Zentangles In Polymer Clay

I recently saw online that people were talking about and making something called Zentangles. I had no idea what a Zentagle was so I had to check it out for myself.

What is a Zentangle? It was developed by Maria and Rick of Zentangle, Inc. and they define zentangle as a “fascinating new art form” in which beautiful images are created “one stroke at a time” from repetitive patterns. For me it boils down to doodling 🙂 Not mindless doodling that we do while on the phone, but doing it deliberately. I have seen it described as abstract doodling, abstract drawings and monochrome pen drawings. People making zentangles find it therapeutic, mesmerizing and well….. zen like. All you need is a sheet of white paper, a fine tip black pen and your imagination to get started.

Of course polymer clay artists have taken zentangles to a new level. 🙂 Interpreting their drawing into polymer clay art. You can interpret the drawing literally and create a black & white clay “drawing” like Dora has done.


Dora also has a tutorial on making clay zentangles you can check out.

You can take it a step further and add some color to your clay zentangles like Rev Byrd has done.

Check out Daily Art Muse’s article called 6 Ideas for Polymer Clay Zentangles. Many helpful hint are shared to get you going.

You may like to purchase the Design Originals book called Zentangle Basics By Susanne McNeill.

New Product Follow-up: Judi-Kins Clay Squishers

I finally got my Clay Squishers. They were on back order, because there was such an overwhelming demand. I purchased the following 4 styles of the 6 available.

Treasures

Mod

Klimt

Japan

My first reaction was to just sell them for what I paid to get my money back, because I purchased them with mokume gane in mind. Now I am convinced I’ll keep them around for surface texture. The hoarder in me hates to part with stuff anyway. 🙂

Pros:
They are made of nice and firm black rubber.
The designs are wonderful.
6 different patterns per sheet
Can be easily stored in a binder (of the correct size)

Cons:
They are not very deeply etched. So don’t plan on doing mokume gane with them. However, they are great for mica shift and surface texture. So I guess this Con is only half a Con. 🙂
There may be 6 designs per sheet, but each design is quite small. A little over 2″ square.

They sell for $9 a sheet and are available from the Judi-Kins internet shop called Stamp Stamp Stamp

A little shameless promotion – If you want stamps to do the mokume gane technique, try some of my repeat pattern clear stamps available in my Etsy shop 🙂 They are deeply etched and measure approx 3″ X 4″.

Interlocking Circles

Greek Key

Scales

Collage

Ginkgo

Medallions

You can also purchase my Scrap Mokume Gane Bangle Tutorial if you need some inspiration.

I’m In Love :)

With a bead LOL

While catching up on my favorite blogs I stopped by Backyard Beads. Oh my Lord – Doreen’s at it again ! Talk about mad skills creating beads using canework. This particular bead I am in love with is just one of 2 new looks Doreen is working on. Green being my favorite colors (shades of olive in particular) I was drawn to the bead on the right, but not to say the blues isn’t totally scrumptious, too. 🙂 She calls them Blossoms.

I am hoping she takes my blog comment to heart and uses the green pattern on a 3″ dount. Seriously, Doreen, I would adopt it and give it a really good home 😉

If by some really bizarre chance you are not familiar with Doreen’s work, skip on over to Backyard Beads, her blog, and take a look see 🙂 http://doreenwilley.blogspot.com/

I finally made something :)

I’ve been in a creative rut lately, but I got inspired by the lumps of embossing powder tinted translucent clay that have been sitting on my work bench for let’s just say a while 🙂

I needed to make my mom’s birthday present. (Happy Birthday Mom !!) She wanted another small covered dish for next to the sink to hide her scrubby pad. I made her one many years ago that looked like a mini cherry pie, bit it finally died. LOL

I decided to go with a woodsy, outdoor look to match the decor of her new house. The faux stone look of the embossing powder mixed into translucent clay was a perfect way to get started. (I highly recommend the Ranger brand Distress Powders. They are awesome !!) This is the final product.

I still had some faux stone clay laying on the workbench when I starting thinking about a clay pal Kellie who lives up in Alaska. She made this amazing pinch pot pendant for a magazine article a few years ago and I was inspired. Pinch pots are fun to make, but I hadn’t tried one in many, many years.

For those of you not familiar with pinch pots try this tutorial. It’s all about trapping a pocket of air inside the clay. Then you shape and decorate the pinch pot before you cut an opening in the top.

