What often fulfills and amuses us in childhood is often a reflection of what is our passion in adulthood. Meet Andrew Cnij, an artist behind a YouTube and Instagram account called Andrewscraft. The twenty-five years old Andrew from Turkey has been gravitating towards art from an early age. As a seven-year-old, he liked to draw with charcoal and immerse himself in the stories of superheroes who have been a great inspiration for him since childhood. Almost two years ago, Andrew was inspired by other creators on YouTube and decided to give it a try by combining art and his love for superheroes. His idea was to create sculptures of his favorite superheroes from polymer clay, but Andrew didn't want to stop at just creating. He, therefore, decided to film the process of his artwork via videos and share his know-how with the world on social media. When you look at his creations, it is obvious that his talent is connected to his childhood self. Nowadays, he tries to be as active as possible on his profiles and to encourage budding creators with his work. When visiting his profile, you can spot a lot of famous superheroes such as Spiderman, Batman, Moonknight and many others. It is breathtaking how detailed and perfectly crafted his creations are. "I think artists, or those who want to become ones, should focus more on their arts to get better and not to compare themselves to others," he shared. As children, we don't pretend to like something and only do what we really enjoy. As adults, we often have to focus on what is needed or what is more beneficial for society. Maybe each of us should find the inner child in ourselves and start listening to it, whether it's about creating or looking at the world.

Many of our readers are already familiar with Marina Andrei’s artwork. Her detailed tutorials published in Society and in the Polymer Week Magazine have been a source of inspiration for countless artists from all over the world. Her clean and precise style of shaping the pieces and the way she assembles her necklaces are easily recognizable. Did you know that Marina names every piece of jewelry she creates? Her latest necklace, called “Spacecraft” has an outworldly allure and seems to be made for a sci-fi movie character. We asked Marina to tell us the tale of how this necklace was created. We were curious about the journey from the first idea to the finished piece. Marina is not only a talented artist, but also a skilled storyteller! She started the story relating that she started the Spacecraft necklace with a color palette in mind: cool, metallic colors - blues, grays, white and black. She chose a steel-like shade, with pearl white and black. “Brr… way too cool,” she thought. She needed a contrasting color to enhance the metallics, so she decided to add a touch of a strong, vivid, orange red. “I had the Ferrari red in my mind,” she says, “and after several tries, I got the recipe for something similar.” Thinking of stelar spaceships with pointed antennas, Marina started to search for an abstract texture in her box. “I found the Texture Stamp no. 6 by Lucy Struncova, which I had no chance to use yet for my creations. It gave me the inkling of a bunch of sticks or needles. Did I say needles? Ok, icicles. Ice is cold and so was my color palette. Perfect!” The texture is quite shallow so Marina made a stack of very thin sheets of clay for the mokume gane. She loved the result! The most difficult part was to find a texture for the lower part of the pendant. She knew she wanted a texture, but something light, shallow and repetitive, that didn't compete with the mokume pattern that was definitely the main element. She found a piece of texture that she received as a bonus gift with a polymer clay order. “I would call it a piece of... something,” she says. “Maybe it was an ex plastic table individual cover to put under the plates. Who knows?” Many creative people use all kinds of weird stuff they find in their household for texturing polymer clay. “I matched the surface of the texture with the rest of the pendant by using metallic Pan pastels. And this is how I found that if you combine silver with blue pastels you get a nice steel color.” Marina’s necklace is absolutely stunning. A lover of textures and metallic clay, she approaches her projects from a craftsmanship and design perspective, with the objective of bringing her conceptual work to life through the jewelry she creates. And we love it!

