SilverPolyGlass

Patinas, of all sorts

2011-06-02T19:13:00.000-07:00

One of the projects in the Metal Clay Masters Registry program is a patina study. I've been working on this for some time- researching patina methods through te ages for silver and copper, particularly; then applying what I'd learned to a variety of polymer clay techniques.

Patinas are funny things - bury a piece of shiny silver in your kitty litter box and leave it for a week and you get a lovely multicolored patina (back in the middle ages, they used horse stalls or the floors of cow byres, but not many jewelers have access to those these days). you can't really control how the patina builds on your piece of silver. You could keep digging it out and checking, but the process frequently does past the stage you want it while you're not looking. And then there are the surprises - sometimes felicitous-sometimes disastrous. Most can be recovered from with a bit of heat or friction. But the outcomes are not always what one anticipates.

it's rather like the surprises one finds in personal relationships - discovering that the super cool old friend you haven't seen in 20 years is now competing in scrabble championships when you expect him to be still racing at Le Mans or Limerock - after all, Newman was still racing at 80 - or still leaping tall buildings in a simgle bound.

well, silver and copper both react to a variety of chemicals, sometimes with unexpected consequences. and then there's added spice of mixing the metals, the chemicals and a bit of electricity... that's my latest tangent. After taking a class on electroforming on glass, I'm fiddling with the hardware, paints, acids and silver. The worst that will happen is that I'll waste some chemicals and have to clean some silver. It's a step back for me to that High School chem class where you looked at your partner and asked "how about we try this while the teacher is out of the room, just to see what happens?" Let's just hope we don't get the same result - they won't be evacuating the school this time - I'll be grabbing the cat and making a run for it out of my house.

Klay Karma 2011 is coming! and we've got a special treat- 5 of them, actually!

2011-05-24T12:03:00.000-07:00

Klay Karma 2011 is coming July 22-24, 2011

Join clayers from all over the Northeast for the 2011 Klay Karma Retreat!
July 22-24, 2011, on the campus of Rivier College in Nashua, NH

Registration is now open. Join the klay_karma Yahoo group at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/klay_karma/ for more info and to download registration forms

This event fills up quickly, so don’t delay!

and as a special treat, this year Klay Karma has added optional classes!

Register for Klay Karma (July 22-24 in Nashua, NH) and you have the opportunity to enroll in up to 5 fascinating classes taught by some of the top Polymer instructors in the country- at a low cost of $50 each!

We’ve all drooled over the gorgeous furniture created by Bonnie Bishoff and J M Syron. Bonnie is bringing her MiIllefiori and veneer techniques to you. See a slide show of her works and learn how to create custom veneers using your canes.

Klay Karma regulars know and love Diane Villano, a double winner (2006 and 2009) in the Clay division of Bead Arts AND a winner of the 2009 Bead Dreams Competition-Polymer Clay division. Her demos enliven every retreat she attends. Diane will be sharing her custom button making techniques, starting with a leaf cane, morphing it into limitless dimensional variations and then creating both sew-through and shanked buttons!

Doreen Kassel, a 2010 NICHE winner, is teaching 2 of her most popular classes , bringing her award bringing Uncommon Creatures to Klay Karma as both tiles and ornaments . Learn how create those clever caricatures, and finish them to perfection, bringing out subtle nuances with multiple layers of paint.

Melanie West and bangles! What more is there to say? Melanie, a 2010 NICHE finalist, will be sharing with us how she approaches organic form, including how to make a light but strong bangle armature using brass channel bangles and Ultra Light polymer clay and how to laminate the armature. You’ll be able to bring your own spin to forming, carving and laminating your armatures.

Check out a full description of each of the classes and download the registration form for Klay Karma 2011 and the optional classes at the Files Folder in the klay_karma yahoo group or the Klay Karma facebook page . This is the only time this year that you will be able to take classes with all 4 of these instructors in one weekend. Don’t delay, both the event and the classes are sure to fill quickly.

Ruth Baillie and Tonya Davidson have done it again

2011-04-09T19:24:00.000-07:00

I'm sitting here, getting ready for an electroforming class with Kate Fowle Meleney tomorrow- have some polymer pieces in the oven and glass in the kiln. Kate will be providing us with one of her glass beads for the class (whoop-dee-doo!), and then she's going to give us feed back on how best to approach the pieces we bring in for eval. I'm very psyched for this and so glad that BDI put this together. Kate, along with Josh Simpson's presentation in February have really got my glass juices flowing again.

and then up popped an email from Tonya Davidson about Ruth Baillie's latest Master Muse project, a sweet little hatching chick pin - just in time for spring