It didn’t take much to get the feel for making pinch pots again. Sure feels nice to be creating again ! So, here is how it turned out –

Dora’s Tutorial – Building a Kaleidoscope Cane

Follow this link over to Dora’s Explorations for a great tutorial on putting together Kaleidoscope Canes.

Artists To Watch in 2010

I am continually astonished by the level of beauty polymer clay artists can pull out of a lump of clay. I’ve always said polymer clay is the most versatile medium on the market, but I don’t think I’ll ever be up to par with these artists. I am awed by their skill and imagination 🙂

The first Artist To Watch is Eva Ehmeier. She’s only been working with polymer clay since 2007 ! She lives near Linz in Austria and is a member of the German Clay Guild.



Please be sure to browse the rest of Eva’s Flickr Gallery

My second artist is Carina Feichtinger. (Thank you Kerstin for telling me her last name 🙂 ) I stumbled onto her blog a few days ago and was very intrigued. I had to translate the it form German so I could read it but it was worth the effort. She has fun and whimsical like this Banana Plant-

Technical and precise like this bracelet –

Creative and colorful Twisted Beads –

Kimberly Arden just seems to do it all – in clay that is 🙂 She combines several different techniques to create these fabulous necklaces !!



And her bracelets ain’t shabby either 🙂 The middle one screams Klimt to me.

Be sure to check out Kim’s web page.

Last, but definitely not least, is Sofia Salvador a very talented artist from Portugal. I ended up in Sofia’s Flickr Gallery buy clicking a link in a blog.
I was floored and could not believe I hadn’t seen her work before.
This first piece I can only describe as a Monarch Butterfly emerging from it’s cocoon. Amazing !!

This transfer of a Froud Fairy on a pin really caught my eye.

And these adorable birds are wonderful 🙂

But these amazing little butterfly wing drop earrings are soooooo needing to come live with me.

Well, that all for now. I’m always on the scout for new talent. If you or someone you know of would like to be featured as An Artist To Watch email me at tonja@tonjastreasures.com

Book Review: Enchanted Adornments by Cynthia Thornton

I finally received my copy of Enchanted Adornments by Cynthia Thornton. What a wonderfully inspiring book 🙂 The projects are fun, whimsical and I want to try them all. LOL I sure wish I still worked with silver clay. There are several projects that really caught my eye. Especially Mirabelle’s Locket which is on the cover of the book.

Don’t fret my polymer clay loving pals 🙂 There are many projects for you too. My favorites are The Window of the Heart pendant and the Sculptural Scrimshaw Collar.

I know a lot of you are getting into using resin in your jewelry designs. The book has some fun projects to cover that addiction, too. Take a look at these adorable Woodland Wings !!

These pictures are just as teaser. The book has so much more to offer. You can get the book on Amazon.com for $16.47. That’s more than 30% off the suggested retail price of $24.95.

My Clear Stamps in Action

Some of you may know I sell clear stamps in my Etsy shop. I recently made a batch to my friend Moe and sent them off to Hawaii. I love to see what people were inspired to make with my stamps. 🙂 Moe posted some pictures of her faux cinnabar on her blog, Moeart.

April Showers Bring May Flowers

The weather is getting warmer, the flowers are blooming and I needed a moment to smell the roses 🙂 So, I wanted to share with you all some of the some polymer clay flowers that I found on my Spring hike through cyber space.

Flower Bud earrings

Zuda's flower

Sophie's necklace

Divided Sebo Brooches

Barb's Flora

Flower Bird

Heather's Inspiration

Boonie's pendant

Melody's Cinco de Mayo necklace

Laure Bonnet

Facebook Friends feature Artist – Cynthia Gordillo

This weeks featured artist, Cynthia Gordillo, created some earrings that really caught my eye. They have beautiful image transfers and I am guessing they are encased in either resin or liquid clay. Resin seems the more obvious choice though. The shape is sort of retro and the images she chose to use are intricate, colorful and textural.

Seeing these earrings on Facebook led me to Cynthia’s Flickr album where I was blown away be her fabulously funky face earrings. 🙂 Are they adorable or what?

Then I spot the jaw dropping necklaces !!!! This gal can do transfers with the best of them. My favorite is the Klimt image of The Kiss she used on this particular necklace. Totally to die for !!!

This next necklace I am not sure what technique Cynthia used, but I love the metallic colors and the flow of the piece.

And she makes rings too 🙂

You can follow Cynthia’s blog to keep up with her work.
Or make her a friend on Facebook