Mixed media enthusiast Pam Sanders got an idea from Tish Collins (via PCDaily, yay). As Pam looked at Tish’s work she was, “…very impressed by her use of her artwork in with her polymer clay work. I thought …DUH…why don’t I do that?”

Pam began bringing transfers of her own digital art to her polymer pieces and you can see how the move enriched her style. Pam’s polymer images also show up in her digital work, a nice yin and yang balance that makes a strong personal statement.

There’s been lots of talk about collaboration lately and maybe it’s time we started collaborating with ourselves, integrating other areas of our lives into our polymer art.

Belgium’s Nicole (NiQui) brings us chunks of color to jolt us into a new week.

Germany’s Margit Bohmer starts us off with a graphic polymer necklace dotted in primary colors that she says is an easy one to make.

France’s Céline Charuau (GrisBleu) startles us with a bright polymer and metal poppy.

There’s no escaping color this week even if the snow is all around us. Thumb through these three artists’ sites and you’ll how they share a love of color and take three very different approaches to making it part of their designs.

Susan O’Neill (11BoldStreet) brings us a Friday smack-your-forehead moment with her bracelet made of liquid-polymer-soaked fabric wrapped around a faux stone.

O’Neill tinted white gauze with alcohol inks, dipped the gauze in liquid polymer clay, shaped it around a form and baked it. Brilliant!

Check her Etsy and Flickr sites for more views of her creations. Thanks to Doreen Willey for tipping us off to this technique that will keep us thinking all weekend.

The Ford/Forlano duo have added a blog to their newly renovated website just in time for their Synergy presentation and the opening of their show at Snyderman-Works Galleries in Philadelphia.

The show features the new jewelry and print/painting collaborations of the Steven Ford and David Forlano who carry on a back and forth dialog between Santa Fe and Philadelphia.

Steve says that he’s, “…excited about what’s happening with our print/painting collaborations. And some of that imagery is coming back into the clay work as well.” Read the story of how the new line of pins began with a mistake.

And leave them a comment to welcome them to blogland.

Need another dose of romance, polymer style? The faux tooled leather is from Marlene Brady. That’s Marie Segal’s “I Heart You” note to husband Howard. A very modern Tina Holden pierces hers.

The flowered heart was so frilly and happy that I scooped it into my heart folder in big hurry and didn’t identify the artist. It’s Dominique Lavigueur’s!

Christi Friesen’s watercolor-meets-punk version showed up on her new Etsy site.

You simply must visit Tejae Floyde’s Flickr site to get the full heart experience. Her encased hearts with hidden messages are full of mystery and surprise.

Lynda Moseley (DivaDesigns) turned to polymer’s faux techniques when her creativity hit the doldrums. “I did some research and discovered there are six colors of natural jade – black, red, green, yellow, white and lavender,” she reports. These softly glowing specimens are the result of her research.

Funny how the right side of the brain (where the muse lives) gets freed up when we revisit the left (where the scientist studies). You can see more of Lynda’s experiments here.

Construction dust

I’ve been tapping into my inner code monkey, creating a new fan page and adding Twitter to smooth our communications and sort my non-polymer family from the art addicts. Forgive the tests and duplicate requests, the result of over-anxious fingers that run ahead of my brain.

Please join the adventure by clicking the appropriate buttons. Let’s try some new stuff. PCDaily will be right here if you get lost in the shuffle.

This polymer clay and pine needle basket by Victoria James is a lovely example of the mixed media pieces that will be on view in the exhibit at Synergy2. “Creating baskets pulls together my love for textiles, construction, and three-dimensional forms,” she says.

Following the exhibit theme, the artists sewed, sculpted, wove, and collaged polymer in unusual ways and combined it with unexpected materials. Preview and order the 80-page exhibit catalog online now.

Conference goers who order this week can save the shipping by preordering here and picking up their copies in Baltimore. I assembled the catalog for the IPCA (love that Blurb.com software) and I’m sure you’ll find it a great resource and a treasured memento.

“I’ve never made a ring, but have been wanting to give it a try so I joined a Ring-A-Day group,” says Dee Wilder (Malodora).

For several days she indulged her fascination with Koosh ball threads. Thursday she returned to a micromosaic theme. Imagine making a ring a day! After one month there are already over a thousand in the Flickr group’s archive. (I just found Ponsawan Sila in the archives too!)

Wednesday’s featured artist, Lynn Lunger (UnaOdd), has experimented with a faceted wood/polymer model. Mixed media artist Jillian Moore admits that she previously had an aversion to polymer but has been converted to using the media for her rings which are pictured below.

Ronna Sarvas Weltman will divulge the secrets of her ancient/modern rings at her class at CFCF. Bettina Welker will focus on her european versions in her pre-Synergy class.

I’ve only scratched the surface. Thanks to Randee Ketzel and Susan Lomuto and others who have been sending me “heads up” about this trend. There’s a ring thing going on and poring over the examples may keep you warm on a cold winter weekend.