Isn't this just the cutest thing ever! and for the greenies out there, lots of recycled materials - the silver, nest and egg are all recycled. Now I know just how to incorporate all those miserable bittersweet seedlings I've been whacking away at. little birds nests everywhere. I'm thinking I can really gild the lily on this one and add a polymer clay veneer is a springtime design to the egg shell... maybe a pale turquoise base with little viola and yellow rose cane slices...
well, the timer's going off downstairs, so off I go. Tomorrow night I'll post pics of my spiffy electroformed glass bead....and probably place an order with RIo Grande for an electroforming kit. I have a feeling this is going to become addictive.

why bloggers stop blogging

2011-01-01T17:36:00.000-08:00

It's been a long time since I've written here, and this morning, the first of a 3 morning holiday to be spent in bed recovering (hopefully) from the upper respiratory infection that has almost done me in for the past 2 weeks, I spent several hours doing something I haven't had the personal time to do for a while- checking in on the blogs of many of my favorite metal and polymer clay artists. Some, like polymerclaydaily, seem to always be there with something new. But most of the blogs I checked were like mine....laguishing in the doldrums of a life too hectic to take 15 minutes a day to write about their art. some, like me, may have found that real life (and the real job that supports my artistic endeavors - at least for the next 737 days) has intruded too frequently. August through October are usually relatively hectic for me - closing up a June year end. As a town comptroller for a municipality that puts heavy demands on its management team, the audit and post audit season, with outside auditors and state agencies demanding more and more data more frequently, I rarely have time to "play".

the drive to and from work that was supposed to become better when the Big-Dig was finished, hasn't. An average one way drive for me is an hour and a half. why don't I take the commuter rail, you might well ask? well, the ride into Boston is never less than an hour by rail.; then I have to change trains twice once I board the "T" for what has become in recent months another hour ride. and If I miss the 6 o'clock train out of North Station, then I have a 2 hr wait. If I miss the 8 PM train due to an evening meeting, I'm dead in the water until 10 PM and if I have the misfortune to miss that one, I end up sleeping on the cot in my office. so rail commuting is a non-starter. Leaving by car after 8 PM should make for a better commute, but then one runs into night construction up until early December, and badly maintained icy roads from December until Marchm while the night construction usually heats up again in April.

So, today I went looking to see what old and new friends had been up to and this is what I found.

Julie Picarello will have a new book out just in time for Bead and Button this spring. THat's good news, because although I learned how to make a lizardsa tail in her class a LACS this spring, I seem to have lost my notes and my mind- hopefully she'll remind me in her new book.

Luanne Udell seems to be immersed in her hospice work and is recycling old magaine articles on craft- a good thing for those of us who didn't get to read them first time around.; She has a timely recycled article on respecting your collectors.

Elise Winters is pitching Terra Nova: Polymer Art at the Crossroads - a polymer exhibit we had hoped to visit at the IPCG's retreat in July- sadly it won't be opening until after we leave- a side trip from Chicago to Racine would have been fun with a busload of clayers.

Tejae Floyde has some great pics of what she's been doing over the holidays.

Betsy Baker of stonehouse studios talks about the holiday sales and what's new on her etsy page.

Victoria James has some great new texture plates for sale - I particularly like the crumpled foil texture.

Lynn Davis talks about why she works in so many different media – like me she’s easily bored (would that I had time to be bored at the moment).

Les ethiopiques (mon dieu! I’ve had to go to foreign tongue blogs to find someone, anyone, writing since November!) has come up with great tutes in on faux leather and faux ceramics in polymer – but you’d better be able to read French ! Actually, it’s not that hard, because her illustrations are so good, but I love the instruction “ …puis, on scalpe!” – this is in her hidden magic tute. I knew the 5 years of hs, 4 yrs of college and 2 yrs of post grad French were going to come in handy some day- since I left the teaching of French in 1972, and my Quebequois bon ami moved on 15 years ago, I ‘ve had few opportunities to use it. But Helene has pushed me to refocus a bit, just to enjoy her tutorials- she also has a recent very attractive snowflake cane tute.

Fabi, in Madrid, is a bit harder for me since I never really learned to read Spanish – order food from a LA “roach coach” I can do, but read a language I never studied is a bit harder. If I understand what her current lead story is, it’s an amazing nativity scene in clay. You have to see it to understand what I mean by amazing. http://fabicontusmanos.blogspot.com/

Metal clay academy is buzzing about meteor, the new bronze clay

Bev at mango tango is talking not about her jewelry, but a conch disaster in the Keys

Angela Crispin- she of the bilingual blog so you don’t have to read French to enjoy it – talks about the upcoming art clay festival in Prague (who knew?, probably Katie Baum will be packing her bags yet again!)

Vickie Hallmarks shows a great enameled copper & metal clay piece in her bird design – with dyed concrete that I just can’t bring myself to embrace…to industrial by half for me, but quite nice when Vickie fabricates it.

ArtClayStudio contains news of Carol Babineau’s retirement and Gail Moriarty taking over the studio, but still has mostly Carol’s work in the class guide. I know how hard it is up do a major overhaul on web pages, but hopefully Gail will find time to update with her own spin soon- look forward to her wacky sense of humor showing up on the web pages.

