Inspirational Eyecandy

I have found myself in a creative slump in my jewelry making, so I began surfing the internet for some images to inspire me. I didn’t need to look very far to find some pictures of bright, colorful, inspirational polymer clay designs.

faux dichroic mokume by Carol Simmons

http://carolsimmonsdesigns.com/

FWille Pendants by Majda Gartner

See more work by Majda

http://www.flickr.com/photos/30374181@N04/

bangles by Oxana Volkova

See more work by Oxana

http://www.flickr.com/photos/oksoon/

 

mosaic beads by Pavla Cepelikova

See more work by Pavla

http://www.flickr.com/photos/52250355@N08/

mokume gane by Daniela

See more work by Daniela

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dr-fimo/

stacked circles by belkomor (there is a short tutorial too)

see the tutorial http://polymerclayfimo.livejournal.com/4284313.html#cutid1

miami by Natalia García de Leániz

See more work by Natalia

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tatana/

“Garden in Bloom” Polymer Clay Tile Assemblage by gera scott chandler

http://www.gerascottchandler.com/

new Rotella pendants and bangle by Carina

More work by Carina

http://www.flickr.com/photos/fimorina/sets/72157604053634140/

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Fall 2011 Stamp Designs Now On Sale

I took a vacation and created my Fall 2011 clear stamp designs. 48 so far and still a few floating around my head. 🙂

You can see them all in my Picasa album or purchase them from my Artfire Shop where I also have for sale some silk screen stencils that I made.

Here is a preview of just a few of the new stamp designs

As a bonus for my readers you can get 10% off your order in my Artfire Shop using the code POLYCLAYCORNER10

Happy Claying !!!

For those of you who prefer Etsy they are listed there too, but at .50 cents more per stamp to cover higher fees I have to pay. Artfire allows me to keep a little more cash in my pocket so I can pass the savings on to my customers. 🙂

Klimt Would Be Proud

I believe in my heart that if Gustav Klimt were alive today he would be greatly flattered by my featured artist’s work. The blog is in French, so I can not be sure what her given name is. If someone knows please post a comment 🙂 Her blog is called Trukabul – Argile Polymere.

I spotted this post while randomly surfing my favorite blogs. She has created a beautiful, futuristic interpretation of a Klimt masterpiece called The Embrace and named her’s The End. She captured Klimt’s style while putting her own twist on it by using polymer clay as the medium. Texture and cane work are manipulated to create the intricate patterns and colors.  Wish I could figure out how she did the black lines defining the figures embracing.

With no further ado, here is the wonder that caught my eye 🙂

Here is a picture of the original Klimt inspiration

Pattern Inspirations From Nature

When I am stuck in a creative rut I sometime look to nature for inspiration. Patterns in nature can be quit extraordinary and unpredictable. For instance, the patterns on these Sea Stars are quite intricate and very beautiful.

Butterfly and moth wing patterns are another fascinating choice.

Animal skins

Sea shells

I hope you are inspired to create 🙂

Color Inspirations For July

It’s been a very long time since I’ve seen a sunrise (I’m a total night owl) so I thought a few pictures might be inspiring. The colors are amazing !!!

Honored With The Sunshine Award – Twice

I just found out I have been honored with the Sunshine Award by my friend BJ at Knightwork: Playing with Clay and by Col at Col’s Creations

I want to say thank you very much to BJ and Col. It feels very good to know I inspire the world. 🙂 Or at the very least both of you. 😉 After the week I’ve had dealing with a worm infected computer this was a real treat.

The Sunshine Award is awarded to bloggers whose positivity & creativity inspires others in the blog world.

The rules for accepting these award:-

Put the logo on your blog or within your post.-

Pass the award onto 12 bloggers.-

Link the nominees within your post.-

Let the nominees know they have received this award by commenting on their blog.

– Share the love and link to the person from whom you received this award.

Here are 12 of the blogs I look most often to for clay inspiration. 🙂
http://alidilibellula.blogspot.com
http://aufildespates.canalblog.com
http://www.beadworx.de
http://cristalline.blogspot.com
http://dailyartmuse.com
http://amusedcreations.blogspot.com
http://grisbleu.canalblog.com/
http://julieeakes.blogspot.com
http://laurabeestudios.blogspot.com/
http://booniesfimoterie.canalblog.com/
http://maggiemaggio.com/color/
http://paroledepate.canalblog.com
http://polymerclaydaily.com
http://mabcrea.space-blogs.com
http://missficklemediacom.blogspot.com/
http://silastones.blogspot.com/

I think that’s more than 12 LOL But hey, I did get the award twice. So technically I could have listed 24 links 😉

Blog Finds (Oct 7)

I spent a couple hours scouting the other blogs for some great stuff to share with you all.

2 Good Claymates has a fun Snowflake Cane

Au Fil des Pates showing off a couple gorgeous Mokume Gane pendants

Mel at Clay Happenings made some gorgeous landscape design pieces using inks.

Christalline shares a great idea for slicing canes

This Blue & White cane by Julie Eakes is spectacular !!!!!!

Last, but far from least, if you ever need some inspiration please head on over to the Daily Art Muse. You’ll be overwhelmed with the beautiful work of many artists.

Inspiration From Nature

When I’m feeling artistically blocked and my muse has taken an unexpected vacation, I like to look to nature for inspiration. I recently found a seller on Etsy that uses butterfly wings to make jewelry (all butterflies passed of natural causes). I had never seen so many gorgeous colors and designs ! If only I could cane. I’d go crazy using the designs as a pattern.

Another source of caning inspiration are pictures of flowers.

And what about leaves? You can cane them or use the actual leaf for an impression in your clay.

Take a look around your back yard or favorite hiking trail. You can get some amazing texture off of stones & rocks.

A more unusual inspiration comes from fish scales. They come in so many colorful combination.

And what about a simple sunset? Imagine this as a Skinner Blend!

Then there are exotic bird feathers.

I hope these inspire you to create something wonderful 🙂

Ceramic Inspirations & Faux Ceramics

I have been fascinated by the work of a French clay artist lately. She is making the most amazing faux ceramic looking jewelry.

I'm not sure of her name. It's all in French and I had a hard time translating 🙂 *Bettina Welker has told me the artists name is Françoise Roudaut.

But isn’t her work just stunning !!! Here’s another favorite of mine.

I’ve also been looking at real ceramic for inspiration. I found an ceramic bas relief artist on Flickr that I really admire. Not sure how I would reproduce the work in polymer clay, but it won’t stop me from drooling LOL

gryderware - Chris Gryder

Another real ceramic inspiration

Forbes Farm - Sandy Caufield

Okay, just one more 🙂 I swear

raku buttons

I found some other clayers on Flickr that do faux ceramics

MossyOwls / Michael

Chama Navarro

Her Blog

Dan Clark

Barbara Poland-Waters

Artists That Inspire Me

When I feel muse-less I like to look around the internet for inspiration. There are so many amazing polymer clay artists out there that it’s not hard to find a way to lure my muse back home. Here are a few of the artists who get my creative juices flowing.

Elise Winters for her use of color

Kathleen Dustin for her imagination

Sarajane Helm for her canework and beads

Julie Picarello for her colorful Mokume Gane

Judy Dunn for her use of patterns and shapes

Jeffery Lloyd Dever for his funky designs

Karen Lewis for her canework and bead designs

Jana Robets Benzon for her kaleidoscope canes

Kim Cavender for her organic designs

Tory Hughes for her imitative techniques

I could go on like this all day, so I will stop. LOL As I said, these are just a handful of amazing artists that inspire me to continue claying and hopefully one day I will find my own special style like they have. Many thanks to them all. 🙂