Libzoid Blog

Here are the photos I promised. These are pieces I recently completed using some of the silver components I was working on. I really enjoy pairing polymer clay and sterling silver. I like the look, and I enjoy the different processes. Combining these materials can be both freeing and challenging. Working with polymer clay and silver can be freeing because you can design the silver portion first and fit the polymer clay to the metal. Or you can do it the traditional way by designing the metal to fit a polymer clay piece you’ve already made.

It can be challenging because polymer clay is relatively soft, and it can be scratched, compressed or cracked while riveting. But, polymer clay is generally quick and easy to repair or replace. (most of the time)

The first necklace reminds me of cross section slices of pods:

I made the left and center portions separately, intending them as simple pendants, but when they were sitting side by side on my worktable I decided they’d be more interesting together.

Mod Flower Pendant:

The funky flower shape I have been working on, finally riveted together. I need to find a substantial chain for this.

Framed Rectangle Pin

Painted and patterned polymer clay sandwiched in between layers of sterling silver. There’s a handcrafted double pin on the back of this piece to help keep it stable.

Tags: art jewelry, polymer clay, silver

I was supposed to be away this week, traveling with some friends. Unfortunately I got sick and had to stay home. Nothing terribly serious, but enough that I wanted the comforts of home. It has been a disappointing week feeling blah and filled with the drudgery of household stuff. At the beginning of the week I tried really hard to wallow in my disappointment. I was the Queen of Feeling Sorry For Myself. You know what? It’s hard to keep that up. Especially since in the overall scheme of things, I have nothing to complain about. Reading the news this week is a daily reminder that I should be profoundly grateful for what I have, instead of sitting around being Whining Woman.

So, I admit I have wasted an embarrassing amount of time on self indulgent negative thoughts, but I’ve managed to squeeze in a bit of creative time as well. Polymer clay creative fun no less! Today, I’ve canceled a lunch date with my sister so I could get back into the studio. She understands. She canceled on me last time so that she could go paint. Wouldn’t it be great if we could coordinate our creative impulses? (I’m not sure that’s possible)

For now I’m cutting this off here so that I don’t get sucked into more internet induced inertia. I’ll be back with photos.

Tags: creativity, disappointments

Artist name: Martha Aleo

Website: Martha Aleo
Blog: Ornamento

Do you have a dedicated studio/artistic space? Yes.
Where is it located? In my basement

Is it a large or small space? Small on space, large on function. I live in a 930 Sq. foot house that is more than 150 years old.
What medium(s) do you work in? Mixed media consisting of metalsmithing, beading (off loom bead weaving and bead stringing), lampworking, glass fusing, enameling, polymer clay, and some paper crafts. I have to be careful about ventilation, so I do the enameling and lampworking in the months when I can have windows open and fans going. I also have a fire extinguisher and sink nearby.

Do you have a separate area for each? Yes. I also have a portable photography station that stores under one of the work surfaces.

What one word would you use to describe your studio? Cozy

What do you think is the best feature of your studio? Everything is close at hand and organized. It might not look that way, but I work in several mediums so it has to be organized so I can find things. When I clear away my metal working space, I have room for a friend to join me for polymer claying or beading.

What would you change if you could? More room and more electrical outlets.

Can you share an organizational tip? Have everything visible or you will forget you have it. Label containers with their contents.

Describe the usual state of your work table? Cluttered, but when I am finished with a project, I put everything back in its place. This helps me to find it when I need it next and to preserve what few brain cells I still possess.

Does your work table face out into the room or toward the wall? Both. I have more than one work area. Everything is made from old chopped up furniture, and flea market and sidewalk finds except the watchmaking bench which was my father’s. It is solid oak and I use it to store tools. All the drawers are labeled.

What’s one drawback of your studio/artistic space? Aside from space, it’s below stairs so I can’t have an oxy acetylene torch for metal. For lampworking, I am tapped into my house gas and use an oxygen concentrator, so that works out well. If not for that, I could not do lampworking in the basement.

Do you have any studio mascots (pets, mannequin whatever)? Plumpton the Cat used to come down when he was a kitten, play fetch with beads, and warm up the clay by sitting on it. Now, he just comes down when he wants to be fed, or to use the litter box (hidden behind a protective wall).

Do you have an idea wall or inspiration board? I keep notebooks and have a little inspiration board where I keep some of the color exercises I did in Lindly Haunani’s class. There is not much wall space, and what there is is covered with shelves to store materials.