Kelly Russell talks about cardiac med problems (not a good thing, take it easy , Girl!)

Nobody new in the Metal Clay Masters registry in months (yeah, if I’d get off my duff, maybe there’s be one more name. I’m 3 pieces short of the required 10 to submit , but inertia – and the audit season- struck with a vengeance). Last week I came across the half finished steel knife blade from my Tim McCreight knife making class at the Bead House in November, which was supposed to polish off one of the required pieces (silly me!).

So, out of the 95 polymer & metal clay sites I have listed as favorites, only 15 have anything new since November! Several no longer exist at their old addresses, and most of the remaining 80 bloggers write about as sporadically as I do. so I don't feel terribly guilty about not sharing with y'all. hopefully some of the other 80 artists have been so busiy in their studios that they haven't had time to write....

I’d promise to do better, but the reality is, given a choice between blogging, creating and sleep, sleep wins hands down, and while writing is easier for me than the creative process, I really do need to start gearing up for retirement (less than 2 years now) and that means 1- cleaning up the homestead in preparation for moving after retirement and 2- getting off my butt creatively , and starting now to build the retirement life I want to enjoy in 737 days (but who's counting?)

Maybe I'll get lucky, inspiration will rattle me to the core and I"ll crank out several wonderful pieces that I'll be happy to share with you all - it's a new year, and time for an attitude adjustment. now if I could only find the robitussin.....

Charms for Charity -Metal Clay artists from around the world coming together

2010-06-06T10:58:00.000-07:00

For the past few years, the metal clay community from around the world has come together for a fund raising drive called Charms for Charity, creating bracelets and necklaces incorporating metal clay charms .

The original Charms for Charity was a fundraising drive in remembrance of Robin Whittemore, who lost her fight with Breast cancer in 2007, while waiting for a bone marrow transplant. This year's charities are the American Cancer Society and the Marrow Foundation .

I've just completed my charms and am ready to ship them off - 3 charms in kanji represent Hope, Love and Strength, a nautius shell with dichroic glass cab, kitty cat, dragonfly and love letter - along with checks from generous friends in the Brookline Town and School community.

We'll all be holding our breath waiting for news of the winners in the drawing on July 30, at the PMC conference at Purdue

Musings on Tonya Davidson's Master Muse Program

2010-05-30T06:11:00.000-07:00

Tonya Davidson has assembled an amazing group of artists in her Master Muse program. A technique or material is featured in each of the challenges and her merry band of muses responds with some innovative designs- and a detailed tutorial on how to recreate each piece. So far there have been 18 challenges and her international group of artists (Lora Hart, Kelly Russell, Angela Baudel-Crispin, Donna Penoyer, Barbara Becker Simon, and Ruth Baillie among others) have responded to the call.
The most recent set of challenges has inspired me to give resin a try. All these have used Susan Lenart Kazmer's Ice Resin. I've always been a bit put off by Susan's clown head and pencil stub designs, but looking at some of the other design elements she's created using resin, I've been intrigued, but not quite sure how to incorporate them into metal clay or polymer . Three of the Muses have answered that question for me.

Kelly Russell created a metal clay dragonfly trapped in "amber" using a box design in tinted resin.

Lora Hart created a metal clay speciman container brooch with an ice resin center that is an homage to medieval jewelery design

And Ruth Baillie's Hugh the Chameleon brooch in metal clay with tinted resin accents is whimsical.

One of the things I love about the challenges is that several different artists all show their take on the same element or process. Ruth and Lora both did brooches with hand made findings - and each pin design was unique. And each artist gives some background to their design process, so you get a peek into how their creative juices flow and what inspires them.

So far the Muses have done clasps, steampunk stencilling, torch fired enamel, art clay copper and pmc together, and now ice resin.

The Master Muse website has brief summaries of each project and detailed tutorials are coming soon for purchase on Tonya's Wholelottawhimsy website, and I'm patiently waiting to buy my first (hopefully this week the first 3 tutes will be offered for sale). But in the meantime, I've got an idea for a metal clay and resin pendant, and going to mix up a batch of ice resin this afternoon and give it a try.

Doing the Happy Dance

2010-04-19T12:36:00.000-07:00

About 3 weeks ago, I turned in my "final 3" projects for jurying in Chicago - the last step in becoming a Senior Instructor for Art Clay World. And, along with Gail Moriarty, who also took the level 2 class with me at Carol Babineau's studio, I've been waiting patiently to hear the outcome. I just received a congratulatory email from Carol.

As my dear mother used to say, "Yippee, Skippee!", sort of a back in the day equivalent of WHOO-HOO!

I've doing some preplanning for my retirement (998 days and counting), and one of the things I'm looking forward to doing is spending much of my time writing and teaching. Achieving the Senior Instructor certification from Art Clay World was one of "those" things that I needed to do to accomplish my retirement dream.

