A Face in the Crowd

Not only is "A Face in the Crowd" a great title for this blog entry, it's also the name of North Carolina's Julie Eakes' new business. Here's a photo of some of the pieces that I've been lucky enough to collect over the past few years. This talented lady builds some of the most beautiful face canes I've ever seen.

Her newest cane, which she writes about on her blog, is based on a Da Vinci drawing. I think this one is my favorite so far. In addition to being so very talented, Julie is one of the nicest people I know and has a wonderfully fun personality. If you're lucky enough to live in the Albuquerque area, she's planning a class on face canes in March. Further information can be found on her blog.

More off the cuff remarks

I know it hasn't been that long since my last cuff post but, it's been long enough! Long enough for me to find and fall in love with some more fabulous new work. This "Decode" cuff from Austria's Eva Ehmeier is so edgy and cool. Her work has such a clean, modern feel to it.

Rosanna Ohlsson-Salmon is a charming polymer clay artist I just "met" yesterday on Flickr. She describes this wonderful mosaic cuff as something she "made on a rainy day." I describe it as absolutely delicious!

French artist Sylvie Peraud has some wonderful new work on her Flickr site, including this gorgeous bracelet. As usual, her work is beautifully designed and finished to perfection.

I'm beginning to feel the urge to shovel out the mess in my studio and get back to work myself. Anyone have a small dump truck I can borrow?

Ringing in the (Lunar) New Year!

Happy Chinese New Year! May the Year of the Ox be a healing one for all of us. Thanks to everyone who sent me get well wishes. I feel as if I've been gone forever but I believe I'm beginning to rejoin the land of the living due in part to all the beautiful new work I've been seeing online. Polymer clay rings, like this one from Susan Turney, are popping up all over the place.

Jana Roberts Benzon has been on a recent ring making binge, as well. This one was made for the lucky man that happens to be her hairdresser.

I ran across this ring from Nemesia while I was checking out some new photos on Flickr. She's been using recycled flatware to make spoon rings and other new jewelry. Very clever!

Seeing all of these rings reminded me of my own collection of rings that I've recently acquired from other artists. I gathered them together to take a group shot and realized just how many creative ways there are to construct these fun jewelry items. Zsuzsa made the green eye ring using a purchased adjustable metal ring blank. I've seen similar blanks for sale from various online companies. The small band ring in the foreground was made by Donna Kato who's been using some sort of ceramic base to form and bake her rings on. Leslie Blackford sculpted this cool party animal and used an oversize o-ring for the band. The pretty ring with the flower cane slices was made by Kathy Caldwell, a member of the Kentucky/Tennessee Polymer Clay Guild. Below is a photo of the socket she confiscated from her husband's tool box and adapted for use as a form to both build and bake her rings on. I love this idea. It would be so easy to make rings in the exact size you need using this method.

I think a trip to the garage to look for a socket set is in order. Keep warm and stay creative!

Edited to add: If you'd like instructions on making the flower and leaf canes like the ones on Kathy's ring, you can find them here.