Where to shop for polymer clay accessories when in NYC?

Time to summarize some of the good shopping spots you can find in NYC and the West coast.These stores are wonderful mixed materials stores, carrying all kind of materials, tools, equipment of all kinds starting from cake decorating, beading, sewing, kitchen-ware and findings.

Here are places I love to go back to when I am visiting Manhattan and they are my personal preference of shopping :)

The first store, already mentioned in my blog several times is Metalliferous NYC, this store is a full-service supplier of metal, tools, and supplies to jewelers, craftist, hobbyists, metal workers, sculptors, and everyone interested in metal working and jewelry. If you are into silver findings you'll find anything there. You can also download their PDF catalogs and order online.The store is located on the 34 West 46th Street (next to the hotel I was staying at)

The 2nd place I love to visit is NY Cake store located at 56 West 22nd Street Between 5th & 6th Avenues.This store paradise, I can spend a day in there, checking closely every detail. They carry all the supplies you can think about for cake decorators and some of their tools, molds, cutters etc fits the polymer clay world as well. You can join their mailing list and get special announcements on special sales to your email and order online.

Blick Art Materials is also a paradise for any artist. Paints, chalks, pastels, pens, colored pencils, acrylics, glues, brushes, books and so much more! if it wasn't for the overweight (not mine! the suitcases! ;) I would buy so many things there! Located inside Bond st. in a great looking building.

A stroll along the 6th avenue is always a good idea when you are looking for beads, findings, jewelry parts and sewing materials.

M&J Trimming is another heaven. As a former fashion designer I was amazed when I first saw this store! Sawarovski rhinestones, buttons, ribbons, braids, beaded fringe, trim, jacquards, tassels, and embroideries - is this real?

Located in 1008 sixth Avenue (between 37th and 38th) this store has many items you can use with polymer clay - laces, appliques and fabric as textures, addition to your jewelry and designs, mix media findings and many more.

Another store I love to visit and not because it's any different then the others, but their service is always with a big smile :) It's a small finding shop selling silver and gold findings, gemstones, tools and jewelry supplies called BeadKraft located on Broadway 30th st.

Don't forget Staples and Wallmart which is a great resource for Bic and Papermate pens for polymer covering and for stickers, I love to stamp my own "thank you" stickers.

Did I mention Barnes and Noble for us "non USA" people who just die to have a 3 stories store full of books? a half floor just for art and crafts!

And last one is "Sur La Table" in the Los Angeles Farmers Market - a kitchen supplies store with lot's of goodies - 1$ cookie cutters! :)

So, dear shoppers, when you have the chance to pamper yourself with some "toys for the soul" - these are the places you may want to visit!

Until next time (in US) - Clay away!

Polymeri Online 14.3.12 | Dots and circles, Manicotti beads, Jungle bangle and Little red riding hood necklace

Nataliya Solonchuk's tiny dots and circles are so sweet and naive, she is all into small microscopic details that makes a larger design. She recently joined Flickr so I am guessing her photo stream will be soon filled with more goodies.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/natashka_ribkin/6835467996/in/photostream

MaryAnne treats her jewelry designs as if they are canvas and paints. The richness in details is wonderful. I loved her journal covers, and take a look at her "Manicotti" beads! a piece of art!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/28608662@N04/6214124046/

MariaEva - Niná Ramos is in her personal imaginary zoo - blue and purple leopards are a part of her jewelry line! Jungle-Bangle!

She is from Venezuela, her daughter gave her clay and materials for Christmas, her brother sent her books and that was a start of a great journey!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ninanefertiti77/sets/72157628041520485/

Filoecoloridiila from Italy creates whimsical costume jewelry, full of color, irony and craziness here and there and uses resin, polymer clay, pannolenci, felt and upcycled materials to create unique and often one-ok-a kind accessories.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/Filoecoloridiila

Get ready, tomorrow I am posting a new guessing game for my upcoming tutorial, this time I promise - no tiny photos! See you soon :)

Polymeri Online 7.3.12 | Curled polymer clay spoons, Funky food, Portrait stamps and Coil beads

First I have to apologize for neglecting my weekly posts, a nasty virus has caught my son and then had to pay me a visit... Mid-seasons are the worst for catching viruses! Now I am recovering and back to my duties! :)

The first polymeri link is by PolymerSpoon. Marie Laure is a french artist who works mostly in Millefiori. You can find curly spoons and various colorful creations in her flickr along with several photos of her canning process.

