All Entries in the "Techniques" Category

merci beaucoup!

Last week I wrote about this interesting technique by Violette Laporte. She was kind enough to translate the instructions for ‘Vio’s Secret’ so that all of her American friends have a full understanding of the steps and Parole de Pate matched that kindness by posting the translation on the French blog. This is a big help to those of us who were studying the pictures and guessing at the instructions. Merci beaucoup!

You can find the translation here.

violette’s polymer clay secret

I’ve always loved this polymer clay piece by Violette LaPorte and I wondered how she did it. Now Violette tells all to Parole de pate – you can read her how-to here. Of course I can’t read one word of it because it is in French, but the pictures are enough to give me a good idea of the process. Perhaps one of our French friends will help us out?

jeanne rhea’s polymer clay

Jeanne Rhea has a FANTASTIC, I said FANTASTIC new tutorial on her website. Rhea’s ‘Line Ladies’ pictured here are all polymer…wait until you see how she does it! You can find out how to make your own right here.

Thanks for your generosity Jeanne – what a great idea!

if you build it they will come

at the end of june i had the pleasure of traveling to philadelphia to attend dan cormier and tracy holmes’ ‘building better beads’ workshop.

they built it and we came: hosted by the philadelphia polymer clay guild, students came from maryland, new jersey, pennsylvania and new york. by the end of the weekend we left with notebooks and heads filled with information to keep us on the learning curve for months.

beneath dan’s laid back, canadian-ease style and dry sense of humor, artist meets engineer meets master of precision. setting the bar higher, first for himself and then again for his students, cormier showed us why attention to detail and an unwavering commitment to be the best craftsman(woman) we can be is the goal to strive towards.

pictured here are student’s beads-in-progress. in this workshop the emphasis was on construction. the design of the bead surface took a back seat to how to make the bead sturdy, lightweight, highly functional and finished to perfection.

cormier and holmes’ partnership is rich and seamless. dan demonstrated and explained the steps, while tracy moved in and out of the picture to clarify a point or further define a technique element. this tag-team approach adds a unique and interesting dimension to the multi-layered educational experience. as they cruised through the information intense agenda, their never-skip-a-beat high fives when one of them hit on an idea was only one indication that the collaboration works. and it works well.

a much larger illustration of this glorious collaborative effort is cormier and holmes’ best work yet: 3 year old griffin. as many of you already know he steals the show. naturals in the parenting department, it was a joy to watch them as mom and dad to the charming, engaging griffin. with an angelic expression on his face, their little helper took great delight in passing out the small boxes that held gifts of clay donated by polymer clay express. watch out dan – griffin might take over sooner than you think!

if cormier ever decides to switch careers he would do well as a comedian. his dry, quick wit elicited more than a few laughs and kept things moving along. in the meantime, i’m happy that he’s teaching – the workshop is brilliant. watch this space for a future post about ‘dan the artist’ and why i think this workshop is critical to the well being of the medium.

a cormier and holmes’ website/blog is coming soon and i am sure it will tantalize us with powerful artwork; amuse us with the stories and anecdotes that have traveled with the couple on this lifejourney and give us a standard to live up to.

thanks again to the the philly guild and to guild member martha aleo for the pictures. thanks also to robin milne, president of the new jersey guild, for photos of the student’s work.

brock lee in the wall

it’s friday. i’m wiped out. i helped my daughter move this week in rainy, humid july heat (as though my own recent move wasn’t enough to tucker me out…and i’m not even fully unpacked yet). i think i’m getting too old for this. but never too old to laugh! and that’s just what i did when i found this tutorial for how to make ‘brock lee in the wall’ get it? brock lee. broccoli. brock lee.

in addition to his music, singer songwriter owen klaas has a whole collection of amusing polymer clay sculptures and framed art online.  check out more of his sculptures here.

have a good laugh while i head out the door for the two hour drive home.  then i’ll be taking a nap.

the now infamous brock lee…

50/5 beads

ponsawan challenged herself to make 50 different beads using only 5 colors of clay.  no two the same. as you can see by the picture below, she was up to the challenge.  now she wants to know if you are up to the same challenge.  i want to know too – c’mon people – ponsawan has made it easy by providing a how-to on her tutorial blog.  check it out and start rolling!

the reducerator

he also has a new blog and a tutorial that explains his method for wrapping beads on steel rods . i’ll be watching – i think he has plans for a tutorial explaining how to make the cutting tool he uses to mass produce tube beads. great information from one of the best!

marzipan? polymer clay?

marzipan, polymer clay – what’s the difference? ok, ok, i know – you CAN NOT eat polymer clay, but for crafting purposes they sure seem similar. when i saw this tutorial for a marzipan yarn ball and knitted scarf i thought it looked a lot like polymer clay.

