to polymer clay, Bryan has used glass, seed beads, and other materials. You can read more about this and see some nice close-ups of this piece here on Sarajane's Aunt Acid site.

Aunt Acid, a marionette, is Sarajane's latest project and her blog is quite a trip. Sarajane's own blog is a little more tame and has some great examples of polymer work by herself and other talented artists. I really enjoy Sarajane's geisha series- such incredibly detailed canes!

This talented couple has got so much going on and lots of new projects in the works. I'm especially looking forward to The Art of Polymer Clay Masks, due out sometime this year. They are truly an example of what it means to live a creative, inspiring, responsible and rewarding life.

It's Hip to be Square and other things

2008-04-18T23:29:00.012-04:00

My most recent post was about Sharon Solly and her use of Kato liquid clay as a finish for her polymer pieces. Yesterday, Sharon spent some time getting acquainted with the new colored Kato liquid and I just had to share a photo of her results. I love everything about these pieces - the colors, the shape, the dots, the cut-outs, the subtle shading around the edges - fabulous eye candy to end the week!

For some reason, I couldn't find the colored liquid clay on Donna's retail site but, I know it's available in several different colors if you're interested in trying it for yourself. And, here's some exciting news! Donna's long-awaited DVD is finally finished! Tips, Tricks, & Techniques in Polymer Clay is a 2-disc set with 3 1/2 hours of claying goodness and you can order it now through Prairie Craft. Donna also has some beautiful pieces of jewelry for sale here but I'm betting they won't last long.

Happy Birthday to my wonderful, talented, and gorgeous son Daniel who turns 18 years old today!

This is art!

2008-04-16T22:35:00.006-04:00

This pin by Asheville, North Carolina's Sharon Solly is such a cool and funky piece of jewelry. Although it's not made of polymer clay, I wanted to include it in this post because it shows her versatility as an artist. She's adept at rubber stamping, mixed media, beading, polymer clay, and many other areas of artistic expression. I first met Sharon when I traveled to Asheville to teach a workshop for her guild and I was so impressed by her use of Kato liquid clay as a finish on many of her polymer clay pieces.
These cabs are made with Lumiere paints,mica powders and Kato liquid. I believe she said she followed the directions that Donna posted here when she described how she got this wonderful glass-like effect. Since I've seen Sharon's work in person, I can attest to the fact that it's just as spectacular in person as it appears in these photos.

Before I went to Asheville, I had been experimenting with using fibers in polymer clay and I was thrilled to discover that Sharon had been working with the same material. I blogged about a pendant I made here and the photo above shows the incredible results that Sharon's achieved through her own experiments with these fibers. I have it on excellent authority that the June 2008 issue of Polymer Cafe will contain an article by Sharon on exactly how she makes these beautiful pieces. So, if you've let your subscription lapse, this would be the perfect time to renew. And, just in case you need another reason, Tammy Garner, who I blogged about last week, will also have an article in that issue.

It appears that "Imagine Uncommon Things" has evolved into a weekly blog at this point. Since I don't seem to have a succinct bone in my body, it's become pretty time consuming to write these long posts more than once a week. So, I'll still be here, just maybe not as often.

A Peace of Art

2008-04-09T07:58:00.012-04:00

What do you get when you combine a love of color and texture, fabulous artistic ability, great design sense, a big heart, and a hippie chick with a wonderful sense of humor all into one package? You get Tammy Garner, of course!

Tammy, who lives right here in my hometown, has been working with polymer clay for about 13 years. She's one of those fearless people who can jump in and immerse themselves in most any medium and master it effortlessly. In just the past few years, I've watched her add metal clay, resin, enameling, beading, and metal working to her bag of tricks and her work continues to evolve in a wonderful way.
In addition to creating such beautiful artwork, Tammy is a wonderful and inspiring teacher who offers classes in both beginning and advanced metal clay and mixed media. She's also the author of the upcoming Metal Clay in a Day, a book that combines metal clay with polymer, resin, and other mixed media. I've had a sneak peek at many of the projects and I can tell you they're all beautiful, interesting, and accessible. You won't need lots of expensive tools and equipment, just the patience to wait until June when it's available.

I'm feeling a bit guilty for being so neglectful of this blog recently. I've just had lots to do and sometimes life gets in the way. I'm looking forward to an afternoon of doing nothing but working with clay. Hope you get a chance to do the same thing soon!

Spring is in the air . . .

2008-03-31T09:53:00.035-04:00

. . . and I've got flowers to share! And then, it's back to the tax tables for me.

Flowers are a recurring and popular theme in most types of art and polymer clay is no exception. There are so many different ways to bring a flower to life using clay. These are just a few of my favorites. Not a lot of words, just a lot of floral goodness to feast upon!

This cherry blossom cane is from Olga Ostapenko, who lives in Russia. Her cane work is incredible (check out the geisha cane ) and she makes some wonderfully delicate necklaces, as well, using sculpted roses.

Pittsburgh's Marla Frankenberg used some of her incredible cane slices to make this dimensional pansy, complete with it's own personal ladybug. These were originally made for embellishments on a beautiful box she created for Kato Polyclay's exhibit at the CHA show a few years ago. Marla, you should make more of these!

Leigh Ross, of New Jersey, made all the flowers, including the bouquets and centerpieces, for her daughter's wedding. But, she made them out of polymer clay! Incredibly beautiful work and I don't even want to think about how many hours she spent on these. What a lucky daughter Leigh has!
Another artist who's doing some amazing life-like sculptures of polymer clay flowers is Gloria Spruiell of Atlanta, Georgia. In addition to this stargazer lily, she has several arrangements on her Flickr site that you'll swear must be real flowers. While you're there, look at her polymer clay food, too. She's got an awesome talent!

No post on flowers would be complete without a photo of the wonderful things that Barb Fajardo is doing. She uses various surface designs to create amazing sculptural-like flowers. Barb has an interesting post on her blog about the progression her flowers have taken over time. She is truly an original and innovative artist.

When I started writing this post, I had no plans at all to include these photos but, mentioning Marla's box for the CHA exhibit made me remember my own rather "unique" entry, the "Bloomin' Butthead". It has flowers (sort of) and I had a lot of fun making it. This box is about 9 inches tall and it's all clay. As I've probably mentioned before, I'm definitely not a sculptor but even so, I'm still trying to figure out WHY I didn't win. Hey Donna, I think I was ripped off!

Hope all of you are starting to see the first signs of Spring!

Crossing the Pond, Polymer Cafe, and TMI

2008-03-24T10:06:00.028-04:00

After several years of doing the Clay Carnival in Las Vegas, it's time to head across the pond! The "Euro Clay Carnival" is set to take place August 1-3, 2008 in Nottingham, England. This event will be a bit different since we have added 2 instructors from England and 1 from Spain. There will be a total of nine different classes included in the package and you can read more about all the details on Donna Kato's website here. I've never been to Europe and I'm really looking forward to meeting all the wonderfully talented artists there who work with polymer clay. Sign ups are starting to come in quickly so, if you'd like more information, visit our good friend Helen Cox for all the registration details. I've already heard from several of my online pals from Spain and France and it's going to be a fabulous time! My class, shown in the picture above, is "A Pigment of Your Imagination", also known as "life's too short to eat cheap ice cream". According to many of the people who've taken this class in the past , it's highly "addictive". To me, the best thing is that it's fun and stress-free with wonderful results.

Speaking of wonderful results, I hope that you've had the opportunity to see the April 2008 issue of Polymer Cafe. Connie Donaldson, the new editor, has done an amazing job with this issue. After
talking to her and hearing what she has planned for future issues, I'm certain it's only going to get better and better. Be sure and give some thought to being a contributor, if you haven't already. The guidelines for submission are on the magazine's website and Connie has offered her help to those who are a little unsure about how to get started.

A couple of weeks ago I was "tagged" by two friends on the same day. I didn't really even understand what this meant until I did a bit of research. Basically, I was supposed to list 6 or 7 (depending on who was tagging me) unimportant or little-known facts about myself and then "tag" three other bloggers to do the same thing. The friends who tagged me made it clear that there was no pressure and it was just for fun if I wanted to participate. So, I've decided I'm going to "kind of" participate just this once. I'm not going to tag anyone else but I'll list thirteen (because I like odd numbers and they both asked) little-known and incredibly boring facts about myself. The two wonderfully talented ladies who tagged me were Debbie Tlach (her work is above) and Linda Peterson (see her work below). I highly recommend visiting their blogs and checking out their artwork. Love you both and my apologies for not playing exactly by the rules!

Here are my 13 things:

1. I think people who abuse children and animals are the lowest life forms on the planet.

2. When I was a kid, my mom had to force me to go outside and play because I only wanted to read books all day long.

3. The places I want to see most in the world are New Mexico, Arizona, Egypt, and Spain.

4. When I was in Jr. High school, I was madly in love with Elton John and named my oldest son after his song, "Daniel."

5. I think about my dog Buster (he died almost 2 years ago) every single day and sometimes I still cry.

6. My career goals have fluctuated wildly throughout my life and have included being a librarian, a writer, a geologist, a lawyer, a teacher, and an artist. I wonder if it's too late for law school?

7. I have a really sarcastic and wicked sense of humor which sometimes gets me in trouble.

8. My favorite comedians are Jerry Seinfeld, Kathy Griffin, and George Carlin.

9. My favorite TV show is Project Runway.

10. I prefer white chocolate.

11. The first thing I ever made with polymer clay was a carrot nose for a fabric snowman.

12. I need music to live. Some of my favorite bands are Red Hot Chili Peppers, Dave Matthews, U2, and the Beatles.

13. I LOVE chai tea, pomegranate juice, and Bailey's Irish Cream, but never in the same cup!

I won't be around for the next week or two. My kids are on spring break and I want to spend some time with them, I have lots of projects I need to finish , and, as usual, I still need to get the dreaded income taxes together. In the immortal words of Tim Gunn, "carry on." I'll see you soon!