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

http://fimo-creations-polyspoon.com/

Bistro Bling is a menu of funky food jewelry made from polymer clay. The "chef" is Jane Lubin, a mixed media artist. She created her fun and funky jewelry for personal use but was soon being stopped everywhere by curious people who wanted some quirky jewelry of their own. Her website, designed as a menu is cool!

http://www.bistrobling.com/

Not polymer but a wonderful way to stamp your art! Portrait stamps! isn't this the most original "signature stamp"? I loved it! You can use Lise Grossmann services to create your own hand writing stamp. brilliant.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/lilimandrill?ref=seller_info

leeleebeads' photostream is full of snakes, coils, strips, curls all made of polymer clay. Leah Hagan is a clay artist and a beadmaker. She even created special themed sets for the holidays. They look like small colorful candy to me.

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

Polymeri Online 26.2.2012 | Play-Doh take 2, Figures late at night, Mokume wonder & The great jewelry display

Once again, Yondat Dascalu and Idit fischer-Katz (Zoota) made a collaboration to think of new ideas to use play-doh and natural clay. Two years ago they figured out a way to create canes using Play-Doh and now came up with a new idea to use natural clay as a mold for polymer clay. Since natural clay curing temperature is much higher then polymer clay curing temperature you can use it as a "shape holder" to create many shapes of polymer. Give it a try!

When I was reading blog posts in the Israeli Etsy group I found an artist called Charles Chetrit. Since he was a child he was sculpturing figures from olive tree branches. 4 years ago he was injured at work and found himself at home for a long period of time. That was the perfect time to go back to his artistic roots when he found out about polymer clay. To create his large sculptures he is using a metal bases and bringing his figures to life. Today he is the manager of the filming department on an Israeli tv channel and find the late night hours the best time to create. Thank you Charles for sharing your story with me :)
http://www.etsy.com/shop/ArtOfFaces

Samantha Braund is a multi talent artist working with polymer clay as well. Her polymer gallery in flickr is full of wonderful mokume sheets, beautiful beads and lovely colors. She is a UK based jewelry designer and her other interests include digital art, water colour painting & sculpting in various medias.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/amadoradesigns/sets/72157622663496753/

Although not polymer, this jewelry display is to die for! How I wish I had one like this!
http://www.etsy.com/listing/83464177/jewelry-display-by-blackforestcottage

I recently joined Cynthia Tinnaple StudioMojo's newsletter and it's wonderful! Seeing Cynthia's daily links are a great inspiration and getting her weekend emails are even greater! Check it out, she is offering a free sneak-peek in her website.

Clay away!

Polymeri Online 17.1.12 | Red dotted acorns, Sleeping cat tutorial, Pirate decoration & 19 steps face cane tutorial

Don't you just love these adorable red ornaments acorns?

Patricia Buzo is the creator behind Doodle Bird's terrarium designs, She comes from a long line of artistically-minded family and originally started out as a watercolor artist in her teens, In 2008 she began to have health issues and started looking into other creative avenues. These acorns are made with real acorn caps and polymer clay, the "nut" is sculpted to fit perfectly into it's cap.

http://www.etsy.com/listing/62108208/set-of-5-toadstool-farm-acorn-ornaments

Cara Hayman's sleeping cat tutorial is a quick and easy project to play with, Cara used polymer clay since childhood creating tea sets and miniature food for her dolls house. Now as a stay at home mum she finally finds the time to develop her passion for polymer.

