Friday, October 31, 2014

November Challenge Mandalas


For our November challenge we are featuring mandala designs. Vote for your favorites. Three lucky voters will be chosen in a drawing to win a gift certificate from one of our sponsor shops.



To see larger images visit:
1. Mandala Bowl by Berit of ClayImages
A little fall/holiday spirit. Made with my polymer clay canes, this bowl is about 5 inches in diameter.

2. Good or Evil Cat Figurine by Marie Young of YoungCreative
This kitty has a lot to contemplate with an angel mouse whispering in one ear and a devil mouse whispering in the other. She is seated on a mandala made of polymer mosaic tiles sealed with a glassy liquid polymer finish.Approximately 3 1/2 inches tall.

3. Mandala Wall Plaque by Lisa of HiGirls
This wall plaque is created completely of polymer and is 7 inches diameter.
Cut outs were placed on a flat background, fired, then back filled with tinted liquid polymer. The entire thing was sanded and buffed for a great shine.

4. Geometry Class Redux by Jill of JKollmann
Challenge piece is totally pieced! Took me back to geometry classes, to get (and maintain) 12 sections throughout. This was a fun challenge. 

5. Snowflake Mandala Christmas Ornament by Angela of polymerclaycreations 
The theme for the month is "Mandalas". I chose to do an ornament because of the upcoming season. I love the timeless simplicity of blue and white together. This was made with scraps cut from cane ends and put on a background of pearl clay.

6. Mandala Challenge Ornaments by Arlene of Ashpaints
I was pretty much stumped on this challenge until someone mentioned repeating elements and someone else sent a link with many pictures. My mind immediately hit upon using a kaleidoscope cane to create the central element and repeat single elements from that. It may not be a traditional mandala but it makes me smile!

7. Woodland Mandala by Beth of CreateMyWorldDesigns
Layers, leaf and flower motifs and the colors of autumn create this fall season inspired polymer mandala. To read more about my creative process for this piece, please visit my blog:  http://createmyworlddesigns.blogspot.com/2014/10/meditative-repetition.html

8.  Colors of Thailand Mandala by Betsy of PolyClayCafe
When I first started thinking of what to create for PCAGOE's Mandala challenge, I thought of the colors of the mandalas I saw in the temples of Thailand. Often you could see stunning stain glass mandalas behind statues of Buddhas. In addition to the beautiful patterns, I was struck by all the bright colors. I decided I wanted to use bright colors; those that reminded me of Thailand. Orange for the monks was a given, teal for the lush jungle vegetation, yellow for the marigold wreaths you see everywhere, purple for the color of Saturday, wasabi for the cuisine and just a touch of silver. Read more on my blog: http://polyclaycafe.blogspot.com/2014/10/mandala-inspired-by-colors-of-thailand.html

9. Chakra Mandala by Line of PlaySculptLive
Read more: http://playsculptlive.blogspot.ca/2014/10/mandalas-are-fun.html


Read the expanded rules here.

Full Name (required for voter prize notification):
Email Address (Required for voter prize notification, you will not be sent other e-mails unless you sign up for our e-mail list):
For current Dues-Paying PCAGOE Members: What is Your Etsy Shop Name?
Please select your 1st choice: (2nd & 3rd choice must be different from your 1st.)
Please select your 2nd choice: (2nd choice must be different from your 1st and 3rd.)
Please select your 3rd choice: (3rd choice must be different from your 1st and 2nd.)
How did you hear about the PCAGOE challenge?
Would you like to join our email list? (former Newsletter subscribers already included!) monthly reminder to VOTE in our Challenges, along with important Guild announcements. Please add pcagoe@gmail.com and pcagoe.news@gmail.com to your approved senders. I already signed up
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Our members love comments! Please comment here on the entries and/or the challenge in general.

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Monday, October 13, 2014

Featured Artist Randee Ketzel



 Meet Randee Ketzel
PCAGOE featured artist for the weeks of October 13th through October 26th. 
Please go check out her highlighted works on the PCAGOE Facebook page!