Now I'm looking at the Master Registry Program, a rigorous 5 tier evaluation program based on 50 specific projects, testing one's ability and creativity using metal clay. So far, 14 artists have successfully completed one or more or the tiers, and judging from the map of those in the program, I'd be the first to enroll from Massachusetts. It's a bit of a scarey endeavor for me, but one that I believe will help me stretch and grow. Julia Rai, the first to sign up for the program, and the first to reach Level III, details her experience in her blog.

Absolutely Everything

2010-04-09T07:53:00.000-07:00

well, it's Friday again, and it looks like I'll be stopping by Absolutely Everything in Topsfield MA on my way home again.
This is a dangerous detour for me...and my wallet, as I always find something I just HAVE to HAVE. Today, I'm on the hunt for Style Stones, which I plan on using as texture tools with metal clay. hopefully , I'll find what I'm looking for there and and will be able to post some new pics over the weekend.

this promises to be a busy Weekend - I'm heading out Saturday to Salem, MA to the Peabody Essex Museum and their new Mayan exhibit - got a great writeup last weekend and the premise is fascinating -"ancient Maya viewed their world as inextricably tied to water."

and Sunday I'll be trying to get a studio back in shape "after the floods" - basement still drenched, but drying slowly, so I'm going to tackle my breezeway room - currently stacked high with seasonal stuff, it's time to clean it out. I'm hoping that between this and next long weekend (thanks to Paul Revere and the Boston marathoners, I have next Monday off), I can turn this nice little room into a 2-3 person teaching studio, at least until the basement studio gets cleared our and cleaned up. Should be interesting- and hopefully I'll find that set of keys that went missing last year in the rubble.

claying with Julie Picarello

2010-03-25T04:48:00.000-07:00

after a busy couple of weeks finishing up my Sr Cert Art Clay projects, I'm rewarding myself with a weekend with Julie Picarello and her mokume gane mixed media workshop through Bead Designers International (check out her amazing work at http://www.yhdesigns.com/).

lots of clay to condition in preparation for this great class and I'm looking forward to getting together with friends and claying for a weekend.

amazing wood sprites

2010-03-20T17:05:00.000-07:00

I've been busy since returning from Maryland, Cabin Fever and Synergy, dealing with the after effects of two weeks away from the real job - and from the flooded basement that awaited by return to Massachusetts. This time, because I was away when the basement flooded and we lost power for several days, the sump pump that keeps me relatively dry was not attended to, the water rose about 8 inches and entered the finished half of the basement. so I've been pumping, wet vacing, dehumidifying and tossing out.

this is the first weekend I've really had to myself, so today, after some metal clay work with Carol Babineau and a Central Ma Polymer Clay guild meeting, I decided to finally check out some of the etsy sites - and came across some incredible polymer clay wood sprites by Chopoli .

This polymer sculptor from Rosenheim, Germany has quite a talent for combining polymer clay and wood bark. Some of the sprites' and gnomes' faces are incredibly beautiful and human like, others are pure fantasy.

History at Synergy2

2010-02-26T15:30:00.000-08:00

Synergy 2, the 2010 conference for the International Polymer Clay Association, is being held at the Tremont Grand in Baltimore. This Building was the site of an early Masonic Lodge and is loaded with history and very fancy decor.

on the first night of Synergy2, the old and the new collided for me. As a big fan of Ace of Cakes, a Food Network weekly series about Baltimore -based Charm CIty Cakes, I was thrilled to discover that the Synergy Committee had contracted for a Duff "special " cake.

This cake depicts several polymer clay techniques, including flower canes, beadmaking and mosaics - and was very yummy (except for the gum paste jewels around the base of the cake, which looked scrumptious, but had the consistency of unflavored, very poofy marshmallows).

After the cake tasting, I visted the ladies room and came face to face with a story related to my home town, Jamestown NY, and the company where my grandmother Haupin spent most of her work life- and where my mother was a Rosie the Riveter during WWII. the plaque and signatures hidden in an alcove explain it all.

Maryland madness

2010-02-26T14:53:00.000-08:00

So, I've been in Maryland for almost a week, staying with family and attending Cabin Fever Clay fest. This was my second time attending this whirlwind polymer clay event. It is hard to say which of the 7 classes I attended that I enjoyed the most.

What was great about this year was that there were more "multi-media" offereings, and I really didn't have the self imposed pressure of completing projects in each class (good thing because I was up late -for me- almost every night watching the Olympics )

so, in Dayle Doroshow's class I did complete 10 different folded paper books (and polymer covers for 4 of them)

and

in Laurie Mika's class

I completed some very thick mosaic ATC's.