Do you listen to music in your studio? What kind? Yes. Mostly Jazz or radio.
Do you display your own work in your studio? Some, because when people visit, they like to see what I do.
What’s one quirk or unusual feature of your studio? My washing machine doubles as an impromptu work surface, and is covered with paint. We call it the Jackson Pollack washing machine.

What can’t you see in my studio? I realized when I took the pictures that the area is so small, it’s hard to get an overall picture of the work space. I also have ovens, kilns and an oxygen concentrator down there, and pull out storage under all the work surfaces.

Tags: Martha Aleo, mixed-media, polymer clay, Studio Snapshot

The force field or block which tends to keep me out of the studio has spread to the blog.  I am not writing as often, and I feel like the quality of my writing has declined.  Also, I don’t find myself thinking about writing as much as I had been.  Writing is not what I would consider to be my primary mode of creative expression, but this slow down in my writing has brought home the “use it or lose it” quality of creativity more than anything.

I have been thinking about the need to practice creative skills lately.  Before I made the pair of rings out of sterling sheet metal, I tried to make a “quick” PMC ring.  Ha!  That was a comeuppance.  I haven’t done very much work in metal clay and most of it was several years ago.  Somehow I had the ridiculous idea that I could jump back in with ease.  Like any technical skill, working with metal clay is tricky and I desperately need a refresher course (or two!).

At least writing isn’t quite as fragile a skill, but I had better resolve to practice more.

Tags: creativity, pmc

I have a serious weakness for gadgets. My dad’s a bit the same. (that’s one of my excuses: the weakness is genetic, LOL) I have loads to do this week, and I am letting myself be distracted by my new toy, an Apple iphone. This is my Mother’s Day gift, which I begged them to give me early. Techie toys reduce me to a childish state of excitement. I haven’t done much with it beside downloading my itunes library and setting up some of my preferences. It’s really amazing though, beautifully designed and easy to use.

So much fun!

My box of wire finally came.

I made some bangles. M tells me I am doing too much of the hammered metal thing.  What can I say?  If I am in a rut, I’m okay with it.  I love the noise the bracelets make when I wear them. And I also made a few silver bezels to be filled with polymer clay.

If I can tear myself away from the electronic fun, I might actually get to that soon.  Probably not.  It’s much more intimidating to do the polymer part lately.  I’m not sure why that is though.

Tags: distractions, iphone, silverwork

Artist name: Trina Williams

Website: Picture Trail - Trina Williams

Do you have a dedicated studio/artistic space? Yes, but I tend to spill over

Where is it located? In the back of my house between my sewing room and my husbands woodshop (where my oven is) He is reluctant to let me encroach any farther.

Is it a large or small space? Small but I have annexes!

What medium(s) do you work in? Polymer clay, fabric, crochet, beads

Do you have a separate area for each? Just my sewing room which as you can see has PC stuff all over the fold out table

What one word would you use to describe your studio? used

What do you think is the best feature of your studio? Lots of storage spaces. That secret compartment is a space my husband built into the back of the shelves so I can store my large 3 by 4 foot cutting board. It also holds my beading board, a large Olfa grid and other assorted large flat things. He built the room and all the shelves.

What would you change if you could? Better separation of clay and beads, but after ten years I know where everything is

Can you share an organizational tip? Out of sight, out of mind which makes for interesting surprises

Describe the usual state of your work table? Obscured

Does your work table face out into the room or toward the wall? Toward the wall. I tend to stand up when I work and if I use the table in the middle I can face any direction.

What’s one drawback of your studio/artistic space? Not big enough to hold a class

Do you have an idea wall or inspiration board? YES

Do you listen to music in your studio? No, unless my husband has it going in his adjacent office. What kind? I like classical and jazz. Some country. He plays country and oldies

Do you display your own work in your studio? some Other artists’ work? some

What’s one quirk or unusual feature of your studio? Shallow shelves at one end are in an old window space.

Tags: polymer clay, studio, Studio Snapshot, Trina Williams

I am in a very grouchy mood.  I ordered some Argentium wire and sheet from Rio that was supposed to be delivered yesterday, but UPS messed up.  According to the tracking info, they delivered it to my local hub and then sent the package out to California!  I love the message I got, which explains that my package experienced “an exception”.

Argentium fuses really nicely, so I was really looking forward to playing around with more rings.  I’ll just have to wait.  Can you tell patience is not my strong suit?

A bad pun… I feel like I have been creatively sidelined. Getting completely away from the studio and computer for a family vacation was lovely, but it has really put me off my creative game. (to continue the lame metaphor) Add to the mix the peculiar phenomenon that is Spring school/sports activities for a family and the result is more than a week of blog silence and limited studio time. The weather was pretty gorgeous last week so that made it extra hard to head down into the basement.

