Upload your images by Saturday 31 to participate in the Polymeristas of the Month for August.

Loretta Lam was my guest judge for the month of July. I am most grateful to her for her involvement. We've received 196 images from 44 artists and are pleased to announce this month's results. Thank you all for your generous participation and congratulations to the winners.

To see the entries selected for the shortlist, click here

Category: Beginner
	Butterfly Necklace ssandeelee Australia
Integration of theme and treatment is what makes this gentle and delicate piece so successful. Beyond the obvious depiction of butterfly wings in the cane work, the spare use of material - mostly whites and translucents - evokes both lightness and fragility. Most effectively, the repetitive wing motif on either side of the focal bead suggests a butterfly in mid-flight, giving the piece fluidity and movement.
Category Intermediate
	Meteor Showers Tile Choker SageBray USA
Each component serves a purpose in realising the artist's intent in this well-conceived piece. Nothing is superfluous. The swirls animate, rather than depict or reproduce, the dynamics of celestial objects and we see them moving against the textured background as if against a starry sky.
Category:Proficient
	Room Box Suzy USA
Suzy's piece scores high on emotion. We smile when we look at Room Box as it takes us back to childhood where all was safe and good. As our eyes take in the habitat, we see the fluffy carpet, the rounded seats, the opulent fruit echoing the full figure above it, the lush greenery inside and outside the room, and no TV. We wonder who lives there, but we are confident that they are happy.
Category: Advanced
	Bracelet Hadassah perlerouge, Belgium
Combining metal and polymer clay, perlerouge draws on the geometries, rhythms and textures we see in plants and flowers to produce this restful and balanced piece. Particularly inspired is the choice of muted colours which adds gravitas to this meditative piece.

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To participate, upload pictures in the Photo Gallery. (Go to "My E-Studio" and click on "Upload Photos". Note: The selection is done on a monthly basis. Deadline is  the last day of the month (June 30).

I am thrilled to announce that Bettina Welker will be co-judging your entries for the month of August.

"It's both an honor and a challenge for me to be guest judging the "Polymeristas of the Month" for Christine and Voila! in August.  This challenge is a great way for the international clay people to get their work out there and seen. I'm looking forward to a lot of great work - can't wait;)."

Last week, as the Dutch Forum convened for a workshop in Culemborg, Marjon Donker (M-Art) and Saskia Veltenaar (SaSSy), the organisers of the Forum, announced the forthcoming launch of the Dutch Polymer Art Guild for early November, 2010. Els van Haasen (Beadelz), Karin Breukelman (KarinB) and Pauli van Veen(Pauli) will join Marjon and Saskia as board members. "We've got a huge pile of legal stuff to do...," said Saskia, "but I'll be back with more info later on..."

This exciting piece of news is more evidence of the developing voice of polymer clay in Europe.

Tapuz' second retreat, hosted at  Kibbutz "Sdote Yam" was a beautiful success.

Iris Mishli, one of the tutors, taught Maggie Maggio's "Poem" Bracelets technique. The bangle on the left was executed by Hoch.

Mira Krispil, manager of the Israeli Guild, invites you all to join them at their next retreat in 2011!

For more details and pictures of the event, click here.

For dreamers over the rainbow...

Do you feel you're chasing your muse all by your lonesome? Do you want more than classroom techniques? Are you looking for help to embrace art as an outlet for self-expression?

Voila! is a Europe-based community website for the world's polymeristas. And, with inspiration from Europe's cultural heritage, Voila! will help members take their work to new artistic heights. Tutorials, packed with fantastic photos, explain clearly how things like lines, forms and colours affect us emotionally so that you can express your artistic vision and appreciate the work of others. This is definitely not just another internet forum.

Healthy competition will help you explore your creativity with skillful and beneficial judging by guest artists as well as members of Voila!

For more than a decade, Elise Winters has been on a personal quest to elevate discussion about and enhance the image of polymer clay in the art and fine-craft community.

As of last week, the Board of Trustees at the Racine Art Museum in Racine, Wisconsin confirmed the museum’s commitment to establish a permanent collection of polymer jewelry, beads and sculptural objects.  As part of this commitment, RAM will not only focus on assembling a world-class collection of exhibition quality works, but they will also preserve study pieces for future research.  A small library will also be established to protect slide, print and catalogs for academic research.

What an achievement, Elise!