Traveling Studio

2010-02-13T11:20:00.000-08:00

While there are many joys that come from working in both polymer and metal clay, one of the big frustrations that I have is the packing and repacking or tools, supplies and materials when switching gears from one medium to another in a class setting. Yes, many tools I use in polymer clay I also use in metal clay, but there are some I don't. I have a series of transportation options for my studio on wheels. The biggest and definitely the heaviest is a very heavy duty 3 part metal tool cart that I use primarily to cart polymer goodies off to retreats. Then I have 4 heavy cloth rolling bags- two designed for scrapbooking, one a big hand tool bag from harbor freight, and a rolling carryon Samsonite bag. Then there are the big blue, insulated, zip top trader Joe's bags that catch the overflow when travelling. finally, if I'm teaching and have to drag along a kiln and/or a toaster oven, I have a rolling flat cart. Right now, all my studio supplies are in disarray- spread out over my studio, the basement and what used to be (and hopefully will be again) my dining room. As my brother , Bill, so sweetly put it, I can't die before he does, because he doesn't want to have to deal with "the mess".

Two weeks ago I was finishing up an intensive metal clay class series in Nashua. Because I'm a firm believer in bring something you may or may not need, it's safe to say that I packed everything but the kitchen sink from my tool and supplies area that could be used for metal clay, including many of my polymer tools. This took the two larger rolling bags and two of the insulated trader joe's bags. I finished the class and headed back to life in the "real world", sliding all the transport gear into the studio.

Next week, I'm heading off to CFCF2010 for 4 days on intensive polymer clay classes, so now it's time to regroup, sort out the tools and such and go over the supply list for each of the 7 classes I'll be taking. I'm excited about these classes, because they're with artists whose work I've always admired, but with two exceptions, I've never met.

I've got a full day class with my old friend Jana Roberts Benzon. It's always a treat to get together with her - a wonderful teacher with a great sense of humor and an amazing talent. She'll be debuting her "laser cut technique”. This three dimensional intricate design reminds me of aerial views of a city - and it will be a great way to use up those bits of cane I have stored in ammunition cases (we polymer people are very good at repurposing all sorts of things - let us loose in a hardware or sporting goods store and we can come up with any number of repurposed texture tools)

I'm doing a faux raku bracelet class with Tony Aquino, with whom I had the pleasure of studying last year. Tony is the chemist for Kato clay, and a talented artist and teacher. Ask him how to incorporate something non-polymer into your process and he'll come up with a creative solution

and then there are the new folks - well, new for me- Laurie Mika is doing a mosaic ATC class (spent lots of dollars on multimedia goodies at Absolutely Everything in Topsfield, MA getting ready for this class and Dayle's); Laurie is also presenting at the International Polymer Clay Association (IPCA) conference and devised the magnificent Synergy Collaborative Tile Project. Laurie's also doing one of the development sessions at Synergy

Dayle Doroshow is teaching a bookmaking class, using folded papers and polymer covers at CFCF2010 and she's also presenting at the IPCA's Synergy 2 conference- on creative spark and how to nurture it.

After watching Louise Fischer- Cozzi's "Sophie Necklace" dvd and marveling at her talent, I'm looking forward to taking a class with her in person - this bangles class incorporates polymer clay laminates and fine finishing techniques. Louise will also be presenting at Synergy - thoughts on wholesaling

Grant Diffendaffer is one of the more "interesting" polymer artist today. At a recent show at the Fuller Crafts Museum , his contribution to the exhibit was polymer clay ray guns! He also uses heavy duty tools in creating some of his bead - his recent book walked us through creating polymer beads with a mini wood lathe. The CFCF class I'm talking with him is making recursive beads - a lot of techniques involved here too.

and last, but not least, is a mobile stackable sculpture with Maureen Carlson. Maureen makes absolutely lovely dolls and many of us use the push molds she's designed for faces in our work. This class uses many techniques and materials to help us express an emotion or feeling - I love the lady with the bird on her head in Maureen's exemplar for the class. And I've always envied the wonderful teaching facility Maureen has up in Jordan , MN

So, as you can see, there's a ton of supplies and tools to organize - and lots of clay to pre-condition so I can get the most out of the classes. and hopefully in the process I can get my studio re-organized so when I get back from these classes I can get to work creating!

certifiable

2010-02-07T14:35:00.000-08:00

for the past two weekends, I've been driving up to Nashua to take a level 2 certification class in Art Clay Silver at Carol Babineau's studio. For those of you unfamiliar with ACS's cert programs, they're fairly intense- several projects to be completed on site in a limited amount of time.
The cert programs have just been re-written and with a couple of the old projects eliminated (the brass wire and silver pendant and the gauze over clay bead-two of my favorites) and several of the remaining projects changed .
So I've been busily crafting, refining and firing away. Today marked the completion of my in-class projects and now I can begin obsessing about what to make for my 3 "submit to be juried" pieces - a ring, a brooch and a pendant , all meeting specific fabrication guidelines.