It's All About the Monkeys

2008-03-21T16:52:00.005-04:00

And maybe just a little about the clowns, too!

Jim Sheely's artwork is weird and wonderful and he has quite a following, not only in his hometown of Columbus, Ohio, but all over the world. His wood carvings and drawings come from a place that most of us can't even imagine. Since I'm partial to monkeys and have no clown phobias, this is definitely my favorite piece. If you'd like to see more, you can check out his photos on Flickr, too. I'd love to get some clay in his hands and see what kind of magic might happen.

Speaking of magic, there's nothing quite so magical as seeing Leslie Blackford creating something/anything out of clay. She's one of those rare people who don't have to think much about the process. It just seems to come out of her hands all on its own. I love this green monkey mask which I believe has found its way into Hollie Mion's polymer clay collection.

Chris Henry, my guildmate here in West Virginia, is still making wonderful bottles of hope. You may remember her cool red art deco cat that I showed you a few months ago. I wish I could give you a link to more of her work. She makes fabulous dolls, as well. Since she has no web presence or even a Flickr site, I thought that with your help, we might be able to change that. I've written her a little note and if you have a free moment or two, here's what you can do. Copy the highlighted text below and click here for an email form addressed to Chris. Paste the text into the email, sign your name or Oprah's name or really any name you'd like and send it on. I'm hoping she'll receive so many emails that she'll get the hint. She has a wonderful sense of humor but I'll be sure to let you know if she's still speaking to me after our next guild meeting.

Dear Chris,

You probably don't know me but Kim said I should write to you and let you know that I really enjoy your work. A Flickr site is so easy that anyone with a camera and a computer can get one started. What are you waiting on?

Sincerely,

____________

I just wanted to say how much I appreciated all of the comments and emails that I received after my last post. It's a wonderful feeling to be part of such a supportive community and although I know that not everyone agreed with what I had to say, I appreciate that your opinions were presented with dignity and a sense of respect for all the readers of this blog. Thank you for that.

What I feel the need to say . . .

2008-03-17T23:24:00.017-04:00

I apologize for the absence of a photo to go along with this post. Somehow, nothing seemed quite right. If you're reading this blog right now, I'll going to assume that you spend some amount of your leisure time online. It follows then, that at some point, you've probably become aware of a subject that, to some extent, affects all art-related groups and every medium, polymer clay included. Okay, I can sense the rise in blood pressure already. Just bear with me, please. I've spent days on this post and I'd prefer that it be read without any type of emotional investment. At the risk of sounding extremely pompous, I feel that as a student, an instructor, an author, and someone who simply enjoys using polymer clay as a means of personal expression, I have a somewhat unique perspective to offer. We are all a product of our individual experiences and those experiences are what has led me to write what follows.

This subject has been rehashed so many times and terms such as ownership, stealing, infringement, copying, borrowing, derivative, originator, originality, etc., have been tossed around to the point that many of us are just tired of hearing about it.

How do we, as a community, put this to rest once and for all? As much as some of us would like to turn this into a battle over some specific incident that affects you, your best friend or your favorite pal on a message group, that needs to stop. It's about so much more than any one person or incident and it affects each and every one of us in some way.

The Internet is an amazing thing - efficient, timely, influential, and so very powerful. I'm so glad Al Gore thought of it! There's no doubt that it's had a huge impact on the development and growth of polymer clay. So many of the issues at hand have understandably intensified as our usage of and our comfort level with computers have risen. The relative anonymity of the Internet, the instant gratification it provides, and the lack of accountability that's often present, have all contributed to this progression. How best to balance the positive and negative aspects of a sharing community? To me, the answer is both simple and obvious: RESPECT.

When we, as students, take a class or workshop, what should we expect? We should leave with new knowledge, we should leave inspired, we should be brimming with creative energy, we should have increased confidence in our abilities, and a feeling of having experienced something wonderful. That's what I try to provide when a teach a class and that's what I expect when I take a class. When we spend our hard-earned dollars on an art-related workshop, a book, or a magazine, do we have the right to use the techniques or projects that are presented and incorporate them into our own work? Of course we do. It would be insane to pay for something and not be expected to use it. Can we make something that looks like the instructor's work? Of course we can. Can we sell these pieces? Of course we can. When we paid for the information, we gained the right to do that. I'm not encouraging you to imitate someone else's work. However, I believe that, for some people, this is an important part of the creative process and I have no doubt that as we incorporate what we learn into our own artistic point of view, our work eventually evolves and changes and will become something that is uniquely ours. If an instructor or author feels uncomfortable with having students or readers imitate their work, they're probably in the wrong business. If you plan to sell work that came about from a workshop or a book, it's nice to give the instructor or author a mention. This enables them to continue to sell books and teach workshops to all those people who are now admiring and buying what you've made. In addition, give some consideration to the fact that you're not the only one who's taken the class or bought the book. You may not want to present work to sell that looks so similar to what lots of other people are making.

For an instructor, there's no better advertising than to have a student return to their guild and share their enthusiasm and excitement for what they learned during class or for that student to post on an online forum pictures of the things they made. You should feel perfectly comfortable sharing these things. Is it okay for you to return home and give a step- by -step demonstration of what you learned in class to your guild members who weren't able to attend? It's nice of you to share but think about it from an instructor's point of view. If you do that and 10 other people do the same thing, there are now 11 guilds with hundreds of potential students who have just been taught, for free, the process that instructor is depending on to earn a living. How many of those guilds will want to bring the instructor in to teach that workshop now? Maybe some of them will. But, there will be lots of others who feel that they've learned that process and would rather move on to something else.

The process of developing a workshop is a long one. It takes weeks, months, or even years to refine and develop this process into a format that's teachable in a classroom setting and results in a successful outcome for many different skill levels. In a one-day workshop, especially, the instructor's entire process may be able to be demonstrated in just a few steps. If you take photos of the process during class, keep in mind that the information that's presented in the classroom, including handouts, is only meant for those who have paid for the class. The process that you learned is yours to use but it is NOT yours to share. There's no doubt that most workshops are far more than just a handful of pictures but, posting step-by-step photos on the Internet in the spirit of sharing is not fair to students who have previously paid for the information and it's not fair to the instructor who is currently teaching that workshop. This type of sharing, which is usually done with the best of intentions, can lead to problems you may never have even considered. The dozen friends who reply to your post and thank you for "sharing" are not the only ones who see these photos. Thousands and thousands of people now have access to something they can make use of in whatever way they'd like. Here's just one scenario. If someone decides they want to try the process, take their own photos, rename the process "Kathy's Krazy Kane", and post a free tutorial on their website, what type of effect will this have on the person who worked so hard to develop and teach this process? Their name has been totally removed from the equation, they receive no benefit for their hard work, their future earnings can be adversely affected, and, if they cry foul, they're often chastised for it. So, in our excitement and eagerness to share, we should always be mindful of sharing more than we have a right to and what the consequences may be.

Our community consists of many talented artists but not all of them have a desire to teach. Some people are producing work to sell, while others create only for themselves and the personal satisfaction they receive from the creative process. If you admire someones artwork and are not able to take a class from them or purchase work from them, for whatever reason, is it acceptable to try and duplicate their work for yourself? No one can stop you from doing that and this type of "reverse engineering" can be a wonderful learning experience. If you decide to share this piece with others, give credit for your inspiration to that artist. Don't "forget" where it came from or try to convince yourself or others that you magically came up with this on your own if that's not the case. It's really not painful to acknowledge that you were inspired by someone else's work. We're all inspired by other artists and it's nothing to be ashamed of. Don't think it's acceptable to write a tutorial to share with all your friends online if this was not your original idea. Just because you were able to figure out another artist's process doesn't give you the right to share it. Let the originator decide how and when to share this information as they see fit. Use good judgment. If you know this artist is selling their work through an online store, for instance, do you really feel it's right to make pieces that look just like theirs and compete with them? Of course it's not and one day, you could find yourself in a similar situation where those roles are reversed. Anyone who has had this experience can tell you it's not a pleasant one.

I believe that any medium requires a sharing and an open environment to grow but, it also requires artists who are willing to invest time and effort into developing techniques and work that will move the medium forward. I don’t think there are many people out there who can afford to or are willing to do that for nothing. We need to balance respect and courtesy with our eagerness to share what we've learned. Even if you disagree with me, I hope that everyone who's taken the time to read these words can understand and appreciate my dream for the polymer clay community: Respect for students who have taken classes or bought books and have a right to use what they have learned in their own work. Respect for instructors who have worked hard to develop workshops that enable them to earn a living and have a right to expect that details of their process will not be shared outside of the classroom. Respect for our fellow artists whose work inspires us to create new work of our own and who have a right to sell their designs and share their process as they see fit.

This hasn't been an easy post to write and it's been even harder to make the decision to put it up here for everyone to read. I feel as if I have much invested in the polymer clay community. I've spent more than 10 years concentrating my energies on this medium and teaching, writing, and selling my work is now my "job". I am not the "polymer police" and I have no right to tell you how to live your life, creatively or otherwise. If these words have changed your opinion of me, then that's something I will have to live with. Ultimately, we are all responsible for the personal choices we make and this was mine.

Comments, as always, are welcome. But, please stick to the topic at hand. I don't want this to turn into something it was never meant to be.

Getting it off my chest with no desire to look at hers

2008-03-11T08:20:00.011-04:00

No, not me! I'm talking about YouTube! I followed a link to a polymer clay video that was posted there and I had this idea to do a blog entry about some of the really wonderful things I found. But my enthusiasm for that idea soon gave way to disgust after a few more clicks of my mouse. Don't get me wrong, there are some wonderful polymer clay related videos on that site. At the risk of offending the ones I don't name ( I just don't have the time or energy to hunt down all those links), I was impressed by Cynthia Tinapple's caning demo, Maggie Maggio's color mixing info, Suzanne Ivester's extruded cane, and the polymer clay butterflies made by the British ladies were absolutely charming. I could listen to them talk all day! There's lots of good things on YouTube!

