Polymer Pendants

I'm making large batches of these flattish pendants for various venues. Glad they are catching on as they are fun to make and the variations are endless. Keeping the design simple--stringing it on buna cord with a lobster clasp on the end.

Sometimes I wonder where a particular pursuit is taking me. In this case, I wonder how these pendants will evolve, will they lead to something else? I've made hundreds of them in just a few months and I've seen my positive progress in refining the technique when I look back at the first ones I made.

A few years ago I read The Success Principles by Jack Canfield. It's a great book but I hadn't looked at it in awhile...I opened it up the other day to some words on page 110 that I highlighted years ago: "Be willing to start without seeing the whole path...you must be willing to lean into it and see how it unfolds."

Polymer Pendants

I'm working on a large wholesale order of polymer pendants. I like the simplicity of these pendants, I just string them on a rubber cord and they speak for themselves with their color and shape.

Translucent Layering Pendants

3" and 4" polymer pendants with horse image transfer

Here are two pendants I made using the translucent layering and image transfer techniques I learned from Kathleen Dustin. They are a ways from perfection, mainly the translucent is not as clear as I wanted it to be...maybe it's too thick...but anyway it's an exciting technique that has given me lots of ideas as I roll along on my polymer journey!

Polymer Pendants From Here To Infinity

I'm busy making rorschach style pendants, making a bunch then narrowing it down to the best ones for a project I am working on. These are addictive and I get better and better with each one I make, incorporating new ideas as I move along.

Something Out Of Nothing

Rorschach Pendant

...make something out of nothing, I do that every day. I just read an Ornament magazine article about Tory Hughes with that title. Tory is known for her polymer but I like that she said the work is about the artist, not the material.

I swap between polymer and painting. In my recent paintings, I start with watercolor but find more and more mixed media getting put into the piece, so it no longer can be categorized as a watercolor. Though I have yet to incorporate polymer into my paintings, I have found that making skinner blends and mixing colors has informed my painting, and I have discovered color combinations through polymer that I want to use in painting.

In polymer, I have been making natasha or rorschach pendants lately. The fun is in the "what if"color combinations and the accidental nature of the finished piece. Some of my rorschach pendants achieved the intent I started out with, such as the bright, fun piece at the top which came out of making skinner blend spirals, striped canes, and checkerboards within a color scheme.

But then there are leftovers.

scrap pile-"nothing"?

After spending considerable amount of time being "intentional", I wound up with a large pile of scraps. I grabbed some and made these two pieces without regard for any kind of color scheme or superimposing my will over the pattern.

scrap pile pendants- "something"?


It's all good. It's all fun. Keep making something out of nothing!

Skinner Blend

I haven't posted in several weeks but I am busy working on polymer clay ideas, I'm just not ready to post the results yet. But here is my pasta machine, busily processing a skinner blend! I think Judith Skinner did the polymer world the biggest favor ever by creating an easy way to make gradations. Where, oh where is Judith Skinner? Her website was started several years ago, and it hasn't been touched in long while. Is she on Facebook? Does she Twitter or blog?

Back soon!

Kathleen Dustin Container Workshop

The second Kathleen Dustin two day workshop I took in Albuquerque in June '09 was about making a hollow form, in most cases a purse. After talking about design principles, Kathleen started us off the first day by making a small hollow pendant, so we could learn the process before we tackled the larger scale of a purse.

Then in preparation for the purse, she had us make two different skinner blends.

These are my skinner blends that later became the outer decoration on my purse

Kathleen making her skinner blends, she did a beautiful blue blend and a red/gold blend.

Kathleen putting her purse together

After making the purse form, the inner lining, we put it all together. This process takes multiple bakings, but the design possibilities are endless. I have not quite finished the purse I started in the class but when I do, I will post it here. The skinner blend stripes is not something I would have thought of, it's a really beautiful end result. Also, I have been wanting to make polymer purses so I can apply my horse imagery to a 3D, functional form, so I am excited about the possibilities of making these great purses in different shapes, colors and sizes. I will be fusing what I learned in both the Translucent Techniques and purse workshops.

Taking a workshop from Kathleen Dustin is a rare opportunity, I was thrilled to get the chance to travel to Albuquerque which is less than 400 miles from where I live, and grateful that she is willing to teach the techniques she has worked so hard to develop.