I do know that the pendant will definitely NOT have a stone as large as the one I created for my in-class project. It was a great learning experience on a couple of levels- setting a stone with corner, and setting a REALLY big stone. Another challenge has been trying to get the perfect photograph of all the pieces together. aside for a bit of focus issue in the right corner of the really big pendant, this is the best I've been able to do.
of course part of the problem is using a flash with all that shiney silver.
the Dragonfly Inro has different dragonfly scenes on each side - one with bent grasses, the other with cattails, and int underside of the inro cover is adorned with 2 baby dragonflies. Grasses and reeds embellish the sides of the box, too.

so now I'm cruising my favorite supplier sites, trying to find just the perfect stone for the pendant I've designed - either moonstone or a light blue stone would probably be perfect in a 10mm round. The pin gave me the most fits, but I've finally come up with a design I like - can you pick it out of this group of some of the sketches I did for early designs?

Going to Pot

2010-01-17T07:28:00.000-08:00

Just before the holidays, I took a traditional hand-throwing clay class with Paula Barry (www.wallacehillpottery.com ) at the Picker Building in Nashua, just down the hall from Car0l Babineau's studio. It's hard to believe, given art education today - or even 20 years ago, that I don't ever remember working with clay in school.

About a year ago, I'd purchased 25 lb of clay, with the intention of making beads that could be used with metal clay...and now I have a pretty solid 25 lb unfired brick sitting in a plastic storage container.

I had a couple of ideas for Christmas gifts that I wanted to try my hand at with an instructor present- who could hopefully tell me how to rehydrate my 25 brick. My hands were giving me trouble the night of the class, and I found the clay more difficult to deal with than either polymer or metal clay initially, so Paula swapped out my "older" clay for some that was nice & fresh. It was somewhat easier to work with than the original batch, so I started playing.

I'd wanted to make a bunny for my cousin, Brittany, whose name I'd drawn for the family exchange - she's got a big, bad (chews on electric cords) house bunny. after several attempts at a "whole " bunny, I gave up and settled for a head.

then I moved on to beads. I decided to keep it simple - a couple of flattish beads with holes for stringing and a couple of little faces that I've been thinking of using as computer "guardians" - to keep the bugs and viruses away

and finally, with time running out, I threw together a couple of pinch pots.

Then it was time to choose the glazes we wanted added and out the door. I'd hoped that the pieces would be ready for the holidays, but alas, they weren't fired until last week. The glazes came out a bit darker than I'd anticipated and where I'd hoped for blues, I seem to have greens.

So the bunny will be traveling south with me in February. Overall I'm happy with the results and it was an interesting experiment that I'll probably continue . I'd like to make more beads and experiment with other clays and glazes.

Magical Polymer Clay Books

2009-12-14T15:22:00.000-08:00

Every once in a while a magical polymer clay book rolls off the presses. This year we've been very lucky. Two have been released that have opened up new creative channels for me .

Maggie Maggio and Lindley Haunani, after years of crossing the country teaching color theory, have published "Polymer Clay Color Inspirations: Techniques and Jewelry Projects for Creating Successful Palettes" . I've been fortunate to take a couple of classes with Lindley, one right after her book came out, and I found "Color Inspirations" is almost like having her in the room with you. Each chapter has a process discussion, a project to reinforce the process and a polymer clay artist profile. The chapters are clearly written and contain numerous examples to get you moving. Even someone as color challenged as I am (light greens and browns look the same to me) can take away a wealth of information. In the first class I took with likdley, I had one of those "light-bulb" moments when I intellectually "saw" the difference between light green and light brown, because I'd mixed both colors and could see the differences in them sitting side by side.

In early November, Cynthia Thornton brought out "Enchanted Adornments: Creating Mixed-Media Jewelry with Metal, Clay, Wire, Resin & More ". For those of you not familiar with her given name, Cynthia is the artistic force behind Green Girl Studios. This book is a two for one gift. First, Cynthia weaves a story about a magical trip that an artist takes to mystical , faraway places, designing one piece for an inhabitant of each place. The story is set up as an artist's journal with wonderful sketches. Then, after each chapter's story , there's a project related to the tale. They progress from very easy to challenging. This is a mixed media book, with metal, metal clay, polymer clay, resins, wire and more. There are charms, bracelets, necklaces, earrings, pendants and rings. Cynthia speaks of the importance of journaling when your creative juices are flowing, and gives helpful hints to get you started. The Gallery section here is truly inspiring. There's even a section on symbology.

The only problem with receiving both these books in the same month is one of time- where do I start first?

observations on working with the new art clay copper clay

2009-12-06T13:52:00.000-08:00

I spent yesterday up in Nashua with Carol Babineau playing with the new copper clay from Aida - Art Clay World.

We each started out with a 50 g package of the copper clay. I ended up with everything on the composite picture, plus 2 more lentil halves. The clay itself seemed to hold its mosture content well and has a nice feel.

