Claudia Rubinstein’s Polymer Clay Embellished Teapots
Video #523: An Australian artist who’s doing wonderful things with polymer clay and vintage silver teapots (among other things).
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IN THIS POST: — vintage teapots — polymer clay embellishments — mixed media — polymer clay artists — claudia rubinstein — artist — paintings — gallery — exhibitions — childrens book author — trash to treasure — melbourne — australia — white rock — bc — canada — pct roadtrips — silver teapot — clay covered — (Topics marked with an asterisk* are discussed in the Comments Section below).
Topics Covered In This Video:
- This is a special PcT Roadtrip feature segment, brought to you from Melbourne, Australia AND White Rock, B.C. Canada.
- Claudia Rubinstein is an artist and PcT members who came to visit with us here in Canada, before we could go see her in Australia.
- As it turns out, we actually graduated from the same High School, separated by several years. Claudia’s sister was even in the same grade as Doug’s sister. And to think we have all just met up now, because of polymer clay!
- Claudia is a mixed media artist who started out with drawing and painting, and has expanded into children’s book illustration and 3 dimensional polymer clay embellished Silver teapots.
- Claudia has a colorful, whimsical style based on nature, but more fantasy and magical.
- Started polymer because she wanted to start embellishing her paintings, and began by taking a class at a shop in Australia called the Whimsical Bead, wear she learned to cover ceramic teapots.
- Moved onto Silver Teapots as a more substantial base to work on.
Has shown her work in Incinerator Gallery in Melbourne in an exhibition called… “The Ostentatious Hiding Spot.”
Claudia Rubinstein… “The Ostentatious Hiding Spot” Exhibition… Incinerator Gallery, Melbourne Australia.
00:00:04 –> 00:00:09 Hi guys, its Cindy Lietz, your Polymer Clay Tutor, and today, we are doing a Road Trip
00:00:09 –> 00:00:16 segment, but since we can’t get to Australia, we brought Australia to us.So we have a special
00:00:16 –> 00:00:22 guest here, her name is Claudia Rubinstein, welcome.(CR)Thank you Cindy.(CL)She is all
00:00:22 –> 00:00:27 the way here from Melbourne Australia, right?(CR) That’s right.(CL) and you’re right in…you’re
00:00:27 –> 00:00:32 in Melbourne right?(CR)I’m in Melbourne, in the suburb of Hawthorne, but strangely
00:00:32 –> 00:00:38 enough, I hail from White Rock, BC, and when I decided to undertake the Polymer Clay Tutor
00:00:38 –> 00:00:42 lessons with you, I looked at the address and I thought “Oh my gosh, that’s just
00:00:42 –> 00:00:43 where my sisters live in Canada.”
00:00:43 –> 00:00:49 So I was very, very excited about this, and I contacted Cindy with email and said “Can
00:00:49 –> 00:00:50 I come and look at your studio?”
00:00:50 –> 00:00:52 And so here we are today.
00:00:52 –> 00:00:56 (CL)Yeah, we’re out in…we’re out together here in White Rock, we’re with a group of
00:00:56 –> 00:00:59 people here and we are just close to the beach.
00:00:59 –> 00:01:03 And like Claudia said…actually we ended up going to the same high school, you also
00:01:03 –> 00:01:04 went to Semiahmoo right?
00:01:04 –> 00:01:05 (CR) Yes, yes.
00:01:05 –> 00:01:08 (CL) So the world has like gotten really, really small.
00:01:08 –> 00:01:09 (CR) Pretty small, yes.
00:01:09 –> 00:01:15 (CL)Claudia has traveled all over, and she has… she’s an artist who has started out
00:01:15 –> 00:01:18 with painting, why don’t you tell us a little bit about…this is some of her work here
00:01:18 –> 00:01:23 and we’ll show it all to you in a minute, but why don’t you tell me a little bit about
00:01:23 –> 00:01:28 how you started and what you started with and where you’re going and all that.
00:01:28 –> 00:01:32 (CR)Okay, well I’ve been drawing and painting since I was a little girl, and I love art,
00:01:32 –> 00:01:37 whenever you are involved in that creative process, time stands still and it’s quite
00:01:37 –> 00:01:40 magical, and I think anybody who’s involved in that would fully appreciate how special
00:01:40 –> 00:01:46 that is, a couple of years ago, I had an exhibition called ‘Wicked Wendolyn Wasp and Lovely
00:01:46 –> 00:01:52 Lily Ladybird’, and they were a series of Victorian era insects and a little story,
00:01:52 –> 00:01:56 and that’s actually going to be a book that’s coming out this month, but…
00:01:56 –> 00:01:58 (CL)It’s a children’s book, right?