BOO! The spookiest night of the year is rapidly approaching and it's definitely not too late to carve a pumpkin! Let’s get in a humorous Halloween mood today under the guidance of David H. Everett. If you haven't chosen your costume yet, take a glance at these spooky creatures and you will undoubtedly feel inspired. The world created by David is obviously defined by humor and color. You just can’t look at his sculptures without bursting into laughter. That’s why the characters he makes are the perfect choice for a jovial celebration. From witches with cauldrons full of something delicious - we’re pretty sure it’s not a vegetarian dish - to haunted candles with hilarious features, spooky skeletons with fancy joben hats, cranky crows that are out for a night of thrills and chills, pumpkins with silly and mischievous smiles hopelessly trying to look scary, anything you can possibly imagine can be found in David’s portofolio. Each and every creation David creates is sculpted by hand without the use of any molds. The American artist works primarily in the clay medium.“Each sculpted piece is given a primer coat of gesso, painted in acrylics, sealed, details are added in oil paints, more sealing, staining, and then sealed again. It's a lot of work, but each piece has its own individual character - one that will hopefully bring a smile to your face for many years to come.” Among David’s sculptures there are lots of characters that seem to have descended from a spooky Halloween story. We’re all accustomed with the holiday celebrated each year on October 31. Halloween tradition’s origins can be traced back to the ancient Celtic festival known as Samhain. According to Celtic mythology, the veil between the Otherworld and our world thins during Samhain, making it easier for spirits and the souls of the dead to return, so people dressed in costumes and lit bonfires to ward off spirits. Over the years David has created an army of evil undead sculptures, designed to scare the puny mortals not only on Halloween, but at any time of the year. Okay, maybe they aren't really terrifying but hopelessly hilarious and definitely they're not looking evil at all, but these little spooks are capable of mischief and shenanigans. If you really want to, you can adopt one! Or maybe you need a whole army, not just one. Be warned, you might end up trying to collect them all, for full terrifying effect. We wish you all a wicked, joyful, witchy Halloween!

“It's been a long time since I've felt this excited about a new creation! This fella's shoes were still warm from the oven and I was already cramming them on his feet and hustling outside to take photos!” We can definitely relate to Melissa Terlizzi’s impatience. This handsome stole the hearts of a large audience the instant he was introduced. Including ours! Isn’t he wonderful as he looks up at us, comfortably seated among fallen leaves? His jumper looks so fashionable. We can’t stop smiling looking at him! Did you notice his blue socks? He has knitted assorted cozy socks to keep his legs warm above his sneakers. He also has a blue, matching scarf. “Gotta keep his neck warm!”, Melissa mentions. The American artist is well-known for her joyful sculptures made from polymer clay, usually depicting animals. This lovely creature is the first of its kind and was born out of Melissa’s desire to make something new using glass eyes and knitting/sewing miniature clothes. “I used sock yarn from my stash to knit his sweater, socks and scarf,” she says. “I made his trousers out of some leftover ‘faux suede’ I used about 20 years ago on one of my kids’ Halloween costumes. Being a pack rat sometimes pays off!” The cute creature (troll, old man - his creator can’t decide) was made with beige Super Sculpey and Genesis paints. Melissa states that she usually uses colored Premo for her creations so everything about this project feels new for her. After the completion of this cute fella who managed to put a smile on so many faces she has the feeling that she stretched some different muscles. The sculpture has jointed articulations. At the shoulders and hips the artist inserted wire through the body and made loops at the ends. She did the same with the arms and legs, and connected them to the body with jump rings. “Nothing fancy,” she says, “but necessary in order to get him into his sweater sleeves and trouser legs!” “It was so fun for me!” Melissa relates about the process of sculpting the protagonist of our story. “I am anxious to make another one now. Perhaps a funny old woman in a dress with a cardigan jumper.” It seems like such a wonderful idea! Now we can’t wait for this little fella’s girlfriend to be created so we can give her a proper welcome!