We fired for about a half hour at just about 1730F, which was as high as Carol's kiln would go, and then after a quick cold water bath out of the kiln, pickled briefly in Sparex. For pieces with heavy firescale that didn't come off with pickling, we used a dremel with the reddish-brown 3m radial bristle disks.

most came out of the kiln with fairly heavy firescale (see the bird),

but some popped right off in the cold water bath (like the half lentil)

leaving a fair reddish color on the high spots. Pieces with moderate firescale seemed to clean up fairly well in pickle. On the other hand, some pieces (like the bird), didn't lose much of their firescale , even after pickling. it even shows at 2 colors- more reddish closest to the copper base, and a dark blue-green above that.

I tried chopping up some dried clay pieces and adding them to my owl,
trying to emulate the feathers above the beak. these came out rounder
and less defined - I wonder if the base owl piece acted like a heat sink
holding the heat on the chunks hotter and longer than it would with
regular Art Clay Silver.

I'd like to get my hands on some more of the clay and try some do some more experimenting - since I tend to use a lot of copper wire in my polymer-wire work, I can see this new clay will add a new dimension to my work , with highly textured copper focal beads

Victoria James' Textures

2009-11-06T07:10:00.000-08:00

VictoriaJamesArt has some wonderful new textures available for polymer and metal clay artists.

Taken from nature and woodblock prints, these have my imagination overflowing. Her lava rock texture looks like just what I’ll need to create the wonderful ivory texture tool that Cynthia Thornton shows in the “texturing clay “ section of her Enchanted Adornments .

Email Victoria to order any of the texture sheets shown in her “What’s New” or “Real Textures” sections and let your imagination run wild!

Synergy 2 and CFCF2010 are heating up

2009-11-06T06:05:00.000-08:00

February may be cold and bleak here in New England, but down in Maryland, it's full of color!

Combine Cabin Fever Clay Festival (CFCF) with the IPCA's Synergy 2 and you have something for every polymer clay enthusiast.

As with 2008, Kathryn Ottman has pulled together a hands-on , pre-Synergy extravaganza in Laurel, MD, with CFCF2010 . Jana Roberts Benzon, Jeff Dever, Lindly Haunani, Maggie Maggio, Barbara McGuire, Nan Roche, and Cindy Silas are teaching full day pre-conference workshops (Jeff’s is a two day event). Then, beginning Sunday, February 21, Tony Aquino, Maureen Carlson, Louise Fisher Cozzi, Dayle Doroshow, Grant Diffendaffer, Laurie Mika, Kathryn Jo Ottman, Lisa Pavelka, Sarah Shriver, and Ronna Sarvas Weltman teach half-day workshops through Wednesday, February 24th. Check out Polyclayfests’ blog for more details on CFCF 2010’s offerings

Then you can slide on over to the Tremont Plaza Suites Hotel in Baltimore for Synergy2 , the ICPA’s biennial gathering. Start with an opening cocktail reception and presentation by Ford & Forlano Wednesday night. Then on Thursday, the development sessions begin- topics range from inspirations from scientific imagery to marketing strategies with stops along the way on design techniques and collaborations. This year there’s more time to meet with fellow artists, as the sessions are all at the Tremont –and more meals are included. Also this year, the ICPA is sponsoring some hands-on pre and post conference classes, with Seth Savarick, Leslie Blackford, Bettina Welker, Dan Cormier, Tracy Holmes and Robert Dancik.

What more could one ask for on a cold winter’s day?

Enchanted Adornments

2009-11-06T05:38:00.000-08:00

Some wonderful books have recently come out in the polymer and metal clay world

Most recently, Cynthia Thornton, of Green Girl Studio fame, has written a lovely, whimsical, mixed-media tome that is part story book-journal, part creativity spark, part project manual.
after reading ENCHANTED ADORNMENTS cover to cover twice, I can only wish that I could see inside her own journals, to delve further into how she translates her imagination into such wonderful designs.

Instead, today, I'm going to start building some of the texture cards and reverse texture stamps she shows how to build in the Essentials section.

The Projects section is divided into 20 chapters, each with a unique story and design. Metal Clay, polymer clay, shrink plastic, resin and wire wrap are all represented. The Inspiration Gallery includes works I've not seen before from 14 well known mixed-media artists

Klay Karma is coming!

2009-04-03T05:00:00.000-07:00

My friends from the NH and Central MA polymer clay guilds have been hard at work planning Klay Karma 09, our joint biennial Polymer Clay retreat.

Every other year (2005, 2007, 2009) Klay Karma brings together some of the most talented polymer clay artists in New England for 3 days of inspiration and creativity. Klay Karma 09 will be held July 24 - 26, 2009, on the campus of Rivier College in Nashua, NH.

visit the klay_karma Group at Yahoo.com for more information.