But, one set of videos in particular, made me cringe. I won't link to them but, if you've ever done a search for polymer clay on YouTube, I'm sure you've seen them. They're short, less than 30 seconds long, and it's hard to believe that so much misinformation can be packed into such a small time frame. I only watched two of them and here are just a few of the things (with plenty of extra sarcasm added by me) that caused my head to spin like Linda Blair in The Exorcist:

1. Polymer clay can be pretty pricey so it's best to use the clear clay in the middle of your beads and save the colors for the outside.

Now that's interesting! I wasn't aware that anyone was making "clear" clay so she must have been referring to translucent, right? And since when is translucent clay so much less "pricey" than the colors?

2. It's perfectly acceptable to spread out uncured clay all over a wooden table while you're working with it.

All I could think was if you're planning on refinishing your furniture soon, this is a great way to strip off all of that pesky old varnish.

3. You should bake your beads at 275 degrees for 12 minutes. And, if you're in a hurry, 10 minutes would be fine, too.

I really think the clay manufacturers could save themselves some money on printing costs if they'd just leave the baking instructions off the packages. Let's all just bake it for however long we feel like, okay?

But, what really made me angry was the fact that all of these short video clips were just "teasers" to entice a customer into purchasing the full-length DVD's featuring their resident "expert". At the risk of getting nasty hate mail, this person is NOT an "expert" by any stretch of the imagination and I would go so far as to say she hasn't taken the time to acquire the knowledge necessary to teach anyone how to work with clay. I doubt that many people have lined up to purchase this DVD. I really hope they haven't. It's enough to set polymer clay back a few dozen years!

Update: I did a bit of further research and it appears that the company who is responsible for making these "how-to's" is NOT actually selling them. I guess those site ads must pay pretty well! I was able to find out, from their website, that their "goal is to provide our users with qualified, trustworthy video content, a place on the Internet where you know that what you see is not idle speculation by a random amateur, but rather someone who really knows what they're talking about." I'm feeling like it's time to hang up my clay gun after reading that.

Quilted in Clay

2008-03-07T19:56:00.015-05:00

My computer has decided to be extremely difficult today and I may just have to break out the Bailey's soon! But first, here's a slice from a gorgeous Celtic knot cane from Jennifer Patterson of Quilted in Clay, who also happens to be the winner of the pendant bails I'm giving away. The colors that she's used for this cane are just phenomenal! I really think I need a pendant like this. I have the perfect shirt to wear with it, too.

Jennifer, who is a full-time polymer clay artist, travels frequently to quilt shows and other venues to sell her work. She was recently given permission to duplicate quilt patterns designed by the late Ruby S. McKim. This pansy quilt design is one of her newest in the McKim line. Simply beautiful work!

In addition to being such a hard-working and talented artist, Jennifer has a wonderful blog which I read faithfully. She's also the talent behind the "Hidden Magic" technique which has become very popular in the past couple of years. You may have seen her article on the process in the Fall 2003 issue of Polymer Cafe. She has lots of wonderful things to share on her website, including a peek into her caning process and a tutorial on the Ohio Star cane.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend and Jennifer, contact me here with your address so I can mail the bails out to you!

Wisdom and Beauty from Synergy

2008-03-05T07:28:00.016-05:00

I actually got to see Kathleen Dustin wearing this amazing work of art while I was in Baltimore. Not only that, but, I got to meet her and take her seminar on earring design. She couldn't have been nicer! When I went downstairs to see a bit of the ACC Show, I was in awe of her booth and seeing so much of her artwork (most of it marked with SOLD signs) in one place was almost overwhelming. Her talent can't be described in words, it needs to be experienced by all the senses simultaneously. She is truly a remarkable lady.

I wanted to share some tidbits of wisdom and a few fascinating facts from the seminar presenters. My first seminar was "Beyond the Blend" with Dan Cormier. I was blown away by the material he presented and amazed at the amount of time and work he put into developing this revolutionary blending method. Here's a bit of trivia he discovered during his research: After 20 passes through the pasta machine, a two-color blend will actually exhibit 1,048,077 different colors. He's promised to unveil a new website very soon so keep your eyes open.

Next was Judy Kuskin's "Silver Bezels" . She did a wonderful job presenting information in a way that those of us with little or no experience in metalworking could understand. Her handout was excellent and so well thought out. She gave me the confidence to attempt this on my own and as soon as I order a few supplies, I'm jumping in. Thanks Judy for this very valuable gift!

I mentioned Kathleen's "Earring Design" seminar above and I have to say that I learned so much from the examples she presented. She spoke from the perspective of a juror who would be evaluating your work and I appreciated her honest and critical feedback. Wisdom from Kathleen: Every aspect of design should have evidence of decision making. There should always be some relationship between the finding and other elements.

I was quite excited about "Polymer Clay Blogging" with Cynthia Tinapple, Susan Lomuto, and Alison Lee. They each offered us their "top 10" tips and they were charming, witty, and wonderful, as always. From Cynthia: Know what you care about. Know your audience, respect your readers. Write simply and often, be authentic. From Susan: Bank your posts. Edit, edit, edit. Don't be afraid to make mistakes. From Alison: Be ready to stay up late. Be ready to give up American Idol. Restart is your friend.

"Dancing to your own MUSEic", presented by Robert Dancik, was a true eye-opener. I've taken a workshop from him before so, I knew he was fabulous but, I got SO MUCH out of his talk and his wonderful handouts. From Robert: Learn to relinquish control. When you're not in charge, it's freeing to you and you can be more creative.

I really admire Dayle Doroshow and I was looking forward to "Creative Sparks". She is the queen of simple creativity exercises designed to lead you down new and exciting paths. From Dayle: Take a universal symbol (such as a heart or a spiral) and see how many ways you can apply it. Her examples were wonderful and it was great fun to interact with all of the people who were sitting around you.

In yesterday's post, I asked for you to comment on the most bizarre thing you've ever used as an inclusion with polymer clay. So far, only one person has actually mentioned what they used and, although I'm sorry about what it did to her hands, I adore her sense of adventure. You have until 8 AM eastern standard time on Friday to share and don't forget, there's a prize involved here, people!

All-inclusive Polymer Clay

2008-03-04T09:54:00.024-05:00

A couple of years ago, while I was working on the book, Clay Techniques to Dye For, I became enamored with using inclusions in and on polymer clay. I blame Ranger Industries for part of this. They supplied me with some amazingly wonderful products that I'm still experimenting with. I can't wait to sample their new pigment inks. The colors are incredible! When the book was finished, I began to look at things other than powders, inks, and paints as a means to create organic effects in clay. The pendant shown above is one of my favorites and was made with a fusible metallic fiber used by quilters that was embedded into the clay before baking. The effect that you can get with this product is wonderful. I wish I had a better photo so you could so you could really see the depth of this piece.

Here's a pendant made with clay, paint, and dirt. There's lots of faux turquoise recipes out there. I think I combined bits and pieces of different ones to get the effect I wanted. These pieces are made from translucent clay combined with those little nonpareil things that you sprinkle on cupcakes and cookies. A little silly but fun!

And here's a surface technique that's one of my favorites. My local guild was meeting one evening to make beads using Gwen Gibson's shaving cream technique that was published a couple of years ago in Polymer Cafe. Since I didn't have any of the dyes that she used in her article, I spent several days experimenting with several inks, paints, etc. that I did have and came up with an effect that was really appealing to me. I include this variation of Gwen's technique in a workshop that I currently teach called "What's Hiding in YOUR Craft Room?" If any of the ladies from the Blue Ridge Polymer Clay Guild in Asheville are reading this, feel free to comment about what a wonderful time you had in that class! I don't want to divulge the name of the product that I used on these beads since I'm still teaching the class and a girl's gotta have SOME secrets. However, I did promise an article to Polymer Cafe and maybe an update on the shaving cream technique would be a good idea. Hmmm . . .

Okay, enough rambling from me! This is what I want from YOU . . . I want to know the most unusual or bizarre thing you've ever combined with polymer clay and what type of result you got. You can post this right here in the comments section and if you'd like, you can also leave a link to a photo so everyone can enjoy your glorious experiments. Don't be shy, one of you will be chosen at random to receive a bag of 20 pendant bails that I've recently started selling. You can see them here and used in other pieces throughout my Flickr site. And, if you have an extra 10 bucks burning a hole in your pocket, email me to purchase a bag of your own.

On a much more serious note, one of the most generous ladies in the polymer clay community is in the midst of dealing with something she describes as "every parent's worst nightmare". Please visit Ponsawan Sila's blog and send her your thoughts and prayers. My heart is breaking for her and her family.

A Wilder Side of Polymer Clay

2008-03-03T07:51:00.022-05:00

Dee Wilder must certainly be the class "overachiever" when she takes a workshop! She recently posted some photos of work she made in a week-long workshop taught by Mary Hettmansperger, a multi-media fiber artist, at the John C. Campbell Folk School. Dee's work is just impeccable and beautifully designed. I love how she's combined polymer clay with the waxed linen netting in this piece.

Her faux trilobite pendant makes me want to chuck the one that I've been working on right into the trash. I think she nailed this fabulously! She has a whole series of recursive beads which she learned from Grant Diffendaffer's wonderful book on her Flickr site, as well. She says they're addictive and I can certainly see why.

One of my favorite pieces is this bracelet which she calles a "triple mistake". Dee says, "My first reaction was to toss the beads, but I decided to stain them and give the disaster one more chance. I'm so happy I did. My polymer mistakes nearly always have happy endings."

And since I love a happy ending, this is a good place to stop.