Autumn is such a magical time! It's time for comfy sweaters, warm drinks and pretty colors. Speaking of drinks, a beautifully decorated mug may surely add to the joy of savoring our favorite hot beverage, so it’s worth choosing wisely. Searching for autumn-inspired creations, our attention was caught by the work of Mihaela Cheșcu. “When I create, it is characterized by color and cheerfulness,” says the artist whose first encounter with polymer clay was over nine years ago. Mihaela taught herself the art of modeling polymer clay. “I am a self-taught artist,” she reveals. “Because of this, I learned to improvise a lot. For example, especially at the beginning, when the necessary tools were not accessible to me, I had to adapt tools from other fields. Even now I work with many manicure tools. The modeling part came easily, almost instinctively. My first creations were small pieces.” Looking at Mihaela’s creations, her dedication for doing an exquisite job is almost palpable. From the choice of colors to the fineness of the edges, every detail is taken care of to fit harmoniously. “I avoid using silicone molds as much as possible,” says the artist, who loves the process of transforming a shapeless lump of clay and watching it take shape using just her hands and a few modeling tools. “I'm the type of artist who prefers to create every curve with the knife, so it takes time to achieve the desired result. I like to give each piece my full attention.” Because most of the time her works are custom orders, the artisan likes to say that she brings dreams and desires to life. "Smiles on command” is the way the artist’s sister describes Mihaela’s creations. Sometimes it's a challenge to do custom work, but Mihaela likes challenges because they push her out of her comfort zone. When she’s choosing the theme to work on, nature is often chosen as a source of inspiration. Mihaela is also inspired by the world of children and animals. “The autumn leaves were inspired by a walk with the neighbor's dog,” she says. “The wind had picked up after the rain and the driveway next to the building was littered with leaves. I picked up a leaf from the ground because I liked the color. It still had green on it, even though it was late fall. So, I decided to keep the leaf and make earrings to wear as a memory. And now comes the improvised part: I used the leaf from nature to leave a mark on the clay. Then I worked out the details.” Since then, Mihaela has only used leaves from nature for her projects. The individuality of each leaf makes every piece distinctive and unrepeatable. Long walks through autumn days also brought the inspiration for the mugs. The idea was born after gazing at the wind lifting out the leaves, in combination with the students coming out of school. They were playing with fallen leaves on the driveway. That is why the girls on the mugs have a bouquet in their hands and a carpet of leaves at their feet. Besides being her full time job, claying for Mihaela is a form of relaxation, stress release and healing. She loves what she does and that brings her joy and fills her life with a sense of purpose.

A world full of color and imagination - that’s how Anita Varga’s creations can be described in simple words. The artist is a lover of fantasy stories where magic can be a weapon, adventure is everywhere, love is a mystery and dragons are real. Recalling the beginning of her clay adventure Anita says that she’s always loved arts, but the fact that she tried working with polymer clay was one of the best decisions of her life. This makes us smile because we can definitely relate to her story. Many of us remember that moment when a lump of clay became the center of our creative world. “My artworks are mostly fantasy related because I love all magic creatures such as fairies, dragons and even monsters,” says Anita. “They are all beautiful to me and another reason why I love them is because I can create my characters according to my imagination and I can also paint them with any color I wish.” When you are not afraid to dream and when you create your own fairy tale creatures, you create your own magic. Creative people don’t always see the world as it is. Sometimes it is sprinkled with stardust. Anita believes that working with polymer clay is a neverending beautiful and exciting journey which is limited only by our imagination. “There is always something to learn and I love challenging myself,” she discloses. As a self-taught artist the beginning was not easy but she didn't give up and strived every day to improve her skills. We asked Anita what are the sources of her inspiration. “Anything I can see inspires me day by day: a picture, a movie, other artist's artworks, so my mind is always full with new ideas and every day I am ready to create something new to make everyone smile.” Anita’s sculpting journey started with a video she saw about two years ago. It was about a fairy jar that she fell in love with, so the young artist decided to give it a try and create something similar, something out of a fairy land. Why fairy tales and fantasy creatures? Anita believes she fell in love with magical creatures in her childhood. “When I was a child, I used to play fantasy video games and read lots of fairy tale books. I admired these creatures because they were born in our imagination, their appearances can be endless, they can be empowered with supernatural skills and have unique colors,” the artist mentions. At the beginning Anita tried to make characters as easy as possible, just to get some experience, but at the same time she aimed to learn how to create something more complex and also how to build the armature for more intricate figurines. “I use aluminum wire, aluminum foil, masking tape and sometimes even hot glue to build my armatures. When the armature is ready I start putting the first layer of polymer clay. At this point I start adding details, which is one of my favorite parts of sculpting!” Since she started this kind of art, Anita’s studio started to fill with plenty of different tools which she uses during the detailing process, such as rubber shapers, carving and ball stylus tools, explorer tools and literally anything that can be found in the house, even a toothbrush. “Usually when I sculpt my own design I just sculpt as I go without any sketch, but when I create something that already exists - for example a cartoon character - I make proper measurements and I draw sketches to ensure my sculpture will look as close as possible as the original one.” The final step of the creation is painting, which is another part of the process Anita adores. Just as detailing, painting can be a very long process as she strives to mix the colors to get different shades and coordinating colors, making sure everything fits together. “Sculpting is not the easiest art I have ever tried but I have to say it is the most exciting one,” Anita mentions. “It takes a huge amount of time and patience. Sometimes it can be frustrating but when I finally see my finished sculpture, I always realize it’s worth every moment and it doesn’t matter if my creation is perfect or not, I love it the way it is as I created it with all of my heart!”