00:01:58 –> 00:02:03 (CR)A children’s book, yeah, so when I was getting ready to sort of start the pieces,
00:02:03 –> 00:02:06 what had actually happened was I’d broken my foot and my painting teacher said “Oh,
00:02:06 –> 00:02:07 you mustn’t stop painting”.
00:02:07 –> 00:02:10 And I said “Oh, I’ve got so many other things I could do” She said “No, no, no,
00:02:10 –> 00:02:12 do small things on your lap”.
00:02:12 –> 00:02:18 So I came upon the idea of doing portraits, and then bugs, and I started doing bug faces,
00:02:18 –> 00:02:23 and as I was painting I thought I’d really love to embellish this in some sort of way,
00:02:23 –> 00:02:28 and I think in many ways that is a big part of who I am as an artist, I’m an embellisher,
00:02:28 –> 00:02:31 I love to decorate and make things look pretty, so…
00:02:31 –> 00:02:36 (CL)Yeah, when you start to see her style, she’s got this wonderful, whimsical, out
00:02:36 –> 00:02:42 of this word kind of…and it meets nature and it’s got quite a cool style.
00:02:42 –> 00:02:46 One of the things she’s…actually she’s brought several examples here, but she’s
00:02:46 –> 00:02:52 got some teapots, you’ve done silver teapots and why did you start with the teapots?
00:02:52 –> 00:02:57 (CR)Well when I first started with Polymer clay it was to embellish the bug portraits,
00:02:57 –> 00:03:02 and I thought I’d better do a class, and I had a look, and in Melbourne there’s a
00:03:02 –> 00:03:07 wonderful studio out at Healesville with Dani, The Whimsical Bead, and I went out and there
00:03:07 –> 00:03:12 was a class in covering a teapot, and it was basically learning this Skinner blend and
00:03:12 –> 00:03:17 some cane techniques, and I did that and I got it home and I was just so intrigued to
00:03:17 –> 00:03:21 do canes and learn more about this wonderful medium.
00:03:21 –> 00:03:29 And as I continued to decorate objects of glass, I thought if this is gonna look really
00:03:29 –> 00:03:33 good it needs to be on a more substantial surface, putting something on a curry jar
00:03:33 –> 00:03:38 or an applesauce jar isn’t really gonna look right in a retail setting if I ever decide
00:03:38 –> 00:03:40 that I wanna go somewhere with this, so…
00:03:40 –> 00:03:44 (CL)Well yeah, it needs that substantial value to it to start off with, yes I agree.
00:03:44 –> 00:03:49 (CR)And because Melbourne is a city that was well established during the Victorian era,
00:03:49 –> 00:03:54 the trash and treasure markets are filled with beautiful things that you can buy for
00:03:54 –> 00:04:00 very…you know, reasonable price, and I started looking at silver teapots and decorating them,
00:04:00 –> 00:04:05 and I’ve moved beyond just covering it with the Skinner blend and flat surfaces, and I
00:04:05 –> 00:04:09 thought, well what would happen if something sort of stuck out a little bit, and so I let
00:04:09 –> 00:04:14 a leaf droop and I baked it and it was hard and it was permanent, and suddenly there was
00:04:14 –> 00:04:20 this sculptural ability in the Polymer that started to emerge, and I went from botanical
00:04:20 –> 00:04:27 to…I found one teapot which was an old Victorian tea service that has this special barrels
00:04:27 –> 00:04:31 in it, that you could tip the teapot, and pour.
00:04:31 –> 00:04:35 And this was suddenly the perfect diameter to put a spoke through, and put a wheel through,
00:04:35 –> 00:04:39 so one of my teapots is a wheeled teapot, and then I covered the wheels with mother
00:04:39 –> 00:04:47 of pearl buttons and diamantes, and that made it look so beautiful and so un-industrial,
00:04:47 –> 00:04:53 and the teapot’s got a great real action, so…yeah, that’s how the teapots came about,
00:04:53 –> 00:04:58 and I recently had an exhibition in Melbourne called the Ostentatious Hiding Spot, where
00:04:58 –> 00:05:04 these Caverns of Secrecy can put your unmentionables, car keys, money, whatever you decide you wanna
00:05:04 –> 00:05:09 put in them, because what do you do when something is past its original function.