How the Seeds of Synergy Were Sown

2008-02-29T20:47:00.033-05:00

Sorry for the delay in posting, it's taken me way too long to get back in the swing of things after last week! By now, I'm sure you've seen and read about many of the wonderful things that occurred in Baltimore. It goes without saying, although I'll say it anyway, that everyone who's a member of the NPCG owes our thanks to the board members and all of the volunteers for the tremendous amount of work that it took to make Synergy a reality. One of the things that I enjoyed most about the conference was listening to Lindly Haunani tell the story about how the NPCG was born. I'm a bit of a history buff and I loved getting the details from someone who was there from the beginning. And maybe, Lindly can be convinced to share the funny and fascinating talk she presented during the Synergy banquet on her blog sometime soon.

And now, if you're up for a long post, I have a story of my own to tell . . .

Sometimes, the stars line up just so and fate steps in and quietly opens the door to new and exciting possibilities. We're rarely aware of this as it's happening, but afterwards, when we think back on certain moments in our life, we realize just how magical they really were. When I arrived in Baltimore last week, I looked across the room and saw Robert Dancik (that's his gorgeous pendant in the photo) and I suddenly realized the actual origins of this conference.

In August 2006, Judy Belcher and myself were asked to teach a workshop for the Columbus Polymer Clay Guild. While we were there, we had dinner with Cynthia Tinapple and Hollie Mion. Hollie, an accomplished metal clay artist, offered to come to West Virginia and give both of us some lessons. When she arrived a few weeks later, she mentioned an exciting workshop that the Columbus Metal Clay Guild was hosting with Robert Dancik the following week. There were only a few spots left and after reading Robert's class description, both Judy and myself, along with our friend Marcia Laska, decided that we really wanted to attend. Marcia, who is Recording Secretary for the NPCG, had, a few days earlier, recruited Judy to run for President in the upcoming elections. We joked about the fact that Judy had volunteered me to serve as election coordinator several years ago and I had recruited Marcia (sorry, Marcia!) who in turn had recruited Judy. In the event that she ever regretted her decision to run, we made it perfectly clear that Judy had no one to blame but herself!

It just so happened that the weekend of Robert's workshop was also the same weekend that the Columbus Polymer Clay Guild was hosting a workshop with Maggie Maggio (her amazing pendant is shown above). Maggie was staying with Cynthia Tinapple and her husband Blair and they kindly invited Robert, Hollie, Judy, Marcia, and myself to dinner at their lovely home. The conversation during dinner eventually led to all of us discussing how to improve the NPCG. The deadline for entering the upcoming elections was less than 24 hours away and somehow, by the time the dishes were cleared away, we were all gathered excitedly around the computer cheering Maggie on as she completed the questionnaire which would allow her to add her name to the ballot for Vice-President. Afterwards, we enjoyed an exciting, impromptu drumming performance by Blair and Robert. It was a pleasant evening spent with wonderful people and, at the time, that's all it seemed to be.

When I saw Robert again in Baltimore, I immediately thought back to that night in September 2006 and I realized how many things had simply fallen into place during that time. Being a believer in serendipity, it's not a stretch for me to acknowledge that the events that brought all of us together that weekend had a "synergy" of their own. None of us realized that the tiny seeds that were being sown around Cynthia's table that night would grow into an event that would revitalize and strengthen the polymer clay community the way that Synergy has. Thank you Judy and Maggie for nourishing those little seeds so wonderfully!

And, my apologies to Cynthia, Susan, and Alison for breaking most, if not all, of the 30 blogging "rules" that I learned during your wonderful seminar with this one single post.

I'm off to get SYNERGIZED!

2008-02-19T23:41:00.005-05:00

I wanted to share the delightful work of mixed media artist Elsa Mora with you before I left. She's a Cuban born artist currently living in California. I'm enamored with everything she's doing. You can read more about her creative process on her blog and you can see more of her incredible artwork here.

I'll be back from the National Polymer Clay guild conference next week and I'll see you then!

Something Fishy's Going on . . .

2008-02-15T21:01:00.020-05:00

Tamara, of Block Party Press, is one of my favorite polymer artists. She designs wonderful pieces that have such a fresh, clean style. She recently posted a slideshow that explains a little of her process. Her fantastic designs are available on Etsy if you'd like to see more.

After seeing her fish, I decided to gather some photos together of a few of my favorite aquatic vertebrates made from polymer clay and share them with you. Some of the pictures are a little small but don't blame me!

Here's Leslie Blackford's "Always a Bigger Fish". What a face on this guy!

Jeanette Kandray of Columbus, Ohio started making these beautiful fish when she ended up with an overabundance of flower and leaf canes after taking workshops with Marla Frankenberg and Donna Kato. I have one of these in my collection and I have to say that the picture doesn't really do it justice.

Denise Baldwin has an online photo gallery that's one of my favorite places to visit when I want to look at fun and whimsical art. This fish is actually a rattle and I believe Denise makes some of her sculptures over burned out light bulbs. Her work is divided into several categories and all of it is wonderful. The most recent things showing up appear to be lampworked beads (also very beautiful) so I hope she hasn't decided to move on.

As much as I love fish, I don't think I've ever made one with polymer clay. I'll have to add that to my growing list of things I want to do. At the top? Find a great restaurant when I get to Synergy and have a wonderful salmon dinner with a baked potato and steamed asparagus. It's fuel for creativity!

Inspiration Abounding!

2008-02-13T16:18:00.000-05:00

I ran into a photo site yesterday called Every Stock Photo, which is basically a search engine for license-specific photos. It's nothing like Flickr or other photo sites I've visited. This site gathers photos from all over the web, including Flickr, and lists them in one place. You can do a search for almost anything you can think of and hundreds or thousands of images will come up, along with a link to view the photo where it was originally posted. There were just a few images listed under polymer clay but I was totally mesmerized by the shells, fossils, and stones. I see this as a wonderful source of future inspiration. Membership is free and allows you to rate, tag, collect and comment on photos. I've borrowed a few to share with you and I'm linking back to the photo site where I originally found them.

The photo above is avacado and rambutan. I had never heard of rambutan before so, in case you want some more information about this cool-looking fruit, click here.

This was, without a doubt, my favorite photo from yesterday's exploration. The color, the pattern, the texture . . . have any idea what it is? It's a Romanesco cauliflower! Of course, I've never seen one of these in West Virginia but, if any of you live in a real city , maybe you can tell me what they're like. It's almost freakishly beautiful! I don't even care what it tastes like but I'm sure it must be magnificent. I just want to spend hours and hours studying it. Does anyone know if there's a gourmet market anywhere near Synergy next week?

And here's one more special photo that I found just for you. I hope your Valentine's Day rocks!

Fresh from France

2008-02-12T09:46:00.000-05:00

I adore Flickr! It's a wonderful tool for those who have an interest in photography or artwork of any kind. I've "met" so many talented artists through this site. One of my newest contacts is Marie Guiderdoni of Paris, France. I had never seen her work until just a couple of days ago and I'm very impressed. Marie has been working with clay for only about three years but I can see that she has already developed a style and voice all her own. She's chosen to concentrate on color exploration and the use of metals and other media in conjunction with polymer clay.

Her work with rubber tubing is innovative and very nicely done. She also incorporates copper spheres into many of her pieces and oxidizes the copper with a blow-torch.

Her rings are a wonderful representation of her skill in combining different metals with the clay. I love the rich color and texture she's achieved with these. Her website is packed with wonderful images of her work and there's lots available on Flickr, as well.

On a completely different note, I decided it was time for a change and got about 7 inches cut off my hair last week. And, after years of begging from my youngest son, I caved in and allowed him to get a mohawk. His style is all about being different and I never thought I'd say this about a mohawk but, he looks really cute! Personally, I'm not feeling all that cute but, I love having short hair. So, in the spirit of change, I decided to add a translator to my blog and also clickable links to different subjects I've blogged about in the past. I'm not sure if this is the best translator available so I hope my tech-savvy readers will let me know if there's anything better out there. If all the labels are distracting or if you find them useful, I'd like to know that, too.

A Little Monday Morning Quarterbacking

2008-02-04T16:42:00.000-05:00

I know that the Superbowl took place yesterday. I live in a house that's teeming with testosterone so it's impossible not to be aware of things like that. But, that's not the kind of quarterbacking I'm talking about and, for the record, the next time I'll be watching any "entertainment" provided by the NFL will be a half-time show featuring Michael Vick hanging by his tiny testicles on the fifty yard line.

What I'm referring to in the title of this post is probably what happens to all of us at one time or another. You think a piece is finished and then you look at it again with new eyes and it's just not right for one or several reasons. If you're anything like me, you'll spend a large amount of time analyzing what went wrong. This business card case is a good example of that.

I took this out of the oven late Friday night. Maybe I was just overly tired or I had a momentary brain lapse but, I went to bed thinking it was finished. When I looked at it the next day, I wasn't happy with it at all. I went ahead and took a photo and continued to worry about where I went wrong with this piece. I disliked so many things about it. There were too many circles and they just seemed to be floating. The vertical line formed by the cane pieces was strong but the two pieces in the center near the wiggly stripes were not doing anything to create visual interest horizontally. They didn't even look like they belonged. The big lime green circles had no connection colorwise to the rest of the piece. And, there seemed to be too much "Skinner blending" going on and nothing that was standing out graphically other than the wiggly stripes. Luckily, with this type of piece, it's not impossible to fix some of your mistakes.

I don't think it's perfect but, it's much more pleasing to my eye now with just a couple of additions. The black and white circles helped fill in the gap and added a more bold and graphic element to the piece that was lacking. They also helped to pull those two cane slices that seemed to be floating off to the sides before, into the design, and framed the center cane slice to create more of a focal point. The addition of the flattened lime green pieces did several things. They helped complete the horizontal line, they related colorwise to the lime green circles I had already used, and they helped break up all the circles I had going on.

I don't consider myself a design expert by any stretch of the imagination but, by immersing myself in my mistakes on a regular basis, I've learned a lot. Whenever possible, I highly recommend taking advantage of the valuable learning opportunity that correcting your mistakes provides. This concept is applicable to NFL football players, as well.

Jaw-dropping, eye-popping work!

