polymer clay history – Lindly Haunani

Color Consciousness…

Posted on July 19, 2011 by admin

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.

Colorful Article…

Posted on July 7, 2011July 7, 2011 by admin

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.

Masters Polymer Clay Book…

Posted on February 10, 2011 by admin

I am thrilled- I have just received my advance copy of the Masters of Polymer Clay– Major Works by Leading Artists by Rachel Carren. I am delighted that one of the images on the cover is my Rainbow Shrine.

“This beautiful and inspiring survey presents innovative polymer clay works from forty of the leading artists working today, with each artist introduced curator Rachel Carren.”

Not so Colorful Changes…

Posted on November 19, 2010November 23, 2010 by admin

Life is always full of surprises and challenges…Earlier this fall I received the news that Polyform Products was planning on making changes to their Premo! polymer clay color line. While I imagined that it might be possible that a few of the colors that I currently use might be discontinued- perhaps the fluorescent yellow wasn’t a huge seller?- I wasn’t prepared for the extremely upsetting news that they are planning to stop making two very essential primary colors = Cobalt Blue and Zinc Yellow!

“The following colors are discontinued: Red Pearl, Green Pearl, Cobalt Blue, Sea Green, Copper, Zinc Yellow, Frost, Fluorescent Green, Fluorescent Yellow, Fluorescent Red and Glow-In-The-Dark – We’ll have recipes for most on our website.”

It will be interesting to see their recipes for mixing zinc yellow and cobalt blue.

You can follow the discussion about this announcement on Polyform’s Facebook page here.
Carol Simmons has posted “before and after” pictures here
Cindy Leitz has started a virtual online petition here
Crafty Goat has posted some of her reactions on her blog
Amy Crawley has posted here on Moon Room Musings
Crafts by Chris has joined into the discussion
more here at Tonja’s Treasures
there is an ongoing discussion on Polymer Clay Central here
here is the contact email for Polyform Products- info@polyformproducts.com

I’m off to take a long warm bubble bath in honor of my personal promise to myself NOT to write blog posts, respond to email and/or answer the phone when…

In the meantime, please enjoy this picture of Carol Simmon’s pendants- you might have guessed it! = colors mixed with Zinc Yellow and Cobalt blue .

Continue reading “Not so Colorful Changes…” →

Colorful Pivot Beads…

Posted on October 28, 2010October 30, 2010 by admin

I have many fond memories of the beginning years of the National Polymer Clay Guild. We would gather around dining room tables to hold our board meetings- which very often wouldn’t start on time because many of us had eagerly brought show and tell items to share. Sometimes these were new tools, but most often the were pieces of work made by ourselves and others. We were thrilled to see Lynn Swards early photo transfer pieces, Pat Berlin’s rolled rug beads and Kathleen Amt’s complex cane collage beads.

I would venture that none us imagined that twenty years later we would be able to view and share pictures of the work of others via Flickr, blogs and web sites!

In chapter three of our book- Polymer Clay Color Inspirations– Maggie Maggio designed the lovely pivot bead necklace as the chapter’s project. I was the lucky recipient of her purple version of the Pivot Bead necklace.

Recently, I spotted these two adaptations of the project on the web. Above is a glass and pivot bead bracelet by Svenja and below is a set of necklaces made by Janette Waters.