Randee works as both polymer artist and teacher in Austin, the capital city of Texas. She has been featured on both Polymer Clay Daily and The Daily Polymer Arts blog. Her work has been published in several magazines and featured in museum shops. Randee is also a member of the International Polymer Clay Guild and the Austin and Houston Polymer Clay Guilds. Randee has co-authored (with Kim Schlinke) a wonderful book entitled Polymer Clay Gemstones and the Art of Deception.

Randee says this about her journey to polymer: "I always suspected that art would be my life--and luckily, I was right. I studied Byzantine Art and Archaeology in Florida before being irresistibly drawn into the world of metalwork as one of the youngest women jewelers in the Southeast during the early eighties. Eventually, impending motherhood demanded that I bid metals goodbye, and I experimented with a variety of less-toxic media before discovering--and being discovered by--polymer clay. This incredible stuff has become muse and mantra, and I eagerly await each new day's adventure in it."

Find more of Randee's work at these online locations:

www.RMKDesign.etsy.com and
www.polymerartsupplies.etsy.com and
www.flickr.com/photos/8989180@N02

Thursday, October 9, 2014

Southwestern Challenge Winners

The winners in the PCAGOE October Challenge "Southwestern" are:


Public Vote

Top entries selected by the public:
1. Southwestern Skull Wall Art by Lisa of HiGirls



2. Southwest Native American Kokopelli Faux Stained Glass Suncatcher by Angela of polymerclaycreations


3. Turquoise and Orange Celestial Sun Business Card Case by Marie Young of YoungCreative


Member Vote

Top entries selected by the public:
1. Southwest Native American Kokopelli Faux Stained Glass Suncatcher by Angela of polymerclaycreations

 

2. Southwestern Skull Wall Art by Lisa of HiGirls



3. TIE 
Ancient Drinking Bowl by Line of PlaySculptLive
4 Directions Dreamcatcher by Beth of CreateMyWorldDesigns 




 View all of the entries:
http://polymerclayartists.blogspot.com/2014/09/october-southwestern-challenge.html



Congratulations to the drawing winners. They get to pick a prize from one of our lovely participating sponsor shop owners.

Maite Mora Ferrer
Susan Rankin
Gretchen Tara

Comments from the voters:
Fabulous WORK this month!
What a high standard of entries. It was very difficult to choose. I always seem to manage to take some form of inspiration from these challenges. Thank you.
Lovely work!
Wow, these entries are fabulous, all of them!! You guys are getting better and better.
Ladies I had a very hard time having to select a 1-2-3 this month. All works were so outstanding. I read about the history of the drinking vessel. What a great idea. Dream catcher - faux leather, faux wood faux feather that look like the real thing. The "skull" is so colorful, detailed and unique. SW colors stained glass, covered tins and case, tiles and mosaic and earrings. WOW! I feel like I have taken a trip out West this morning. Congrats to all for the great works! Very enjoyable to see.
They are all very nice and it is always hard to choose. Everyone has such creative talent.
Lovely
I really like at least 6 of them; too difficult to choose just 3.
I'm part native American and loved looking at all the items made. I think they are all great.
Well done!
For the three entries I voted for: beautiful earrings, inspiring Kokopelli image, and truly amazing looking covered tin. Such wonderful work for all of them, I hope one of them wins this challenge.
Great entries, I live in the Southwest 28 years and these creations are fantastic. Good luck to all.
All beautiful items.
Wonderful job this month!!!
Nice variety of color and creativity chosen for this month's challenge!!
Hard choices but the earring are so clean and elegant I had to make it the top choice. Reminds me of a lot of piedra dura work I saw in Santa FE.
Interesting pieces.
Love seeing new and exciting clayers.
Once again, beautiful art creations! I love southwestern style
#9 for originality and execution. #4 for design and execution, kudos for your patience. In my mind, #3, #5 and #7 were tied. I went for #5 due to my personal bias for celestial motifs.
Love to see the different takes on each challenge
So very hard to choose just three, they are all remarkable.
All are really wonderful representations of southwest art. Love them all.
Cool theme!
As a native of the southwest, this has to be my favorite challenge theme so far. And what a difficult choice to select my top three.