2008-02-02T10:27:00.000-05:00

I know I've been MIA recently. When I get in the claying zone, it's hard to get back into the writing zone. Hopefully, you've missed me terribly! I just had to share the work of Thomas Kuebler with you though. He and his immense talent reside in North Carolina. He spent a decade working in the robotics animation industry before deciding to follow his passion for creating these mostly life-size sculptures. His website is a treasure trove. Be sure and read his bio and "the reason" before you click on his gallery, or "results" page, as he likes to call it. He's a fascinating individual!
"Cletus and Shorty Playing Banjo" is probably my favorite. Each of his sculptures starts with a script or story and he includes this information, as well. His "results" page is divided into categories such as witches and wisemen, beggars and freaks, and charismatic characters. Trust me when I tell you to check out all of them - you don't want to miss a thing here!

I love "Madame Orba", who was born with a slight affliction as a result of her mother's unfortunate dalliance with the husband of a gypsy witch.

This sculpture started with an athletic tape incident in the men's locker room which resulted in "Myron Klinefelter's Revenge". His script is as wonderful as the resulting sculpture.

When asked about his process, this is what Kuebler answers: "Most professional artists have learned and/or developed trade secrets and techniques through schooling, labor, hard knocks and lots of personal expense. It is what makes their work their own. Asking an artist exactly how he/she created his/her art is much like walking up to a magician after the show and asking him to expose his illusions."

Applause for an answer that's probably unappreciated by some people! Not everything is meant to be shared and I, for one, am content to gaze upon the amazing art this man has created and enjoy the fact that it simply "is".

Be a Breast Cancer Warrior!

2008-01-29T21:08:00.000-05:00

Only one picture today but it's an important one. Dawn Barker, who lives in Texas (I think) is the creator of this fabulous bra. She used polymer clay, glitter, and mica powders to create discs which she's sewn to an existing bra. Dawn was asked to take part in a local breast cancer fund raising project and this beautiful piece, Warrior Armor, was her contribution. The participants, some are artists, some are breast cancer survivors, were asked to decorate bras which will be on display at various fund-raising events. Dawn's bra is dedicated to her favorite breast cancer survivor, her grandmother. Let this artwork serve as a reminder to all of us that breast cancer does not discriminate - it can affect anyone at anytime! Please remember to do monthly breast self-exams and get a mammogram when it's time. In addition to working with polymer clay, Dawn creates amazing mosaics and also works with silver. You can see more of her lovely work here.

Arabesque Canes on DVD

2008-01-26T15:25:00.000-05:00

I recently had the opportunity to watch the new polymer clay DVD from abba dabba Productions, Arabesque Canes, by Jana Roberts Benzon. Kaleidoscope-style canes are really popular and a lot of fun to make and, if you've been feeling a little intimidated by them, Jana's DVD is one of the closest things to an intensive hands-on workshop that you'll find. She offers clear, concise instruction and covers every step of the process in great detail. The exact amount of clay you'll need, the simple tools that make the construction of the cane much easier, great tips on how to pack your cane to prevent distortion, and Jana's unique reduction method - it's all covered here in more than two hours of quality instruction.

One of the things I enjoy most in any book or DVD are the little tips and tricks that are often unique to the artist or author and Jana has included lots of these, as well. I really enjoyed seeing her process and approach to building an intricate cane design. After viewing the DVD, I think it would be fairly easy for even beginning clayers to change up the colors and individual components of the cane to make something of their own design. Jana has shared her process in such a way that it can be adapted to each individuals own personal style and that's definitely a sign of a good teacher.

With Jana's blessing, I'd like to pass along this word of caution . . . In the past, I normally used a stiff blade and flexed it to cut curves in clay just as Jana does at one point in her DVD. But, a few months ago, one of mine literally exploded and broke into many jagged little pieces that flew across the room and over my head. Luckily, no one was injured but I did almost pee my pants. As much as I like the control of a stiff blade, I highly recommend that you bend only the flexible ones.

Congratulations, Jana, on your wonderful new DVD! I have a feeling there's going to be lots of beautiful "arabesque" canes popping up in the claying world!

Here's one more piece of lovely eye candy from Jana for your viewing enjoyment. And, don't forget that if you're planning to place a pre-order of the Krafty Lady art moulds for Synergy and take advantage of the opportunity to buy below retail cost and with zero shipping that I'll need your list by this Tuesday.

A Special Synergy Offer

2008-01-24T20:09:00.000-05:00

Several years ago, I tried the Krafty Lady Art Moulds from Australia and fell in love with them! These are, without a doubt, the best molds that I've ever used with clay. They're flexible, silicone-based molds that need no release agent and can be used with practically any art material you can think of. You can also bake both liquid clay and regular clay in them. I was so impressed with these molds that I've been selling them at workshops and retreats ever since. I'll also have them available at the upcoming Synergy Conference for the NPCG during vendor fair. The above photo is an incredible example of what you can do with these molds. This piece was made by my very talented friend Michelle Zimmerman, who used four different molds to create this amazingly cool piece of art. Michelle is a talented sculptor who is actually responsible for creating one of my favorite molds in the Krafty Lady line, the baroque torso, which now comes in three sizes. She's used the larger size in this piece which is now hanging in my studio.

This piece from Marla Frankenberg is another favorite using the baroque torso. I love the "tattooed lady" effect. And here are a few pendants I've made using the regular torso mold. This mold is available in a set containing both a front and a back but is also sold separately. I used only the front of the mold in these pieces.

There are hundreds of molds available and rather than show up with just a small variety to choose from, I've recently been offering the students in my classes the opportunity to pre-order exactly what they would like. I would like to make that same offer to those of you who are attending Synergy next month. Here's your chance to get the molds you'd like at a cost that's less than retail and with no shipping fees. All you need to do is to go to the website of After Midnight Art Stamps (the U.S. distributor of the molds) and send me the stock number and description of what molds you would like. For example, "AM 123 angel wings". The prices that you see on the site are what I'll be charging for those that send me their order by Tuesday, January 29th. I'll order the molds next week, pay the shipping and handling costs myself, and send you a total via e-mail before the conference. Simply bring a check or cash to the conference and you can pick up your molds from me during the vendor fair. There's no need to pay in advance and this offer is only valid for those who are attending the Synergy conference. For those who don't wish to pre-order, I'll also have a selection of molds available for purchase at the regular retail prices.

I've heard nothing but good things from people who've purchased the molds in the past so if you'd like to comment on them here, feel free to do so.

And, I'd like to say a special thank you to the wonderful members of the Orlando Polymer Clay Guild who attended my workshop this past weekend. This is the second time I've had the opportunity to share a classroom with this group and their kindness, generosity, and talent are simply incredible! I love you all! Their annual retreat, Orlando Clay Fandango (formerly known as Florida in February) is coming up March 13-17 and I believe there are just a few spaces left if you're interested.

Shameless Self-Promotion

2008-01-15T23:14:00.000-05:00

This is a "pigment of your imagination" and this is the class I'm teaching this coming Saturday for the Orlando Polymer Clay Guild. I'm actually combining business with pleasure this time and the wonderful members of the Orlando guild have set up an inexpensive, one-day class for me during my break from playing chaperon for my son's band trip. I just learned there were a couple of cancellations so, if you're in the area and would be interested in attending, get in touch with me right away and I'll give you more details. I recently taught this class in Las Vegas and it was so rewarding to see all of the beautiful pieces that everyone created with this extremely EASY, yet effective technique. This will be my last post until next week sometime but I just wanted to tell you that I have some fun things in the works, including a peek inside Jana Benzon's wonderful new DVD, Arabesque Caning. To see what else I've been working on recently, check out my Flickr site. I'm off to pack! Be fierce and creative!

Hidden Missives

2008-01-14T22:09:00.000-05:00

Jay King is a wonderfully talented stained glass artist from Arkansas who also happens to work with polymer clay. When I first saw all of his "faces", they disturbed me but, at the same time, I really liked what he was doing and was unable to look away. I was brave enough to write him a little note telling him about my reaction and he kindly replied that my reaction was exactly what he hoped to elicit with his work.

The more I look at these pieces, the more I like them. Some are a bit scary but I find them and the process he uses to make them quite interesting. This one, called Marid, is probably my favorite. George Washiguana and the Barnacle Encrusted Seadoll Skull are pretty amazing, as well.

Of his process, Jay says:

Most are remixes of other faces. Toys and figurines in thrift stores and antique malls provide the originals. I press molds whenever I find faces. The faces are quite small, varying in size from about a half an inch to one and half inches. Each polymer clay face I make is pressed partially into several molds. In addition to molds of faces, I also use molds of stones, wood, shell, nuts, and manmade objects of every sort. Faces are painted with acrylics and scanned. The images are then enhanced and tweaked on the computer.

If you're as intrigued as I am by Jay's artwork, you can see many more of his faces here on Flickr. The little stories and captions that he includes about each face are humorous and quite entertaining, although some of them are way over my head since I'm not a big science fiction fan.

I think I'd enjoy spending a day or two in Jay King's head. I'm guessing it's quite a fascinating place to be!

Spilling over with glee . . .

2008-01-11T16:54:00.000-05:00

. . . because so many of you had the right answers to the quiz I posted this past Tuesday! And, those of you who didn't have all the right answers only missed one or two. Excellent! Okay, here are the correct answers in order:

6. Laurie Mika

8. Grant Diffendaffer

9. Lindly Haunani

10. Jeffrey Dever

The name that was drawn as the winner of the Klew bead from all the correct entries was . . .

Donna Stein! And since she forgot to send me her mailing address, she better put on her most comfortable shoes and start walking if she wants to collect her bead!

If you have time to spare this weekend, spend some of it perusing through the websites of these talented artists. There's much to see and appreciate and learn from.