Today we would like to bring to your attention the colorful world created by Sally Kirk. Sally is a ceramic and polymer clay artist based in Houston, Texas. She enjoys making miniature polymer clay quilts because it highlights the bright colors and endless possibilities of the medium. Her recent creations feature interesting gradient designs as well as bold patterns schemes inspired by intricate and vintage quilts. She has made fabric quilts in the past and incorporates her experience of piecing fabric into each slab. Sally creates under the brand Blossom and Clay, a name that was inspired by the artist’s love for gardening. Nature themes are often found throughout her work and flowers are frequently chosen as a motif. Music was Sally’s first love in life and she is currently a middle school orchestra director. During her undergraduate degree she signed-up for a ceramics course. Her first ceramic earring line was launched in 2017, focusing on techniques like image transfer and colored clay inlay. Progressively she became more interested in colors: using Mason Stains to color her ceramic pieces was beautiful and exciting but quite labor-intensive. Once she started using polymer clay, Sally discovered that it was a much quicker and somehow a more satisfying way of creating fine, precise colors and sophisticated designs. The combinations of alcohol inks Sally uses to color her jewelry is absolutely eye catching. Among her creations with floral designs or abstract paintings we found innovative pieces which feature organic shapes and intricate details. Sally enjoys working with clay, shaping it and watching it transform into functional and wearable artwork. “There’s lots of fun in creating new designs for custom orders and exploring new ideas through the process," she says.

Art binds. Art has the special ability to bring people together physically - at galleries, workshops or fairs - and culturally, through its capacity to portray a shared story, to inspire reflection and to form connections that transcend differences. Today's article is about art collaboration, defined as a single art piece or project completed by multiple artists, all making a contribution to the same art piece. Sounds exciting and fun, doesn’t it? The name of the first artist we will focus on today is Serena Di Mercione. She is Sicilian and lives in a place near the sea. Art and crafts have always been part of her life, since childhood. Creativity and love for art are qualities that have always belonged to Serena to the point that she decided to have her studies in the art domain (first the Art School and then the Academy of Fine Arts). “I have always loved jewelry, especially the artistic ones, in any technique,” Serena says about the beginning of her artistic journey. “I have been collecting jewelry for many years and, at the same time, I have developed a passion for making jewelry myself. I have always had a passion for very particular, refined, handcrafted, showy jewels so, when I realized that I could make them with my own hands, my experimentation began.” For about twelve years Serena has been passionate about textile jewelry. She experimented with various techniques, arriving at the soutache. It is a technique that remains close to the artist’s heart because it is impromptu and full of possibilities. The word “soutache” means a narrow, flat ornamental braid and refers to viscose ribbons (or other materials) which, when observed closely, look like stripes and which, sewn together, create an ornament. The beauty of the soutache technique is that you can create an infinite number of shapes and color combinations, incorporating crystals, pearls and much more between the strips of the soutache. Always looking for particular and unique details to be included in her jewels, Serena started to use handcrafted components made by other creative people in the world. Polymer clay cabochons, flowers or berries started to adorne the intricate designs the artist creates. “This necklace has a mix of techniques,” says Serena about this particular piece. “In addition to the soutache and the polymer clay bouquet, the collar is decorated with decoupage and material encrustation of pearls, crystals and gold leaf.” And so, the story leads to the second protagonist of this collaboration. It’s time to introduce Doriana Germano. Doriana is Italian and lives in Campania, a town on the Amalfi coast. She has a degree in computer science, but since childhood had an interest in creativity and handmade crafts. The artist has been passionate about making handmade jewelry for about 14 years, starting with beading, moving on to crochet, to soutache, and up to the passion for polymer clay - a material she started to work with about ten years ago. Serena has known Doriana for some years, but they never collaborated before although she has always admired her dexterity. “Recently, I became fascinated by some cabochons Doriana made,” recalls Serena about the beginning of this team work. “I love the details that remind me of the atmosphere of southern Italy and in particular of my beloved Sicily. I adore to create mini-worlds where I can find the scent of my land, the color of the sea, the warm light of the sun, the smell of orange blossom and of lemons…” “I love to experiment and create artistic jewels and elements for other artists such as Serena, often in floral style,” reveals Doriana. “I have known Serena for many years and have always admired her creations and her particular taste in the choice of shapes and colors. Our collaboration was born after I made elements that illustrate the symbols of my land, a theme that has always fascinated Serena, that unites both our homelands and all of southern Italy.” Thus was born a perfect union between the cabochons made by Doriana and Serena’s intricate soutache designs. “The earrings created with these cabochons were intended for those who would love a flashy, colorful, particularly jeweled, and for those who love the colors and the themes of vibrant southern Italy,” mentions Serena about the jewelry created upon her partnership with Doriana. Each time artists from different fields team together, the process is distinctly special and the result has a magic allure, as if two worlds entwine. We firmly believe that one world cannot live without the other, the exchange of different perspectives is a gateway to achieve true openness and freedom in creativity.