and just look at what she did with her ‘knitting’!

knitting is SO big – so, so big – i’m surprised i don’t see more knitting related items made from polymer clay. you know what i’m talking about. who is doing for knitters what jennifer patterson does so beautifully for quilters?

deryn mentock: something sublime

check out something sublime for a terrific tutorial on how to make ear wires. i’m a newcomer to metal/wire. i just started my first class last week (alison lee is teaching at roca – she’s great!) so this tutorial is a wee bit over my head, but i’ve got it bookmarked.

i particularly like what mentock did with the wires here – love the concept of the text for the earrings.

the tutorial has lots of pictures, clear explanations and for newbies like me, definitions of the tools used to make the ear wires. nicely done!

amy fraser’s work in progress

over the last few months i’ve watched new hampshire’s amy fraser grow her exalted beauty medallion collections. a talented painter, fraser brings her two dimensional art to life with these polymer clay pendants.

in the last year and a half she has made more than 1,600 medallions. each collection has a theme which she uses, along with a color palette, as the starting point for these miniature works of art. i became aware of fraser’s work when she took her blog readers on a wonderful journey, discussing the process for her botanical collection: looking for inspiration, drawing the illustrations, eliminating some of the drawings and finally translating selected drawings into the polymer clay botanical collection. you can find lots of links to that process here.

pictured above are before and after pictures of her floral medallion collection (not to be confused with the previously mentioned botanical collection!) if you want a glimpse of the glazes she used to paint the white, baked medallions, and a peek at her color palette inspiration for this collection, click here.

fraser’s blog and website document much of her creative process, from sketch or painting to completed medallion collection. a good read. you can see the entire series of medallion collections cataloged here and don’t miss the galleries section of her website – it highlights dozens of her paintings and drawings.

more? cindi lavin recently interviewed fraser for bead arts. check out cindi’s conversation with amy. this busy mom, wife and artist is a delightful work in progress and i look forward to seeing more of her process as she brings new collections to life.

eye spy

kathy gose posted an interesting new tutorial for an eyeball cane. the eyeballs are centerpieces for gose’s dragon eye beads, pictured here – she’s been fooling folks who thought they were glass.

make sure you read the tutorial all the way through. it is easy to follow; there are several photographs and a graph. i like the way she shapes the cane slice over a spoon to give it the proper 3d effect. better play nice, that thing really appears to be looking at you!

fimo gel flowers tutorial

chris wrote to say that she has posted the tutorial for her fimo gel flowers. it looks like she adapted donna kato’s layered dichroic tutorial (and she gives donna credit right at the top of the tutorial). the tutorial has lots of clear, labeled pictures, easy to understand instructions and opens up the door for many different ideas. i can’t wait to give it a try. well done. check it out here. thanks chris!

earthenwood studio

i’m a long-time fan of melanie brooks lukacs’ porcelain beads. last year i even spent two months experimenting with tinted liquid polymer clay, glazing hundreds of impressed buttons, trying to replicate the look of the wonderful ceramic glaze that lukacs uses on her beads, charms, pendants, tiles and buttons. some day i might even show you my very large piles of buttons. or not…

right now though, i want to show you the work of this crazy-busy artist. she sells wholesale and retail, has a website, an etsy shop and a blog. as if that isn’t enough, she recently had an article published in stringing magazine. she comes up with new, fresh ideas for beads and kits and jewelry every few months. lots of inspiration here.

would you like to learn how she strings these colorful spring flower beads? here’s the free project download from stringing magazine.

who knew?

am i the last to know that christi friesen has downloadable tutorials on her website? the artist describes them with her usual dose of humor tossed in:

“CF Projects are just like one of CF’s books, only shorter and without the actual book. Instead, once you purchase a project, you will be able to download the pages directly on to your computer, and print them out at your leisure. Cool, huh?”

cool indeed. the cost is nominal (ranging from $1.99-3.99) and this one is even free! the picture below is a sample page from her giraffe project ($2.99).

as someone who has been making fish vessels and beads for years, i was taken with her putter fish! cute, huh?

sarajane helm on crafty pod

craftypod just posted a great podcast interview with sarajane helm. she shares some of her encyclopedic knowledge of polymer clay and its history in addition to speaking about her new polymer clay quilt book with judith skinner, her opinion about the different clays available and more – like her ‘bottom of the purse’ test for polymer clay. great stuff.

i visited sarajane’s website again while listening to the interview – there is always so much to see! this time i found a tutorial for making a face mold, ‘dressing’ the pulled face and finishing the face with paints. wow. this four page tutorial has very thorough instructions with lots of pictures.

need something to do this weekend?  go to craftypod and listen to sarajane’s interview. ready to get your clay out and get to work?  try her tutorial.  that’s what i’m going to do!