I have one more thing to end the week with. When I decided to start a blog, I knew immediately what I would call it. "Imagine Uncommon Things" is sort of the mantra that runs through my head and helps to keep me inspired. I recently came across a single sentence in Grant Diffendaffer's wonderful new book, Polymer Clay Beads, that I feel strongly compelled to share with everyone I know. It speaks volumes about inspiration, creativity, and the fearlessness to try new things. And, it says much about him as an artist.

From Grant: "Making something you have never imagined will greatly increase your ability to imagine things you have never made, and then go on to make them."

I could write for the next ten years and not come up with anything better than that.

The Canespinner

2008-01-09T08:40:00.000-05:00

If you've never seen the work of Maryland's Keith Brown, you're in for a major treat. He's recently added some new pieces to his gallery. These "Solomon Knot Pendants" are wonderful. I love his jewelry but, his tins are just as beautiful . It's impossible to pick a favorite!

Hmmm, Synergy is coming up soon and he lives close by . . . maybe we'll get to see his work in person. For those who love precision and geometric canes as much as I do, he has a number of very well written tutorials on his site as well. I think any one of these would be a wonderful addition to an upcoming issue of Polymer Cafe. If any of you know him, be sure you pass this not too subtle hint along.

Thanks for all of your emails regarding yesterday's contest. You still have the rest of the day to submit your guesses and be eligible for the drawing.

How Clay Savvy Are You?

2008-01-08T12:37:00.000-05:00

Are you ready to find out? There are so many wonderful artists out there working with polymer clay and if you've been paying attention, you know that many of them have a readily identifiable style. If you consider yourself a serious polymer clay aficionado, then you should have no trouble at all passing this simple test. Below are 10 pictures of some beautiful polymer clay work. All you have to do is send me an email with the names (both first and last) of the artists who created these lovely pieces. Spelling counts, so, if one of them happens to belong to Kim Cavender (which it doesn't, of course!), please don't refer to her as Kim Cadaver. Be sure and list the names in the order in which the pictures appear, as well. I'm not giving you any clues but if you can correctly identify the artists by name, you may win a Klew. Everyone who sends me the correct answers by midnight (Eastern time) on Thursday will be eligible to win a bead from my Klew collection because I firmly believe that sharing is a good thing. Please supply your mailing address with your entry because it's a long walk to West Virginia if you have to pick it up in person. And since I have no employees, EVERYONE is eligible to play one time. The winner of the bead will be chosen from a random drawing of all the correct entries and I'll post the names of the very talented artists shown here on Friday. If no one correctly identifies all of the artwork in these photos, I'll be very sad! Good luck and have fun!

New Beginnings

2008-01-07T21:53:00.000-05:00

Seven years ago, a wonderful couple named Joan and Mike Clipp took a giant leap of faith and dedicated themselves to creating a brand-new magazine called Polymer Cafe. The odds were definitely against them. It's almost unheard of for an independent magazine to survive more than a year or two and to have one thrive and be purchased by a major publisher is a wonderful testament to the Clipps' dedication and hard work. When Scott Publications took over the magazine, Joan agreed to stay for a while as editor. But now, she and Mike are ready to start a new chapter in their lives and the editorial reins are being handed over to one of my favorite people, Connie Donaldson. Connie is a past president and co-founder of the Pittsburgh Polymer Clay Guild and a talented and accomplished polymer clay artist. Many of you might remember her gorgeous butterfly wreath that graced the cover of Polymer Cafe's Spring 2004 issue (please ignore the remnants of my address label in this scan). She's been a technical writer and editor for about 30 years and began her career by editing refueling manuals for nuclear submarines until, she says, "I could feel the edges of my brain begin to curl up and die". Two years ago, she temporarily packed up her clay and returned to grad school. Connie received an MA in Counseling Psychology from Waynesburg University 6 months ago. For information on her fascinating work as a workshop facilitator in Family Constellation Work, you can check out her website here.

When I spoke with Connie last week, her enthusiasm and expectations for Polymer Cafe's future were so inspiring and exciting that I wanted to share her words with all of you.

Beauty, beauty, beauty! I honestly believe that we humans have a physical—not just a psychological or spiritual—need for beauty in our lives. We all need to experience it to be fully alive. The lucky ones among us also get to create it, and the really fortunate among us get to share it. That’s one of my goals for the magazine: to have every issue contain something wondrous, something well crafted, something that makes a person stop for a moment and forget the regular cares of the day.

I plan to find artists who are creating beauty with clay and give them a forum—to teach or simply to share—the beauty that can be created in clay. I’m looking forward to working with artists who may be a little shy about writing an article, but who create interesting work. We’ll work together to make it into an article.

I also want to share with newcomers the amazing heritage we have from the previous generation of clay artists. We’re so lucky. Polymer clay and its sister, precious metal clay, are relatively new mediums in this country. Many of the pioneers in the field are still creating and innovating. We have the opportunity to learn from them—not just techniques, but, the spirit that has kept them working with this material for decades.

I owe a huge debt to the National Polymer Clay Guild and to many of the local guilds. I want to repay it by having the magazine serve guilds as well as individuals. I’m very open to suggestions about how to best do this.

As you can see, Polymer Cafe's new editor has some wonderful things in store for us. But wait, there's more scoop to share! Scott Publications has made the decision to publish Polymer Cafe SIX times a year! All the details regarding these changes will be in the upcoming issue and, I'm hoping that many of the wonderfully talented artists whose work I've seen online and at classes and retreats will give some serious consideration to submitting articles and photographs of their work to the magazine. Polymer Cafe is the only publication that's dedicated to this wonderful material that we love so much and it's up to all of us to submit articles, images and ideas that will help keep the magazine's pages fresh and inspiring. Connie's first deadline is coming up in just a couple of weeks, so don't drag your feet! Contact her right away if you have an article you'd like to share. You can find information on submission guidelines here.

I'm so very grateful to Joan and Mike Clipp for their dedication and hard work over the past seven years and, for having the vision to start a magazine dedicated to polymer clay. I know it wasn't always an easy road to travel and I admire them so much for sticking with it. I wish Connie Donaldson much success with her new position and I look forward to seeing her wonderful ideas come to life in the pages of Polymer Cafe.

Ringing in the New Year . . .

2007-12-31T12:08:00.000-05:00

. . . with brand-new work! What better way to welcome 2008 and say goodbye to 2007 than to share wonderful new work from some talented polymer clay artists. This floral brooch from Natalia García de Leániz of Spain is a lovely riot of color and pattern. I'm a big fan of Natalia's work and I love to see how it constantly evolves into something new. I can't put a label on what she does but, the lovely colors, patterns, and textures are always a constant. To see more beautiful new work from this talented lady, be sure to check out her website, as well.

Marcia Palmer, who lives in Georgia, just shared this wonderfully textured ginkgo pendant with what she calls a "faux patina". I love the verdigris look on this piece. I always enjoy the earthy, organic, and textured pieces I see from Marcia. She just listed this piece on her Etsy shop if you love it as much as I do.

A few days ago, I posted some images of new work from Ford and Forlano. Ponsawan Sila was inspired by their new patterns and colors and she just sent me a photo of her latest work. I love how Ponsawan is so unafraid to jump in and work with whatever inspires her and she definitely has an eye for pattern and color. These new pieces that she calls "reverse batik" are wonderful.

She has a site for sharing many of her methods and also a store on Etsy.

My oldest son is having some friends over for a small New Year's Eve party tonight and that's really about all the excitement I can handle this year. I'm grateful my kids will be safely at home where I can keep an eye on them. I wish all of you a happy and creative New Year!

Korringa's Clay Dogs

2007-12-28T15:55:00.000-05:00

As you probably know if you've read my blog before, I'm pretty fond of dogs. Judy Dunn made a post about dogs on her blog recently that inspired me to get out my box of polymer clay eye candy and share one of my favorite treasures with you. This fabulous pin was made by the hugely talented Kim Korringa of California. In addition to all that talent, she's really a nice and beautiful lady, as well. When it comes to canework and working with color, Kim's talent really shines. And, as far as I'm concerned, her realistic canes, such as these dog faces, are some of the most amazing I've ever seen. The shading and the details that Kim includes in much of her canework make it almost impossible to believe they were done with clay and not paint. Simply incredible work! It looks like Kim's website has been updated since the last time I visited. In addition to some new work I've never seen before, she has some cool pictures of her studio and a tutorial on how she makes her fabulous fish canes, You can also check out her Crafter's Coast to Coast dragonfly tutorial here. I love these new holiday pins I found on her website, especially that adorable penguin. Her talent and creativity are truly an inspiration. Have a productive and happy weekend, my friends!

As the Color Wheel Turns . . .

2007-12-27T20:30:00.000-05:00

Ford & Forlano have some things showing up on Seattle's Facere Gallery site and on their website that color wise, are much brighter and bolder then what I've seen from them in the past few years. This "Square Wheel Brooch" is lovely and I'm glad I finally realized that it's not a bracelet as I originally thought. I couldn't figure out how anyone was going to wear it comfortably as a bracelet because it's NOT a bracelet, it's a brooch! I believe I may have brain damage from the massive amounts of sugar in all the peanut butter fudge I've enjoyed during the past few days. Hopefully, it's not permanent.

This "Blue Char Pin" is quite a departure from most of their work, at least when it comes to color and pattern. I love the distressed colors and the flowing lines that lead your eye through the piece. Truly, a beautiful and elegant piece of jewelry!

This "Multi Bubble Necklace" is another piece that appears to be fairly new. Great colors that are still somewhat muted and subdued but are also all over the color wheel. It's hard to work successfully with this many colors. I'd love to see this piece in person. I'm betting it's quite stunning .