http://www.carajane.co.uk/2012/01/my-sleeping-cat-tutorial.html

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

Bébelles de Lou's flickr tutorials "folder" is filled with cute ideas, you are welcome to check out her blog for more projects.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bebellesdelou/sets/72157624494160326/

http://polyblog.canalblog.com/

And another quick tutorial project for a face cane by Galka Vasina, 19 steps and you're all done! ;)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/27568198@N04/6660398311/in/contacts/

Polymeri Online 5.1.12 | 3D beads, Watercolor jewelry, Knitted doll brooches, Polymer razor art

Conny lives in northern Germany and has some eye catching designs on her website and flickr gallery, her mokume gane beads are perfect and I loved her recent design made of small circles placed in layers, giving a wonderful 3D feel to the clay. Take a look a her flickr and you'll find lot's of goodies.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/way-of-clay/

http://www.way-of-clay.de/

Alica's water color beads and necklace looks like wrapped pearls, the turquoise shades and creamy spacers reminds me of a clear clear sea shore water with white-creamy sand.

If you need a reminder on the technique, here is Maggie Maggio's tutorial to create the watercolor beads.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/alica19/6634418865/in/photostream

Irina Rybak from Ukraine creates funny brooches that will make you smile, they are "polymer knitted" with scarves, sweat-shirts and hats. so cute!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/IrenkaR

Take a look at what can be created from the handles of razors! Beautiful lines, designs and textures! Marlene Brady was featured about 2 weeks ago and this one is another treasure of hers! Time to go "shave'in"! LOL ;)

http://itsallaboutcreating.blogspot.com/2010/12/disposable-razors.html

I am working like crazy on new samples to a new event I will be attending abroad in 3 weeks, more details (and photos!) soon :)

Clay away!

Polymeri Online 12.11.11 | Chain bracelet, Felt & polymer ring, Chess set, Christmas ornament and Rolled beads

I'm home! Italy was wonderful! a little bit rainy on the beginning but after that the weather was great - Milano, Florence and Tuscany, Venice, Murano, Ferrari Museum (plus a real ride on a Ferrari car!), Piza, San Gimignano, Siena, Roma - an amazing trip and an amazing birthday!

But's it's always good to be back home :)

So back to work!

Spanish artist Mariana Constantinescu made an interesting chain bracelet

http://www.flickr.com/photos/marianna700/3288206081/in/faves-51136446@N06/

she is mostly working in the millefiori technique but you can find more intriguing designs in her gallery such as this black and white necklace -

http://www.flickr.com/photos/marianna700/3375659491/in/photostream

Zuzzik is working with Fimo and felt in her polymer clay designs, this ring, called "fire", is using polymer clay and orange felt bursting out of it - I love it!

She is from Prague, Czech Republic.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/zuzzik/4493786194/in/photostream

http://www.zuzzik.webgarden.cz/

Ana Kuhnen - Marmelinhas' was featured before in PolymeriOnline but this chess set is so cute I had to share it with you.

My DH is still waiting for his personal polymer clay chess set and every time I see one that I like I remember that I have to make one for him as I promised long time ago.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/marmelinhas/5960892058/in/photostream

Getting ready to the holidays here is a tutorial for covering round ornaments by Eilaine of Tooaquarious -

http://www.tooaquarius.com/learn/tutorials/covering-round-ornaments/

Luisa's flicker gallery has some cool beads and a cool tool to make beads using self-made 2 rollers made of plastic pipes

http://www.flickr.com/photos/-_lu_-/6325635575/in/photostream

See you soon with more news, links and new tutorials!

Ready, Set, Fold! & Guessing game winner!

66 comments! Wow!

I just love giveaways both as a giver and as a winner ;) LOL

Congratulation Ms. Small Idea! You've won my new tutorials!

Want to know what you won?

What those mysterious tiny pictures are?

Well, the story begins 2 months ago, I was invited to my friend's daughter birthday party: "Come join us, Iris, Let's drink a cup of coffee", said the mother, "I have invited a wonderful entertainer - she makes paper folds! You'd love it!"

So I came. and... I was fascinated!

Remember when we were kids and made scoubidou strands and friendship bracelets? That was it, only with paper - the kids LOVED it!

