Archive for the 'Millefiore' Category

The Early Development of Polymer Clay Bead-Making: Part Five

In 1987, at the Torpedo Factory Art Center in the Washington, D.C. area, I taught my first workshop on polymer bead-making based on the simple techniques I had developed.  On the advice of an artist colleague, I submitted a short article to Ornament magazine.  Published in 1988, my article was entitled “The Use of Polyform […]

The Early Development of Polymer Clay Bead-Making: Part Four

This is Part Four of the speech delivered at Synergy: the 2008 National Polymer Clay Guild Conference held in Baltimore, Maryland in February 2008.  The entire speech will be publish in serial form in five parts on Polymer Art Archive .

In the Washington, D.C., area also in 1986, where I was working as a ceramic artist, I […]

More Early Images: Jamey Allen, Martha Breen, and Grove & Grove

Are you hooked on Kathleen Dustin’s presentation about the work done by the early polymer bead makers? Then, you’ll want to see even more images by those pioneers. After each of Kathleen’s next few installments, I will provide you with an expanded view of those artists’ early work.
In the gallery that follows you can put […]

The Early Development of Polymer Clay Bead-Making: Part Two

This is Part Two of the speech delivered at Synergy: the 2008 National Polymer Clay Guild Conference held in Baltimore, Maryland in February 2008.  The entire speech will be publish in serial form in five parts on Polymer Art Archive .
The Earliest Polymer Bead-makers
Many of these American artists first became aware of the polymer brand Fimo in […]

We’ve come a long way, baby!

In St. Louis in 1981, the National Association of Miniature Enthusiasts held a national convention. It was there that Esther Olson introduced her process for making miniature candies from FIMO®.  Today we would recognize these techniques as millefiore caning.  From that inconspicuous beginning, caning has evolved into extraordinary art, as seen in the work of […]