00:05:09 –> 00:05:13 People are getting rid of a lot of silver because it’s high maintenance, but it’s
00:05:13 –> 00:05:19 such a beautiful thing, created during a time where people really…you know, had more time
00:05:19 –> 00:05:20 for ritual and enjoyment, so…
00:05:20 –> 00:05:25 (CL)Well grab one and …pick one up here and we’ll take a look at it, now see…you
00:05:25 –> 00:05:31 can see the silver handle and the pot hole here, but she has added cane work and paintings
00:05:31 –> 00:05:36 and little mushrooms and things, one thing she’s showed me that was kinda neat…well,
00:05:36 –> 00:05:40 really neat actually…where is it, oh its right here, see these little flowers on the
00:05:40 –> 00:05:45 side…Doug you can get a good shot of that, if any of you have been following us for a
00:05:45 –> 00:05:51 little while, this is actually one of the Crocus flowers from one of my tutorials, and
00:05:51 –> 00:05:57 what she’s done, is she’s done it in a different color way, and she’s done it on
00:05:57 –> 00:06:02 a different surface and that is something I’d love all of you guys to think about
00:06:02 –> 00:06:07 when you do the tutorials, is to take them in your own direction, and you have…I mean
00:06:07 –> 00:06:15 your style is nowhere like mine at all, and it’s wonderful to see little…little examples
00:06:15 –> 00:06:20 of how something that you learned in one spot can be taken into another spot, and I see
00:06:20 –> 00:06:23 you’ve got a stack of your actual paintings there, right?
00:06:23 –> 00:06:25 Do you wanna grab one of those?
00:06:25 –> 00:06:29 (CR)Yeah, well these were some paintings that I had made into tea towels.
00:06:29 –> 00:06:35 (CL)So, she’s got paintings and you can see her style on the…in the paintings, and
00:06:35 –> 00:06:42 then it’s echoed again in her teapots, and all of the different pieces that she’s got
00:06:42 –> 00:06:48 here, and it’s like you’ve taken your…what you’ve learned, and your previous skills
00:06:48 –> 00:06:54 in your art work and moved it into a more dimensional…you’re painting in 3D basically
00:06:54 –> 00:06:59 with the Polymer clay, and its…and you’ve only been doing Polymer clay for how long?
00:06:59 –> 00:07:11 (CR)About 2 years, I had the exhibition of the bugs in May 2013, and yeah it was, I suppose,
00:07:11 –> 00:07:15 about a year before…6 months before that I started with the teapot and learning…or
00:07:15 –> 00:07:22 no, it was…that’s right it was about 6 months before, where…it was at the time
00:07:22 –> 00:07:27 of my exhibition of the…I’m getting mixed up…the Wicked Wendolyn Wasp, where somebody
00:07:27 –> 00:07:31 had suggested to me ‘Why don’t you think about including Polymer clay if you wanna
00:07:31 –> 00:07:33 do some embellishment?’.
00:07:33 –> 00:07:35 And I said, ‘Well, what is that?’
00:07:35 –> 00:07:36 And they said, ‘You know, Fimo’.
00:07:36 –> 00:07:43 And I thought it sort of rung a bell, but I’m amazed at how few people often have
00:07:43 –> 00:07:44 heard about Polymer clay.
00:07:44 –> 00:07:49 (CL)Well, it’s been interesting…the other people here too will…will attest to that,
00:07:49 –> 00:07:55 that it’s been around for like 40 years or something like that, but it’s only been
00:07:55 –> 00:08:03 the last 10 years that people started running with it, and it became more of a serious medium
00:08:03 –> 00:08:08 with some people, I mean it was sort of a kids’ thing for a long time, and then now…and
00:08:08 –> 00:08:18 you can see by the range of styles and the ways people take it on, it’s…it can go
00:08:18 –> 00:08:23 anywhere, it honestly can go anywhere and it will, and you can see it, over the last…
00:08:23 –> 00:08:27 I’ve noticed it especially over the last 2 years or so, it just has become something
00:08:27 –> 00:08:32 that I wouldn’t have expected, and it will become even more than that, it’s just very
00:08:32 –> 00:08:33 exciting to see.