Esther Ramiro lives in Madrid, Spain, but she has lived in several countries in Latin America where she expressed her creativity by painting, making fantasy jewelry and finally metalsmithing. She came across polymer clay when browsing the internet in 2015. “That was the moment when I decided that this was going to be my material of choice, due to its versatility and the possibility of combining it with metal components made by me,” recalls the artist about the beginning of her interaction with polymer clay. Esther artwork is full of interesting assemblies and stands out because of her organic and innovative textures. She says that among her favorite pieces are the ones where she mixes metal with polymer clay. “I love to make mainly pendants, but now I am into making bracelets and big necklaces because I am experimenting on how to make hollow beads in order to make lightweight pieces. All this experimentation allowed me to create new veneers and I decided to make tutorials with what I have learned, because I love to teach.” Esther mentions that she was a teacher of English before she had to move abroad. Each piece that leaves Esther’s workbench is one of a kind because she gets bored of repetition. In her art, you can spot a strong influence of natural elements and colors. She is always trying to make new designs using new techniques and she doesn't like to follow fashion trends. “I sit at my table and create what comes to my mind, therefore my pieces are unique and atemporal.” In the Society, our membership online platform, you can find a newly published tutorial where Esther shares how to create a pendant with an original construction and an innovative embossed pattern. "I am often inspired by ceramics art, but I am really concerned about how heavy the pieces are. In this pendant, I wanted to mimic the glazed surface of sgraffito pottery technique, but since it is made of polymer clay it is so light that you won't ever feel you are wearing it," mentions Esther about her project.

Sculpting, engraving and painting are the first three easily recognizable arts that so skillfully combine and have a common material that holds them together, polymer clay. When Arieta Stavridou creates, the chunks of clay she shapes become works of art of unparalleled aesthetics, as if those artworks do not aim to impress your eyes, but your very soul! Arieta lives in Cyprus and has studied art in Greece. Her first interaction with polymer clay was about 15 years ago. She attended two classes with the polymer clay guild of Cyprus and this was a thunderous love at first sight! Arieta’s journey involving polymer clay started with small objects and jewelry. Every time she made something, she wanted to go a little further and that’s how the long journey began. For a long time the artist was involved in creating millefiori canes. Using them on small surfaces was not enough for Arieta and that’s when she started working on larger objects. As a tea lover she started to adorn her teapots. The way Arieta turns a simple utility object into a piece of art is disarming. In her portofolio we can find a collection of teapots with various and special shapes, dressed with lots of different and colorful canes. Arrieta’s teapots covered in multicolored polymer chunks are definitely eye catchers. It was about the same time that she considered working on bigger surfaces so she moved on to plates. Also, large surfaces provided her more balance in terms of composition and color! After the teapots and the decorative dishes, Arieta started giving weight to portraits. When the pandemic started it was a difficult period, for some less for others more. It was a period that tested our endurance, played with our emotions and made us re-evaluate many things. The beginning of this different era found Arieta in her workshop, yearning to express herself as a woman, as an artist, as a person. She combined polymer clay with painting, engraving and sculpture. The result is outstanding pieces of art with character and structure in which we have noticed a special feature: everything has a very strong expressiveness and a power in the eyes. The look and expression of Arieta’s polymer clay portraits is so intense that they really capture you. This is how she started her female portraits: women of any color, with a different look and eyes that try to convey to us what each one of them carries in their souls. “As a woman I had to express many feelings,” Arieta says about her polymer clay paintings. “Many of my portraits are of women. Famous, unknown, from different nationalities, with different looks, showing different emotions - emotions that can touch the soul in so many ways.” The teaching part is another key chapter for Arieta. Her main occupation in Cyprus is as an art teacher in a High School. She aims to introduce various materials and mediums to children, one of them being polymer clay. This material is unknown to many children, so she tries to show them how many beautiful and unlimited possibilities it offers. What she always tells to her students and to anyone who wants to get to know this material better is to do it with all their soul. She believes that anything less does not fit polymer clay. Her students are told that they will have to devote many hours of work, experimentation and research, thus slowly discovering their own identity! Arieta is definitely a visual artist. Her latest creations - called “EYE CONTACT” - is composed of eye paintings, made with polymer clay. “I believe that the most important features of a face are the eyes so my last creations are all about eyes. Eyes that can speak to the soul.” “When the soul is filled with big and true smiles, with many and beautiful words, it gives you the strength to move on and develop what you do and what you love so much!”