I did squeeze in a bit of time at my bench though. I’ve been working on the parts for a funky floral pendant for ages. I finally finished the metal framework, but now I am stalled. A bit paralyzed in the polymer clay end of things, I spent all my meager studio time playing with metal. I forged some chunky circles out of 10 guage wire. And I made my first two rings.

I am pretty happy with them for my very first attempt at ring making. The dot one even fits me! LOL

Tags: blogging, creativity, jewelry, metalworking, polymer clay, studio time

Artist name: Melanie Dilday

Website: Polymer Clay with Melanie Dilday
Blog if you have one: Clay Happenings
Etsy: M.A.D. Designs

Do you have a dedicated studio/artistic space? Yes

Where is it located? Next to bathroom (useful wet area), store room (for clay, tools, ‘work in progress’ and examples of work) and outside undercover area (for messy jobs)

Is it a large or small space? Medium, sized 5m x 3m

What medium(s) do you work in? Clay! Polymer, silver and airdry.

Do you have a separate area for each? I don’t have separate areas for each clay, but I have a separate store room where I have room to place large tiles of ‘work in progress’ of various projects which I easily move into my studio to work on as I feel to. I also have a booth-like buffing/tumbling area with it’s own overhead light.

What one word would you use to describe your studio? Light

What do you think is the best feature of your studio? The view! And lots of light.

What would you change if you could? A better airconditioner.

Can you share an organizational tip? I have 1/2 dozen of those plastic drawers on wheels…shallow drawers, about ten drawers to a unit. I can move them around and have them closer when I need them, depending on what I’m working on.

Describe the usual state of your work table? Messy. I’m lucky that I have fairly regular teaching gigs so that I actually get to clean my table once a week in readiness for the next class otherwise my table would be in constant disarray.

Does your work table face out into the room or toward the wall? Into the room

What’s one drawback of your studio/artistic space? Can be hot because of the skylight and large window.

Do you have any studio mascots? My ‘dummy’ which I like to dress up with odd clothes and jewellery to match and a picture of the hands of a guru, reminding me of the space between thoughts…

Do you have an idea wall or inspiration board? I have a 2008 calender of beautiful polymer clay work and I have a few drawing books/journals scattered about the house.

Do you listen to music in your studio? What kind? Nope, I prefer the silence which in fact, is not silent but teeming with life…the wind in the trees and the birds and crickets and frogs…

Do you display your own work in your studio? Other artists’ work? Yes, wall hangings on the wall, jewellery on a ‘dummy’ and in the store room on a few shelves. I also have a box of ’swap items’ at the ready for students to rummage through to see examples of other peoples work.

What’s one quirk or unusual feature of your studio? The floor under the carpet square has a door which leads into a dark room which used to be an old water tank. It’s totally useless now but highly unusual.

Tags: Melanie Dilday, pmc, polymer clay, studio, Studio Snapshot

Artist name: Cynthia Blanton

Website: not yet
Blog: Cynthia Blanton

Do you have a dedicated studio/artistic space? Yes

Where is it located? Bedroom on second floor of house

Is it a large or small space? Fairly large, 11′ x 17′

My clay area was in the unfinished basement but it was dark, and cold (61 degrees). Just this week I moved everything upstairs to what has been my sewing room. I have a 4′ x 8′ sheet of plywood covered with a self-healing cutting mat for a sewing/cutting table, and that is now my work surface for everything. It is high like a fabric cutting table so I can work standing up if I wish.

What medium(s) do you work in? Clay, wire, fabric.

Do you have a separate area for each? Sort of. It’s a big table.

What do you think is the best feature of your studio? Natural light and ability to look outside.

What would you change if you could? I would own the house so I could get rid of the ghastly wall paper, take up the wall-wall carpet and fasten shelving to the walls.

Describe the usual state of your work table? Chaos, like my mind.

Does your work table face out into the room or toward the wall? It fills the room and I sit looking across the room, no matter where I sit or stand.

What’s one drawback of your studio/artistic space? Two drawbacks. I can’t afford to get clay on the carpet so I have put down some make-shift floor coverings. I can’t have my oven in the room because there is no way to vent it (the windows open sideways.)

Do you have an idea wall or inspiration board? Small bulletin board

Do you listen to music in your studio? What kind? Sometimes. All kinds.

What’s one quirk or unusual feature of your studio? I have one pair of shoes that I wear in the room and I have to try very hard to remember to take them off when I leave so I don’t track clay onto the *&^%$#$% carpet.

Tags: polymer clay, Studio Snapshot