00:08:33 –> 00:08:37 (CR)Oh, it’s wonderful, and to become involved in the community of Polymer clay…I mean,
00:08:37 –> 00:08:43 here we are in an international setting where I’ve come from Australia, despite my Canadian
00:08:43 –> 00:08:47 background, and you know people in Australia who are your clients who watch your television
00:08:47 –> 00:08:53 show, you’re…and it’s just wonderful to be talking about artists, and everybody
00:08:53 –> 00:08:58 knows who they are, it’s sort of…it feels intimate and connected and it feels like a
00:08:58 –> 00:08:59 real community…it’s lovely.
00:08:59 –> 00:09:02 (CL)Yeah, and the internet has really done that, hasn’t it, it has really pulled us
00:09:02 –> 00:09:03 all together.
00:09:03 –> 00:09:09 Well, I have absolutely loved having you here, and we’re gonna spend more time chatting
00:09:09 –> 00:09:15 away and checking out all of your work, and I hope you enjoy your trip here.
00:09:15 –> 00:09:16 (CR)Thank you Cindy.
00:09:16 –> 00:09:20 (CL)We have…and we will see you next time.
00:09:20 –> 00:09:24 If you did enjoy that, make sure to let us know in the comment section below.
00:09:24 –> 00:09:27 And if you’ve got suggestions or things that you would like me to do a video on in
00:09:27 –> 00:09:31 the future, leave that in the comment section as well.
00:09:31 –> 00:09:33 So we’ll see you next time and bye for now.
00:09:33 –> 00:09:34 (CR)Thank you, bye, bye..
Our goal is to translate these videos into as many languages as possible. If you are interested in helping with this initiative, then please do contact us and we will figure out a way to make it worth your while :)
Resource Links:
- Claudia Rubinstein: Original Paintings and Jewelry
- Related Video: Mixed Media Artist Alisa Burke, Seaside Oregon
- Related Video: Inaugural Ball Polymer Clay Flower Bouquet, Karon Cowger
- Related Video: Polymer Clay Artist Cindy Peterson Follow Up Visit
- Related Video: Selling Polymer Jewelry at a Public Market, Becky Sue Mizell
- YouTube: The Ostentatious Hiding Spot
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Thank you Peg for that wonderful compliment! Im in a fortunate position where I am able to create most days. At present we have summer in Australia and I’m doing a lot of outdoor projects, including oversized mushrooms with birch tree stalks. I’ll put them on my website soon. Best wishes, Claudia Rubinstein
I am blown away by Claudia’s talent. I know there are artists and craft’s people and she is definitely an artist. What beautiful pieces she brought to share! And Cindy, I could see your influences all over the place. Actually seeing these pieces would have been overwhelming for me. I would probably be speechless, only able to stutter “ba dee, ba dee, ba dee.” Lol Thanks to both of you for sharing.
Dear Trevor and Adilva
Thank you so much for your kind words. I feel very blessed living such a creative life.
Thank you once more Cindy and Doug for the opportunity to share my work and congratulations on your millionth view. deShawn I still am waiting for word on the music… I can tell you it was created for purchase so videographers can put their films to music.
Claudia,
Thank you so much for your diligence and for following up! Please, don’t put any more effort into finding the music. As nice as it would be to know, it’s not critical. It is beautiful music, and I certainly appreciate your efforts thus far!
Thank you very much!
DeShawn
achei lindo pela primeira vez admiro essta arte há mais de 20 anos e vendo o seu nada se compara com o que eu estou vendo hoje que DEus de abençoe por ter lhe dado este dom
TRANSLATION: thought it was beautiful the first time iss admire art for over 20 years and seeing her nothing compares with what I am seeing today that God bless you for giving her this gift
hi Claudia, thank you for including me with this presentation. i’m blown away with your talents.
your work is so colourful and detailed which is obviously a reflection of yourself. I feel so privilege
to know you , Trev.
Claudia Rubinstein’s work is absolutely amazing. And I loved the music that accompanied the video of her exhibition. Do you or anyone happen to know what that song is?!?!
Dear, Deshawn the song was selected by the video artist, I don’t know the name of it, however I will find out for you. Thanks for your kind words C
Cindy & Doug,
If you have a video on YouTube but we watch it here and click “like”, do the viewing and the “like” get registered on YouTube as well?
Yes Fran… clicking on the Like button on our site does get registered over at Youtube, as does the view. Thanks for asking.
Just finished watching the Road Trip again! Loved it and paused at different places to get a better look. I’ve thought about covering regular teapots but don’t think I’d have nerve to do a silver one. Of course, there aren’t many silver teapots floating around my area. Thanks for bringing an interview with her and her work to us.
