There was a small glitch on the Polymer Clay Express web site concerning their workshop schedule. The calendar is back up and there are still spaces left in Lindly Haunani’s , Mokume X Five- a survey of five different approaches to mokume gane using polymer clay – September 17th & 18th, 2011 for more information and to register . Hope to see you there.
The past few weeks it has been way too hot work with my polymer…Friday’s heat index was 122 F !!! No way, I am turning on the convection oven to fire anything, let alone try to pinch any petals from cane slices. It is so hot I have been knitting fabric strips in front of a fan to make another pillow cover. It is so hot I started to think I could knit an area rug, using the fabric scraps from a quilt I am cutting out…Cooler weather and studio time is around the corner. In the meantime Libby Mills sent me this link to a spectacular rug from Sonya Winner- what an incredible sense of color and design.
Sonya Winner’s vibrant contemporary rugs include After Matisse, inspired by the artist’s work using paper cut-outs. The collage of 26 colours replicates the effect of transparent colours mixed together. The irregular shape and five different tuft heights create a sculptural and striking design, which is made of pure New Zealand wool.
After our book was published in 2009 there have been several significant changes to the colors that are available to the polymer artist- Polyform products discontinued their Sculpey Studio line and two essential primaries – Zinc Yellow and Cobalt blue in their Premo line are only available on a limited basis (see my last post). Several pre-mixed “designer” colors are now available: including Pomegranate Red, Denim Blue and Wasabi Green. The recipes for mixing Zinc Yellow and Cobalt blue, as promised, have yet to appear on their web site.
In the meantime many artists, myself included, have been experimenting with the new Polyform colors and exploring the currently available primaries offered by FIMO, Pardo, Kato Clay and Cernit- will keep you posted.
Maggie Maggio has updated her color triangle chart to reflect the changes in Polyform’s product line.
“I’ve started testing the new Premo clays and added the possible primary colors to the chart above. I’ve also added a new category – package colors that have white – because I choose to use colors that are at full saturation and add white if I need it.”
This spring I was designing a project where I normally would have used fluorescent pink to pump up the red in the Skinner blend and since I usually would have added white to the mixture Candy pink was an acceptable substitute.
For the past several months Carol Simmons has been posting a series of well thought out and detailed articles on her blog in response to the discontinuation of two essential primaries -Cobalt Blue and Zinc Yellow – in Premo by Polyform Products. For those of us that mix our own colors and teach about color using polymer clay….Denim blue and Sunshine yellow are NOT acceptable substitutes.
Carol has annotated Maggie Maggio’s color triangle color chart on her site to help illustrate the loss of Zinc yellow and Cobalt Blue.
Note: For the time being the remaining stock of those two colors is available from Polymer Clay Express.
In the most recent issue of Ornament Magazine there is an article by Jill DeDominucis =” Polymer Clay a Modern Medium Comes of Age ” that features a timeline of artists that the magazine has featured in the past twenty four years.
‘Polymer clay has come a long way since its humble beginnings as a doll making and modeling material. In the decades since it was created, innovative artists have secured this modern medium a rightful place as a respectable form of expression in the art and studio jewelry movement.”
Most interesting to me = a photo of Sophie Rehbinder-Kruse with her children,1954, courtesy of Staedtler Archives. A historical photo I had never seen before.Most grateful for= Ornament Magazine’s continued support of polymer artists. To subscribe to the magazine and read the article visit here. 
If you’ve read our book – Polymer Clay Color Inspirations and were intrigued by the color collage process as a way to determine a set of custom mixed primaries to use in your work, then you might be interested in this two day workshop November 5th and 6th, 2011 = “Exploring the Rainbow” at Woman Creative in Buford, Georgia (near Atlanta). A more complete workshop description may be found here along with the supply list. Registration details are here.
I will be having a trunk show at the gallery Friday evening November 4th. There is a fabulous retrospective exhibit of polymer spanning twenty five years with work from ninety six artists.
Hope to see you there! or here...
Every so often one finds a web site that has a fabulously descriptive name – HeresLookingatHue - has incredible color inspirational images sorted by hue. There are nine pages including- Purple,Blue,Green,Yellow,Orange,Red,White and Grayscale. Some of pages were slow to load (at least on my connection) and ever so lovely. Thanks to Cynthia Tinapple who sent me the link.
. Yes! We will all be taking colorful walks this summer….The workshop “Walking the Enlightened Rainbow” was a combination of guided meditations, collaging, group brain storming, polymer clay color mixing strategies/concepts. laughter and joy- while making colorful walking sticks
Maureen Carlson’s Center for the Creative Arts Center is a very special place for stretching our imaginations, introspection,healing, joy and creative fun!
I will be returning to Maureen’s next summer= July 11th- 15th,2012 to teach a new five day workshop -”Creating a Personal Power Shield” that combines spirituality,intention,meditation,collaging and polymer clay with fibers, beads, inks, markers and joyful collaboration.
“Our Center is grounded in the belief that creativity is a doorway into self discovery, personal and spiritual growth, and joyful living.” Is part of Maureen’s vision for the center.
Last month while on vacation Hollie Mion gave me a packet of purse tissues (the designs reminded me of polymer clay canes) …several days later she noticed that I still had the unopened package on display on my work surface? When I told her it was too pretty to open, she generously gave me another package. So now I am paying more attention to printed tissues..
When I think of Bargello in polymer clay, Laura Liska’s impeccably constructed beads come to mind. And now I can tuck a packet of pocket “Bargello” Kleenex into my purse. Wishing you a colorful day- remember to invite rainbows into your life. [click to continue…]
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