It took me a while and I decided to take this idea, adapt it to the polymer clay world and create a more sophisticated technique using polymer.

Being a long time blogger, knowing many of the polymer clay artists around, I browsed and looked for more info about folding techniques in polymer clay and didn't find any, so I took the time to experiment and learn more about it.

When I started experimenting, I found that folding with polymer gives our designs a very special 3 dimensional effect achieved by the special characters of the material, the special colors - solid or marbled, metallic or glittery, skinner blended or extruded.

The adhesiveness of the clay makes it very easy to fold and to compress the folds - bead or jewel - these techniques are turning any piece to an intriguing, attractive, interesting and almost impossible to believe it is clay.

Although not as stretching as ribbon or flexible as paper - polymer clay with it's wonderful color palette, patterns and textures take these techniques into a whole different level.

Looking back at the history of weaving and folding, weaving was used by our prehistoric ancestors as an aid in their quest for basic needs of food, shelter & clothing, and folding, especially paper folding (japanese Origami), is an art of folding objects out of paper without cutting/pasting - that's perfect for clay! the clay will stick to itself!

These ancient techniques soon became very popular and moved to the modern era in the shape of recycled and found materials.

So, why not use use traditional folds to create entirely new and exciting designs?

After 1.5 months of work, trials and error, investigating these techniques from every possible angle - It's finally ready.

In this new set of PolyPediaOnline tutorials I chose to use our medium - polymer clay - to create folded, weaved and rolled fine jewelry and accessories.

Polymer clay folding, weaving and rolling are new techniques you'll want to add to your skills repertoire!

Want to read more about it?

Click here for more details!

Polymeri Online 6.8.11 | Special cake toppers, Crayon's necklace, Spoon bead core and Polymer clay horns

With a degree in Sociology and Psychology, Christina Robinson worked in the mental health field, and pursued various avenues of careers. Before finally settling on the fact that she wanted to work

full time on her art, she took classes toward finishing a degree in Biology in hopes to do research in genetics and nutrition. Her current interests include creating beautiful accessories, oil painting, and sculpting art dolls in her own unique style, with a special face expression I can't really describe in words....

http://www.etsy.com/shop/OhMaudlinMe

http://www.christinazimmer.com/dolls/

Don't miss her "in process" photos of one of her pieces -

http://christinarobinsonblog.blogspot.com/2011/03/mr-modesty-in-progress.html

Dany Teysseire-Mlanao is a graduated from the Regional Academy of Fine-Art in Valence (France) specializing in painting. his (I hope I'm correct) artistic expression goes in three diverse directions: paint on textile and creation of clothing, plastic animation and dressmaking. He has been creating jewelry since 1994 and produced costumes for shows and the

theatre. In his free time he enjoys 7 hours per week of kick-boxing and 800 sit-ups later (Did I mention I walk the dog??) :) In this piece he is using resin, paper, drawing crayon and of course polymer clay.

http://www.etsy.com/listing/64316503/girls-and-eyes-polymer-clay-necklance

Galina (Grgalina) has posted a cool tutorial for creating a a bead core made of aluminum foil and... spoon! It's a bit of an oldie but who's counting?

Galina was a guest in my blog but was not introduced in full in my previous post (here) - she was born in Russia, but since 1998, lived in different places around the world, from Singapore to Ireland. At present time she lives in Dublin, Ireland. For many years she worked as a computer designer, but discovered polymer clay few years ago, and since then her soul & mind are into it.

http://grgalina.livejournal.com/38490.html

I found these polymer clay costume horns using aluminum foil in cut out and keep website which is full of simple projects using polymer clay.

http://www.cutoutandkeep.net/projects/clay-costume-horns

Have a great weekend! I'm off to my studio planning my next project :)

Polymeri Online 28.7.11 | Mosaic with 6 kids, Carving beads, Carnivorous beads and Egypt god decoration

Sandy loved polymer clay ever since her daughter introduced it to her quite a while ago, she is creating one of a kind pieces, faces, masks and wall decorations (photo: Solar God of Ancient Egypt), in addition to cute small figurines.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/mstp