I adore muted and earth tone colors but, I also feel the same way about bright colors. I find myself working with a group of colors for quite a while and then getting a little tired of them and wanting to move on. Of course, color choices can depend on what we're making, the season, and the mood or feeling we're trying to evoke but sometimes, I pick my colors first and then decide what to make. I'm not much of a color trend watcher, although maybe I should be! What about you? How do you pick your colors? Do you follow the trends or let the piece speak to you? And what do you think about these brighter colors from Ford & Forlano? Are the colors working well with the organic forms these artists usually favor? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

The Day After

2007-12-26T09:34:00.000-05:00

Here's hoping that all of you had a wonderful holiday! I'm looking forward to taking down the tree this week and cleaning up all the mess that Christmas seems to leave behind. I've got lots of wonderful things to share with you in the next few days so be sure and visit again soon. Meanwhile, here's a couple of photos of Jackson (Santa) and Baxter (the elf) trying hard to stay off the "naughty list." Besides opening most of the presents under the tree well in advance of Christmas, they've been surprisingly well-behaved the last couple of weeks. Ever the optimist, I'm convinced they must be plotting bigger and better mischief and mayhem for the upcoming new year!

Bad Santa!

2007-12-24T09:56:00.000-05:00

How best to traumatize small children? Force them to have their picture taken with Santa Clause, of course! My friend Marla Frankenberg sent me a funny email that contained these pictures and many others and it made me wonder why we force our children to sit on the lap of a bizarrely-dressed stranger when they obviously want no part of it.

There are exceptions, of course. My oldest son was never afraid of Santa. He's 17 years old now and I'm sure he'll love me for this but, here's a photo of Daniel when he was 8 months old sitting on Santa's lap for the first time. We literally had to pry him away from the jolly old elf. He adored him! I remember this day like it was yesterday. Hope you're all making wonderful memories this year and having a fantastic holiday!

The Nightmare Before Christmas

2007-12-20T09:07:00.000-05:00

I'm not talking about shopping, decorating, baking, or schnauzers who eat the wrapping paper off all of your packages, although, those things can definitely be a nightmare. I'm referring to Tim Burton's wonderful 1993 film. It's hard to believe it's been that long since we first met Jack Skellington. What a character! His image is available on clothes, shoes, personal accessories, toys, home decor, and just about anything you can think of. He seems to get more popular every year. Not surprisingly, Jack is showing up in polymer clay, as well. Elisa, from Spain, is definitely a Tim Burton fan. She has some wonderful photos on Flickr of her polymer clay work. Look for the photos of her leaf and acorn people, too. What sweet faces!

David Kracov, a licensed sculptor for Disney and Warner Brothers has done this fantastic sculpt of Jack in his Santa costume.

And here's a simple little polymer pendant stained with India ink from Virginie of Quebec, Canada. I found this in her Etsy shop.

Besides a fondness for Nightmare, I love all the Tim Burton/Johnny Depp collaborations. My weekend plans include a visit to the local cinema to see Sweeney Todd. What better way to forget about all the Christmas madness than to spend a couple of hours in the dark with the demon barber of Fleet Street? I confess that I've been feeling a bit "grinchey" lately, so, to do my part in spreading holiday cheer, here's a little silliness I took part in after receiving an online greeting from the wonderfully talented Scott Mizevitz, who, btw, makes a much cuter elf than I do. I'm sure you'll be quite impressed by my dancing abilities, though. I had no idea I could move like that!

What's new, pussycat?

2007-12-14T00:00:00.000-05:00

Sorry, I couldn't resist that title since I'm a closet Tom Jones fan. However, I love the Red Hot Chili Peppers more than any reasonable person should so making assumptions about my taste in music will only lead you to chaos and confusion. Since the world has enough of that right now, let's talk about clay and cats. Evidently there's a connection between the two since cat hair "inclusions" seem to be mentioned pretty frequently on pc message boards. Personally, I'm not a cat person but I do like other peoples'. One of my favorites was made by a very talented guild member of mine here in West Virginia, Chris Henry. This is actually a bottle of hope and I love the deco feel to it.
Judy, of Artsy Clay in North Carolina, makes some fun and quirky jewelry pieces and cats are a recurring theme in her work. She has an Etsy store, as well. I thought this guy was great and I love his bored and slightly disgusted expression.

This polymer clay toy made by Klara Kubesova of the Czech Republic brought back memories. I remember having a toy similar to this as a child. Klara works in lots of different media and polymer clay is just one of the many things she enjoys. She has a tutorial on her website showing how she put this little collapsible cat together. Very clever!

A few months ago, I had the pleasure of visiting the enormously talented Jeanne Rhea in her home in North Carolina. She's created a diorama, which is an ongoing project, called "Cat-tharsis" and it's one of my most favorite pieces of polymer clay artwork. The details in this work are simply incredible and Jeanne's remarkable sense of humor shines through loud and clear. She explains her motivation for this piece and includes lots of detailed photos of the more than 100 cats included in the work here on her website. Be sure and check out the lava lamp filled with floating cat heads and the great cat clock. Jeanne is one of those people who are truly born to be an artist and it was an incredible experience to view her artwork in person! Be sure to check out her Etsy site to purchase a piece of work from this talented lady.

Have a wonderful and creative weekend!

A Rockin' Art Doll!

2007-12-12T22:20:00.000-05:00

I feel like I've been swimming in a sea of sludge for the last week or so and I can't seem to kick this Vegas crud that I brought home with me but when I saw this fantastic doll from Gera Scott Chandler of British Columbia, Canada, I perked up more than a bit. I first saw Gera's wonderful work in an old issue of PC Polyzine (unfortunately, I wasn't able to access it in their archives) and I've been a fan ever since. Living where she does, it's not surprising that she takes inspiration from the shores of Vancouver Island. How wonderfully lucky she is to be able to go for a walk and enjoy all of the amazing beach pebbles that wash up along the shore. That's truly my idea of a good time! I'm thinking I'd love a skirt like this of my own. I'm aware it wouldn't be too comfortable sitting down but I'd be willing to stand for a skirt made of rocks.

Here's a close-up of more fantastic beach pebbles from Gera. Enjoy her blog and be sure and check out more wonderful work from this talented lady here.

And, since we're sort of on the subject of Canada, I just wanted to say that I adore the Canadian clayers! Several of them attended the Clay Carnival in Las Vegas this month and they were so much fun. A special hello to my friends Barb Alexander, Deborah Groom, Mona McRae, Sam Mitchell, and Vickie Turner. There's a lot of talent north of the border, eh?

A Pigment of My Imagination

2007-12-09T14:37:00.000-05:00

Another Clay Carnival has come and gone. As always, there's much anticipation and work leading up to it and so much to do when we arrive in Las Vegas. But then, seeing all the familiar faces and a few new ones, as well, and reconnecting with all of these wonderful ladies that I feel such a closeness to, made the long hours seem like nothing at all. The weekend just flew by and I wish I could find a way to bottle the enthusiasm, the excitement, and the wonderful attitudes that they bring to the Clay Carnival every year. Each and every one of them mean so very much to me!

My class was called "A Pigment of Your Imagination" and the photo above is one of my favorite pieces that I've made with this technique. All of the students in my classes made wonderful pendants and beads and I was so impressed with their beautiful work. I always feel like I come away from these classes so enriched with new ideas and enthusiasm. It's truly an honor to spend time in a classroom with so many kind, funny, generous and talented individuals.

I also came away from Las Vegas with a nasty flu bug that I'm still trying to recover from. Hopefully, I'll be back to normal soon and blogging on a more regular basis. Until then, peace to all!

Where ARE the wild things, anyway?

2007-11-28T18:00:00.000-05:00

Las Vegas, of course! I'm heading out to Sin City today, along with almost 100 other wild and crazy polymer clay fanatics to teach at the Clay Carnival workshop. Unfortunately, I won't be able to bring my laptop with me since I have way too many things to haul on the plane. Wah! But, I'll be back in about a week and I'll see you then. Wish me luck on those nickel slot machines!

The Perfection of Pixiwillow

2007-11-27T16:24:00.000-05:00

I recently happened upon the site of Michelle Bradshaw, who creates some of the most amazing fantasy art sculpture I've ever seen. Pixiwillow is the name of her business and it encompasses her interest in faeries, pixies, storybook characters, and other assorted creatures, many of them covered in fur.

This Mad Hatter sculpture is part of her series, "Wonderland Asylum". Be sure to check out Alice, the Cheshire Cat, and the March Hare when you visit her site.

This sculpture, called "Letting Go" is one of my favorites. Michelle says she gets inspiration from "a story, a comment or expression, a walk in the woods, a dream or circumstance, a title, etc . . .". Simply incredible work!

And then, there's Wednesday Addams, one of my favorite TV characters, after the lovely Lily Munster, of course. Looking at Michelle's work, it seems even more amazing knowing that she's basically self-taught and has only been sculpting these fantasy art pieces for about five years.

This piece, titled "Selkie & Seal" is so realistic, I keep expecting one of them to move at any second. I had no idea what a selkie was but after seeing this, I had to find out. According to the Encyclopedia Mythica, "the shy Selkies are marine creatures in the shape of a seal. They can be found near the islands of Orkney and Shetland. A female can shed her skin and come ashore as a beautiful woman. When a man finds the skin, he can force the Selkie to be a good, if somewhat sad, wife. Should she ever recover the skin, she will immediately return to sea, leaving her husband behind." I think that would make a great movie!

This wonderful little mouse, inspired by the mice in the movie Cinderella, is sculpted from polymer clay and then covered with fur of some sort. What a cute little guy and so amazingly life-like!

If you've fallen in love with Michelle's work the way I have, then you'll want to watch this incredible slideshow of her artwork set to beautiful, haunting music from Lord of the Rings. Michelle says her goal with her art is to "give her creations spirit and soul." She's definitely accomplished that and so much more with her realistic, breathtaking sculptures.

What's in a name?

2007-11-26T13:09:00.000-05:00

After reading a funny comment left by my talented friend Christie of Dragonfly Lane last week (actually, there were two comments and you can read them here), I decided to share a double top secret with everyone who reads this blog. I have an evil twin named Kim Cavendar. As you can see, she really exists. You can Google her for yourself if you don't believe me. She's very sneaky and does her best to confuse people by spelling her last name a little differently than mine. Here she is, in a rather unflattering photo, at my book signing last year during CHA for North Light books. She looks a little like me but, she spells her name with an "ar" at the end, instead of an 'er".