Flowers as a jewelry motif is nothing new, but some designers have a special way of adding a sense of modernity and youthfulness to their floral designs while also maintaining a timeless beauty. “Flowers are kind of my signature,” affirms Mădălina Marinescu about her work. “I use them on almost every item I make, so I choose to experiment with the shape of the jewelry and the colors I use to always get something new.” Love for femininity, beauty and tenderness can be found in every piece of jewelry Mădălina designs. We wanted to know what is the secret ingredient of her creations and the artist replied simply: “Passion! Everything I create comes from an inner place of peace and joy. I devote a lot of time to each piece of jewelry and do not make series products. Each petal and every leaf is modeled by hand from polymer clay without using molds or micro-cutters. Even the middle of the flowers is lovingly created in a preliminary stage.” Looking back at the beginning of her creative journey, the artist recalls: “I would have liked to describe myself like this: I have been creative since I was born; I intuitively knew how to hold a needle and how to shape flowers. But the truth is different: for too long I believed that if there is no talent, the hands cannot be trained to work something that does not come naturally.” Mădălina confesses that she has always appreciated and admired creative people, the ones who draw as if their soul holds the brush, who write texts so inspired that the emotion is palpable, who sew stories with a needle and thread, who take make-up to the level of art. And taking a closer look at their work, she realized how much effort is required to reach that level. “I was lucky enough to have close friends who supported me continuously and with every attempt I received encouragement,” she unveils. “I bow before each of them and I am thankful from the bottom of my heart! If there weren’t so many extraordinary people who had kind words for me, I wouldn't have found happiness in a piece of clay.” Mădălina is a lover of all things playful and fun, florals included. We can definitely admit that every pair of her earrings is one of a kind and if you choose to wear such a piece of jewelry you must be prepared for compliments, because it adds to your uniqueness!

Peruvian artist, Amanda Alva Ferrer, believes that with polymer clay, it is possible to obtain complex designs much better than with oil on canvas. With her latest creation, Amanda brings us a wonderful summer color palette that represents her country full of tradition, ancient monuments, color, and warm people, even though Peru is now in they’re winter season. “The variety of colors of clay had fused, layered, appeared, and disappeared like a magic act,” Amanda describes the process of her new creations made with her technique called “Epifanía”. While preparing a class for her community, Amanda brought together a wonderful version of mokume gane technique that truly reminds us of canvas with abstract painting. Amanda’s relationship with art started when she was a child. After studying at an industrial engineering university, she dedicated almost twenty years to her career in the industry and more than ten years ago fell in love with polymer clay. "I consider myself an artist that portrays artwork under traditional schemes, in a way this jewelry collection allowed me to obtain amazing results through more audacious pieces that represent a whole new discovery for me,” she adds.