Cindy thank you to you and Doug both for a wonderful welcome , a beautiful day , and the opportunity to share my creations with the polymer clay community. Also wonderful to meet members of the Vancouver Guild. I really enjoyed your interview , and feel so fortunate that I am able to learn from your fabulous videos:) look forward to seeing you and Doug here in Oz one day!
So very beautiful and creative, does she bake the clay on the teapots? It is very interesting. I give the video 2 thumbs up!
Off topic, do you know anything about PMC clay or anything related to it?
Hi Marianne, hopefully Claudia will pop in here with her answers, but yes she would be baking her clay right on the teapots. As far as PMC clay, I myself have not yet worked with it. Maybe one day… it goes so wonderfully with polymer clay!
A fabulous experience. Loved her work. More more more, lol.
Cindy and Doug, thanks so much for bringing this amazing artist to us in your video format. I see a lot of Cindys tutorials incorporated into her 3D artwork on the teapots. She has done a wonderful imaginative job with the polymer clay in the two short years working with it and no doubt will inspire a lot of us who endear this medium.
OMG, what spectacular work. Quite an inspiration. I am in the process of covering wood cigar boxes and journal covers, sometimes I get stuck on how to pull it all together. More importantly every side does not have to a perfect variation of the others, Having a consistent color pallet will help with cohesiveness. I just ripped a boring unbaked sheet of clay off a box. I forgot the the base does not have to be solid. Hey, I can use paint to embellish.
I have said this before, I love this site becasue I can always go back and get inspiration.
Congrats on 1 MILLION views on your You Tube Channel !!!!
Cindy and Doug,
I want to say a heartfelt CONGRATULATIONS for having your MILLIONTH view on your YouTube channel. What an amazing milestone!! I have come to you so late, but already know that because of you I will have the chance to re-find polymer clay after many years away from it. I think that everything you do ( think I’ve seen a huge amount of it) is WONDERFUL, helpful, useful, fun, inspiring etc. etc. You have made such a difference in my creative life, and I am not fooled by how easy you make everything look! And as a teacher myself, I can FEEL all of the work you have both had to do to make the videos you do. THANK YOU so much, and what better day to say this than the one that tells me you’ve had a million views! Please know that this really, truly, absolutely, requires no response . Use the time it would take to respond to this to crack open a bottle of champagne and raise a glass to your success!
Wow… your millionth view is pretty cool, but not surprising. You have a wonderful place where like minded polymer clay artist can learn amazing things. You offer amazing, well put together tutorials, tips, tidbits, etc. For such a small cost, and many videos for free too.
I am so grateful I am a member of your site and learn so many interesting, fun, cool things every video from Polymer Clay Tutor. Thanks!?
Hi Cindy & Doug,
This is way too much fun! I’m sure it’s a dream come true for you guy’s! Maybe one night you stayed up too late, maybe dreaming about this great idea you collaborated on and now it’s this wonderful reality! How many in the Polymer clay community are shouting, “I wish I would have thought of that” when in reality there is a small percentage of really, really successful businesses, yet I’m sure there are many more out there and plenty more for people like me who just love the flexibility of this medium, you’ve heard it, we all have, “Is there nothing that you can’t do with this stuff”
I think the answer is still a big NO! and it’s the same with successful business people like you that are just coming up the next best thing in the polymer clay arena.
So, what do you have? Well in my eye’s, a well oiled machine not unlike working with the clay itself, there are all levels of professionalism and you two are the tops! Your neatness level is clearly a 10! Your work area, Doug’s incredible video work, Cindy’s idea’s, voice clarity, well just too much to mention but I have this studio and I love it to be neat and clean and if I do a piece that isn’t perfect, I put all my clay into hibernation, sad but true, I think I get scared of my medium, yikes, so then I go on YouTube one night looking for micro mosaics, (and found them) and bingo, it’s hard to stay away now, all I can say is Bravo Cindy and Doug you’ve got me back in my chair! You deserve all the success in the world and here is to you’re second millionth viewer on YouTube!
Thank you so much Joy for saying all these kind things!! You really made my day!
Wow, what amazing, beautiful work. I really enjoyed the exhibition video. So creative. And I really enjoyed seeing how she took flight from from some of your work, Cindy, and melded it with her own.
This is a fabulous interview! So enjoyed the Victorian perspective and the magic of her poly clay work.
Hope we can count on more of the same in the future.