Jumping in the Deep End

art beads craft necklaces obsession Pinterest polymer Sarah Shriver

A while back, I was buying and stringing beads to create necklaces. I had seen a few examples of polymer clay beads which I found intriguing. I bought some polymer, messed with it and deemed it pretty much a failure.

Several years later, I made the mistake of getting on Pinterest. Fascinating, but also like getting sucked into some sort of vortex. I started noticing polymer beads again. Clearly drawn to the use of color, I decided to give it another try. I made a few things which I liked well enough—mostly simple round beads in some interesting colors which I strung into simple necklaces.

Not too long after that, I ventured into a one-day workshop with Sarah Shriver  at a big bead extravangza at the Oakland Convention Center not far from where I live. She's a marvelous artist and wonderful teacher and although what I created that day was unimpressive, I was on the way to polymer obsession.

Since then (three or four years? I've lost track) I've been playing with polymer A LOT. I've done all the things one might do—in-person and online workshops, YouTube tutorials, online research (more Pinterest and Instagram!), and my own experiments.

I bought the materials and the tools, took over a spot in our small apartment, and went to town.

I'm at the place where I want to share my work, for sale or just for looking. So here we are!

I'm also hoping to write more about what I'm up to as well, so I hope you'll check back.


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