If you've ever confused the two of us yourself, it's not a big deal. You're in good company. Polymer Cafe has made the mistake several times (love you, Joan!) and even my own publisher, North Light, has fallen victim to her spell, as you can see.

Her lesser known doppelganger, Kim Cavenaugh, has also done her best to wreak havoc. She's taken credit for a clock I made for Carol Duvall, which was shown on HGTV's tour of Carol's studio, and, she appeared with Carol on a live segment of Shop at Home TV. She's shown up for CHA proudly wearing her very own name badge, as well.

And then, there's Kim Clavender, aka Kim Clavicle or Miss Clav to her friends like Lisa Pavelka. She managed to get her work printed in The Polyinformer a few years ago. Perhaps that was my fault for telling people that "Cavender" was spelled like "lavender", only with a "C" in the front.

So, how do you remember how to spell my name? Actually, you really don't have to worry about it since I answer to just about anything now. But, if you're interested, here's my latest idea. Kim Cavendar is "ar, matey", like a mean and nasty pirate. Kim Cavender is "er, um . . ." , like someone who doesn't know what else to say, and that would be me.

Things To Be Thankful For . . .

2007-11-21T22:32:00.000-05:00

I honestly didn't have an agenda when I began writing this blog. It's just something I felt compelled to do, mostly, I guess, because I love to write. I had serious doubts about even being able to figure out HOW to make my words show up here after I typed them. That part wasn't as hard as I'd thought although, I still have no idea how to do thousands of other things that would probably make this a more interesting place to visit.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that I had no expectations about what I would gain from this experience, other than providing another creative outlet for myself, and I've been so pleasantly surprised by what I've received. My giant paycheck from Bloggers International has yet to arrive (I'm sure they've just misplaced my address) but I've learned so much and have had an opportunity to share some interesting things with some wonderful people I may otherwise never have "met".

I've received such nice e-mails from people thanking me for sharing something I've found during my Internet travels and pointing me to many other interesting things to see and do. And, the comments left by everyone have been such an added bonus. I'm so thankful to each of you for taking the time out of your day to reply to what I've posted. I'm still trying to get used to the fact that people are actually reading this blog!

The artwork I've seen from so many of you has enriched my creative spirit so much and I'm grateful that you post your photos and share your talent with the rest of the world. I hope I've provided something in return for all that I've received. I feel a bit guilty for enjoying this so much!

So, in addition to all my other blessings, I just want you to know that I'm thankful for all of you and for the wonderful things you've done to make this journey into blogging so much fun for me. I hope each and every one of you has a Thanksgiving filled with turkey, pumpkin pie, and my mom's delicious noodles and scrumptious cranberry salad. Okay, that's not too likely, I know. So, I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving filled with all of your favorite people and good things to eat and that you find much to be thankful for.

MORE Pattern Magic!

2007-11-20T14:10:00.000-05:00

Yesterday's post dealt with making controlled patterns using the technique of mokume gane but I just couldn't resist hitting on this again after seeing some new work by one of my favorite polymer clay artists. Californian Julie Picarello concentrates her creative energies on making incredibly beautiful mokume beads in delicious colors and controlled, well-planned patterns. She puts a lot of thought into her jewelry design and her work is always beautifully finished.

This "lazy river" bead is one of her newest pieces. I adore the wire coils and the washers she used in the construction of the necklace. These components echo the colors in the clay and the pattern, as well. So clever and so perfect with this lovely bead!

And then she's got a "carnival" series she's developed with these bright and happy colors. Her use of negative space in this dimensional focal bead is fantastic. I love to see an artist utilize negative space in their design and Julie is a master at this!

No post about Julie would be complete without showing this amazing black and silver necklace, my all-time favorite Picarello piece. The different bead shapes work together so well and I see both symmetry and asymmetry going on here, which makes me hysterically happy. It's wonderfully balanced without being too "matchy-matchy". Perfection on a silver string!

Julie sells her work on her website and you can see more photos on her Flickr site. I'm putting in my order right now, Julie. I don't care if I have to wait until this time next year, I need a Picarello!

The Magic of Pattern

2007-11-19T09:26:00.000-05:00

Our eyes love a pattern! There are countless ways to achieve pleasing patterns in polymer clay through canework and surface design techniques. Mokume gane, traditionally a technique used in Japanese metalworking, is one of the most effective ways to achieve an interesting pattern in polymer clay. I've seen a lot of very controlled patterns recently using a variation of mokume gane, achieved by impressing a stack of multi-colored clay and slicing off thin layers from the top to reveal the design. This is a wonderful variation on the more organic mokume patterns that I've always been so fond of.

Rebecca Geoffrey of Ontario, Canada is doing some beautiful work with her version of this technique. She uses simple designs in her jewelry and lets the wonderful patterns that she creates take center stage. Her pendants are a great example of crisp, clean finishing and a nice use of color. You can find her work for sale on Etsy.

A Multi-Talented Mixed-Media Artist

2007-11-16T07:48:00.000-05:00

Eva Buchala, from San Antonio, Texas is a talented mixed-media artist with an interest in bookbinding, doll making, and jewelry. She works mainly with polymer clay but keeps her options open - there are other materials out there!

Eva's interest in researching ancient cultures and history is apparent in the work she creates. This Mixtec snake ring is a wonderful example of how she's translated her passion for ancient Mexico to her artwork.

This faux leather pendant scroll is an unusual piece that really appeals to me. You can see several views of this on her Flickr site and get an idea for how it was constructed. I love that she managed to combine her passion for bookbinding with a wearable piece of art.

Sally Ann Burbank, the bubblegum girl, is one of the fun characters she's brought to life in her art dolls. Eva's work is available on Etsy.

Have a wonderful and productive weekend!

My Namesake Pendant

2007-11-15T07:36:00.000-05:00

After doing updates and installation on my computer yesterday, I finally had a little time to poke around the Internet last night. I visited the site of Jana Roberts Benzon and could hardly believe my eyes! As some of you may know, I have a fetish for the color lime green, which I'm convinced is "the new neutral". More specifically, I love what I like to call "dirty lime green". This gorgeous pendant that Jana recently made is called the "Kim Cavender" pendant. Unlike me, it's perfect in every way! I adore those stripes and the black and grey colors she used with this yummy green. I'm thrilled to have something so beautiful share my name. Thank you, Jana, for thinking of me.

After I got over the shock of seeing "my" pendant, I scrolled down the page to see what else was new and found this wonderful "plumage" pendant. Jana made some small pieces last year for a swap in this same style and I'm so glad she's decided to make more. These pieces are incredibly seamless and perfectly smooth, except for the dimensional bits that she adds. I really like the feeling of movement these pieces have.

But ,there's even more "wow" work to share from Jana! These new pieces that she's added the slightly variegated wood grain look to are amazing. I really like the addition of the more "solid" elements in these pieces. I think it gives your eyes a place to rest and makes her beautiful canework really pop. I also love the fact that she's used colors that are a bit brighter in these newer pieces.

I really believe that these pendants are some of the best things she's done. It's not always easy to incorporate new design elements or colors into your "signature" pieces but Jana has accomplished that beautifully and flawlessly with her latest work.

Good news! She has a DVD coming out any day now so be sure to check her website for ordering info and availability.

Hamsa Mania!

2007-11-13T16:33:00.000-05:00

The Israeli polymer clay community is growing by leaps and bounds and the talent in that country is just astounding. I showed you Ronit's lovely work yesterday and she's just one of the many Israeli artists I've met online since I began posting photos on Flickr. I'm fascinated by the cultural influences that artists incorporate into their work and I love how those influences show up in the work of the clayers from Israel. They have an incredible sense of color and design and an ability to successfully combine lots of different patterns into a single piece of artwork

I've fallen in love with the incredible hamsas they make, which are considered to be signs of protection that ward off evil and can lead to good fortune and personal well-being. I have this wonderful lime green hamsa by Tania Damache-Podoleanu hanging beside the door of my studio and it's kept me safe for the last year or so. It's even more incredible in person!

What I enjoy so much about these symbols is that each one is so unique. Not just the embellishments or the designs used to decorate them but the actual shapes as well. Sagit designed this "octopus" hamsa which I love. What a wonderful use of color! Her work can also be found on Etsy.

There are so many amazing hamsas being shown by these wonderful ladies that I can't resist sharing just a couple more with you. This one by Angela is another favorite. A lot of her work looks like crewel embroidery and it's different than anything I've seen before. Very fresh and once again, a fabulous sense of color and design.

And I had to include this beauty from Eti Raz . I love the different layers and textures she's incorporated in her design and the big blue eye meant to warn off evil.

I hope to travel to Israel one day and meet all of the talented polymer clay artists who live there but, until then, I'm available for a hamsa swap any time you're ready, ladies. I don't think there's any such thing as too many hamsas. So drop me a line, okay?

A Master of Color and Canework

2007-11-12T09:26:00.001-05:00

Orange Flower Cane
Originally uploaded by Ronit golan

Israel's Ronit Golan is an amazing artist. Her use of color and pattern combine to make her work identifiable and incredibly special. The wonderful relationship she has with color helps to guide her creative process. She says that "Color is everything. When working with color I feel it by breathing it unconsciously. When I combine some colors together I feel my breathing, if it smooth - then the colors are balanced, if it stops - then there is no balance."

I love this idea she had for wrapping one of her flower canes. By dividing the background color , she ended up with two beautiful canes that are related yet still very different due to the cool blue and the warmer green colors she used to pack the cane with.

Ronit's Flickr site is full of hundreds of beautiful and inspiring photos of her work. It's easy to get lost in all the magic so give yourself some time to savor it all.

She says that, for her, the "creation process is like a romantic comedy movie - it always has a happy ending." And, I'm sure you'll agree, a beautiful one, as well!