Portuguese artist Patrícia Lago, living in Lisbon, studied architecture and urbanism and had been working in that area until last year when she stumbled on polymer clay. “Since then I have not stopped exploring it. I have been amazed by the never-ending amount of possibilities that this material provides and its versatility,” explains Patrícia. She was working as an architect but at this point Patrícia was more interested in the new things she was learning and by the joy of creating with her hands. “Polymer clay was the easiest and most accessible way to express all the shapes and forms that appear in my mind,” she says about her journey as she has learned a lot on her own and with the aid of tutorials from some amazing polymer clay artists. Nature plays a big role in her designs. For Patrícia, it is a main source of inspiration. She transforms repetition of natural forms into her sculptural jewelry. With her experience from architecture, her artwork already has a very strong uniqueness based on three dimensional shapes and mostly pastel color palette. “My pieces combine the repetition of forms from nature and sea, elements like petals, flowers, leafs, shells, conch shells, colors and volume, and thus these create living and unique items,” describes Patrícia, who views her jewelry as miniature art sculptures. “I have so many ideas, but I'm still in the beginning and I still have so much to learn,” she adds humbly. We are excited to follow Patrícia’s artwork and see where her journey is taking her next. Good job!

A few days ago, Sara Shahabi’s contemporary, bold, colorful and playful wearable art caught our eyes on social media. “Playing with color pallets and patterns for each design has been a fun part of my work,” says Sara who always starts with sketching and prototyping her ideas before creating an actual artwork. “I see how they look to wear, I make some tweaks, practice the execution and finally I create the final product. Some designs go through so many iterations to get the result I want,” she explains her process of creation. Sara has spent most of her life studying, teaching, and working in graphic design. This experience definitely influences her current polymer clay brand, Goodee, on a daily basis. “I chose polymer clay because I fell in love with the color variation and its potential with different techniques and mixing with other materials. Another great thing about polymer clay is the amazing community shaped around it. Artists share their tips and answer questions openly, which was a big help to me starting with this new material,” explains Sara about her choice of material and we are happy about that! “I'm still in the early stages of this process and trying to find my style and voice, but one thing that I always had in mind from the first steps was staying true to myself, having my artistic voice and applying all my graphic design knowledge background into this,” Sara explains and we definitely agree that her voice is already very visible in her current polymer clay artwork as she spends more time designing and expanding her execution skills to create more original unique designs. Sara’s goal for this year is to experiment and learn from other artists as much as she can to refine her style. “I would also love to learn about other materials to have more freedom of ideas and less constraints in execution,” she adds. As Sara plans ways to connect with more artists and makers through art/craft shows and festivals. “Let's see where this journey takes me!”

Jean Kaiyou has a lot of experience in technology and working digitally. As she says, creating tangible, structural objects is a new experience for her but yet we are so amazed by her original designs and precise execution of her artwork. “When I start a piece, I usually know what I want to express, whether it’s a concept, a feeling or a visual. The challenge and joy is in figuring out the how,” explains Jean of her attitude. Her background taught her to be methodical. “I keep a production journal where I document everything I learn. My graphic design skills have helped, too, and quite a few of my projects began as sketches on my tablet,” adds Jean. We are happy to introduce to you her latest artwork based on spherical and spiral shapes. Jean’s polymer clay objects that work as a sculpture and some of them as containers as well, present her designing skills in three dimensions with remarkable imagination. Jean also finds the contrast between compressed and expanding energies appealing. Jean combines matte and shiny surfaces, spacious design supplemented with one color minimalistic bases. She finishes her designs with pleasant colorful details and fine patterns. It makes us wonder where her artwork is going in the future. This is an outstanding start.

We’re always happy to hear about polymer clay artists from all over the world and their activities. Today we are going to introduce The Japan Polymer Clay Association (JPCA) to our readers. The organization was established in 2016 by a group of polymer clay artists with the aim of widely disseminating the appeal of polymer clay. Polymer as an artistic medium is still mostly unrecognized in Japan and the founding members of JPCA set out to change that. At the same time, they intend to have fun playing with the medium while aiming to improve the technical skills of their members and among polymer clay artists in Japan. Mizue Muramatsu Their main activities include organizing the annual exhibition of polymer clay artworks, publishing a newsletter twice a year, implementing JPCA's certification program with their own curriculum for teachers, and producing video training and workshops. Get inspired by Japanese artists’ artwork that often represents their culture and traditions. Erika Shinohara Mizue Muramatsu Hiroko Iriyama