Kael Mijoy, a mother to 6 kids ages 2-14 and a cat, is running a home computer repair business with her husband, homeschooling the older kids, play with the younger kids, and pretty much ignore the cat, BUT she has some time to clay!She has generously shared her cool mosaic technique with us, I think she has more than 24 hours a day! :)

http://kaelmijoy.blogspot.com/2010/10/cured-on-raw-mosaic-tutorial.html

http://www.etsy.com/shop/kaelmijoy

Elena Aleshina is a lawyer from Moscow, Russia, her wonderful looking polymer clay beads look like carved using a lathe but I'm not certain that is her technique. very interesting.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tavostia/page4/

Denise Scheiben is from Switzerland, working with polymer clay since 2007, when I first saw her red necklace some how I was thinking about Carnivorous plants! The red halves of the beads seemed like they are planning to take a bite! :) I loved the colors and combination of beads & wire!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nislia/4423827047/in/photostream

Check out her mesh jewelry too, as you know I love mesh with polymer clay :)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nislia/4423827045/in/photostream

What Will Those Mosquitoes Do Next?

Ever wondered If it's possible to create very thin polymer clay beads and forms that are strong, durable, flexible and light weight?

Actually, It's (almost!) impossible!

Guess what?

I developed a special technique allowing YOU to create the impossible!

When we were building our home several years ago, I noticed that the builders used a simple technique of pouring concrete to form walls using a metal mesh inside to reinforce it.

I watched them, not realizing that one day I’ll be using another form of that technique on my polymer clay creations.

A few years later I was looking for something to help me create a thin yet strong polymer clay piece that will not break after the first time it falls out of my hand. This was the result of my dropping a few delicate polymer clay beads on the floor, and being very upset because they broke could not be repaired.

As you probably know, polymer clay does not handle breakage well, and it was not bad luck on my part having those beads shattered to pieces, just a disadvantage of polymer clay. A disadvantage that caused me and many polymer clay artists to avoid creating delicate and thin pieces.

This really got me thinking, I wanted to find a way around the problem, not to avoid it.

Eventually the technique the builders used crossed my mind.

Click here to read on about the Mosquito Technique...

http://www.polypediaonline.com/133688/mosquito_technique_tutorials

Bzzzz here....

Polymeri Online 25.6.11 | Pumpkin Beads, Ribbon Bracelet, Norwegian PC and Recycled Labyrinth

A cool fun and free tutorial by Slovenian artist Roberta Mohar for her wonderful pumpkin beads!

http://www.scribd.com/doc/58625130/Robertine-bu%C4%8Dke-navodila

http://robertam.blogspot.com/2011/06/robertine-bucke-navodila-za-izdelavo.html

UK artist Hazel Ward started making polymer clay beads in 2009 after finding, like many of us, that she prefer to use artisan handmade beads in her jewelry designs.

Most of her art is based on millefiori canes, look at this ribbon style bracelet, and her blog is full of wonderful posts and tips for all us polymer clay lovers

http://allthosethingsandtheotherstoo.blogspot.com/2011/01/polymer-clay-tips.html

and this one is definitely for all addicted PC people -

http://allthosethingsandtheotherstoo.blogspot.com/2009/06/polymer-clay-addiction.html

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

http://www.continuumdesigns.co.uk/index.html

Christel Jensen is a Norwegian, married mother of two grown up girls. She has been claying since the 90-ties and written several craft books in norwegian, but that was a long time ago. Currently she is very busy building a new home and is excited about making a new studio in it!

You can find some of her miniature tutorials in Youtube - mini polymer teapots and cupcakes and jewelry in her blog.

http://www.youtube.com/user/ChristelJensen

http://www.polymerart.blogspot.com/

This Fimo labyrinth using a CD case from Teri of Giddy Giddy for kids is a wonderful example of reuse and recycling. She shares several versions of maze styles, and I imagine kids would have fun coming up with their own as well! a summer vacation project!

http://bkids.typepad.com/bookhoucraftprojects/2011/05/project-85-cd-case-labyrinth.html