Thirty one yer old Viktor Trofimov from Russia, a former figure skater in the State Ballet On Ice of St. Petersburg and now a skating coach, tells us of his interest in polymer clay. While browsing YouTube in 2019 he came across an artist who sculpted figurines from polymer. Peeking his interest, he researched in detail this polymer material and decided to sculpt SpongeBob and then the rest of the character line up of the show. After self teaching and a trial and error process of learning to work with polymer clay, Viktor decided to take several master classes learning the processes of creating figures. “The lessons helped me a lot,“ says Viktor, who after two years shares step by step photos on Instagram creating his detailed movie and cartoon characters sculptures. In his last creation, the character Luka of the same name movie, Victor gained hundreds of views when sharing the process of creation on his Instagram reels. As many others, you can get inspired and watch the birth of this sculpture from the very beginning, as Victor shows the sculpting of the head, making the wire armature, body and all incredible details, while everything stays absolutely clean and precise. Just wow!

Atlanta’s Debra Ryan’s polymer clay jewelry is influenced by her one of a kind Spirit Folk sculptures. Her mixed media sculptures, created with heads, hands and feet made of polymer, fabrics and beaded adornments of spirit jewelry with a distinctive tribal otherworldly feel. After fabricating jewelry for her sculptured people, she decided that she wanted to wear the jewelry pieces that she was making for her sculptures, Debra tells us. When she started to make polymer clay jewelry in a similar fashion the evolution is what led to her jewelry design today. “I absolutely love polymer clay and never get bored with the many ways it can be manipulated,“ says Debra who loves to play with stacked layers and textures and as she creates jewelry such as pendants, brooches, or necklaces. You can see interesting compositions around image transferred faces in her artwork as well. She wants to encourage people who don’t consider themselves “artists” to just enjoy the art of play and where it may lead you. And we could not agree more! You can watch a lovely video interview with Debra at IPCA website.

Libby Mills' work is a playful mix of color and texture. We find Libby’s bowls astonishing so we have to share them with you as well! Her artwork consists of layering painted and textured sheets of polymer into panels and jewelry. Recently her work took a little curve. While Libby considers herself a mixed media artist, her primary medium of expression is polymer clay. “I am very inspired by textiles and quilting, and I enjoy interpreting these traditional arts in a different medium,” says Libby from Connecticut. A common theme in her work is intersection, those points where lines, patterns or shapes meet. “The bowls were created for an exchange at an In-Person Polymer event I attended in May. Honestly I wasn't very excited about making small bowls, and my first attempts were lackluster,” says Libby about her latest project. “Then I decided to have fun with the concept of a bowl, change the shape and take a bite out of the edge,” adds Libby about her acrylic paint decorated bowls. Libby’s process of preparing many sheets featuring stamped, painted and textured polymer to use in a series of work gives her lots of options for combining components in her vibrant designs. She loves to make extras, giving her lots of choices to designs, leaving us with something to visually chew on. Follow her on Instagram and see more of her beautiful creations.

The talented Korean mixed media artist Hee-ang Kim is already very well known to our readers. Not only was she featured in Polymer Week Magazine and on our creative platform, Polymer Week Society, but we also previously introduced her work here on our blog. You may remember her exquisite organic pieces heavily inspired by nature and various kinds of fungi in particular. Hee-ang’s sculptural work stands out not just because of its extraordinary design, combination of materials and great work with colour - there’s much more to it. Today we would like to introduce a few of Hee-ang’s new creations to you. In her latest work, the artist stays true to shapes informed by her favourite mushrooms. Once again, she builds volume by the repetition of multitudes of identical elements - tiny gill- or petal-like shapes, and achieves balance by contrasting colours and textures. Despite their relative simplicity, these brooches have a lot to offer to the eye of those willing to spend some time observing them If Hee-ang’s latest work piqued your interest, don’t hesitate to explore more of her wonderful art on the pages of our magazine and show some support to the artist. It’s worth it, we promise! In Hee-ang’s new exhibition titled “Leap of Everyday” her small attempts to move in a new direction progressively day by day to create the natural symmetry in her reconstructed mushroom motifs, has led her to using fewer tools and thicker translucent clay. Her new work leads you to imaging what’s beyond the privacy of those mysterious translucent layers.