I had my first "real" introduction to Polymer clay at the first Klay Karma in 2005. Prior to that, I'd just been using PC to make molds and tearaway plates for my metal clay work. Someone at one of Celie Fago's keum boo classes suggested I check out KlayKarma to find out other things for do with PC, and what a great thing it was...I had no idea what I was getting into, but I walked into this big room and there was noise (talking, laughter, motors!), movement (women going from one table to another swapping ATC's) and colors! I sat next to Judy Dunn who patiently showed me the joys of skinner blends and introduced me to just about everyone. There were lots of folks there for CT, too- it turns out the So CT and NH-MA guilds trade off years, so every summer there's a great clay gathering in New England.

Nashua is just over the MA border and is famous for its shopping and vibrant crafts community- many artisans have studios in old brick mill buildings (Carol Babineau, who was recently named a Master Instructor for Art Clay World , has a wonderful studio in the Picker Building along the river) .

I'm looking forward to seeing many clay friends from all over New England in July - and now that the snow has finally melted from my back yard, I can actually believe that summer is just around the corner....

I like to have something new to show at a demo at the retreat and have been playing with mixing traditional oil paints with kato liquid clay and applying a marbling effect. Here's a sample of my first attempt at marbling with oils and kato liquid.

sliding back

2009-03-07T07:41:00.001-08:00

well, it's been a long time since I last wrote here. for many not-very-good reasons I've been away from my craft and writing, but as (hopefully) the remnants of the last snow storm are melting, so is my lethargy.

I got a great infusion of energy and inspiration last week when I attended CFCF09 in Laurel, MD. A polymer clay retreat that brought together some great artists as teachers and students, I signed up for the max in sessions -1 full day pre-conference with Nan Roche and 6 half day sessions (Lynne Schwartzenburg, Jana Roberts Benzon , Sarah Shriver, Kim Korringa, Tony Acquino and Tory Hughes, in no particular order), which was probably a mistake , but thoroughly enjoyable. One problem for me, as many of the other participants, was the banning of motors in the classrooms, so if you roamed the halls at night, you could hear the whine of many pasta machine motors coming from hotel rooms - and the occasional loud thump-thwack sound of a 10# sledge hammer hitting a 1 # polymer clay package. I'm not sure what the other guests thought was going on with all those strange noises.

As I packed up pre-trip, I marvelled at the folks who had attended this last year, travelling by plane and train, before the National Polymer Clay Guild's conference. How they did it with no excess baggage is beyond me-for my 7 classes, I needed a total of 18#'s of preconditioned clay, plus lots of other clay tools and supplies. In addition to my big rolling toolbox which was stuffed to the gills, I had 4 large LL Bean bags loaded to overflowing. I had packaged up in seven 2 gallon zip lock bags the clay and supplies needed for each class. I had 2 pasta machines- my trusty imperia with motor for the hotel room and a new makin's pasta machine (larger roller heads, nonstick) for the classes. add to that a big suitcase (for 7 days of clothes), a smaller overnight bag, and snacks, and the Malibu looked like I was running away from home taking everything but the kitchen sink!

and once there, I bought even more clay, stamps, powders, etc. at the retreat store. I also had 70 miniature masks on mardi gras bead strands for the swap - which I missed so, they came back home with me. 20 small bags of fused glass cabs, minicabs and focal beads were destined for the retreat store -we could put out our own work for sale at the store, and I figured with instructors who would be plying their wares, I needed something that was a bit different- ergo the fused glass. Christi Friesen was also teaching, so I'd added some dichroic icicles that I thought might go over with her students.

2007-09-28T10:07:00.000-07:00

oh yes, and I failed to mention that early this month, the latest issue of Step by Step Beads arrived- with my "turning over a new leaf" necklace both in the magazine and as a download from their webpage - the trick to my necklace is that each side is finished differently- one in a combination of several canes on gold, black or copper colored leaves. The edges of each leaf are covered with 18K gold, and 18K gold line drawings are made on the "backs" of some of the leaves. So the necklace can go from wild and funky during the day to sophisticated and elegant in the evening. Doing the article was an interesting experience, with lots of help from a great editor, Jane Dickenson.

2007-09-28T09:54:00.000-07:00

I've been out of touch for a while now. My lovely mother passed away mid-August and after a mad trip back to "home" (Jamestown, NY) for a quick memorial service, and all the assorted issues of winding up a very small estate, I've fallen into "a slump". But as of today, I'm hoping to get back on track. On the agenda is finishing up my 3 projects for the Art Clay Sr Certification program - a ring, a pendant and a brooch. while the design is important, finish is the name of the game.
the pendant requires a bezel set stone, the ring a fire in place stone with carving and the brooch requires flat clay with a mirror finish- actually all 3 pieces require mirror finish on any flat surface. being an organic kind of artist, the mirror finish presents particular challenges for me.

I've fiddled with design issues for the past month, and tips I picked up at the Metal Clay World Conference in Las Vegas had set my mind reeling. So today I work with Metal Clay fabrication - and tomorrow and Sunday I run off for a polymer clay seminar- with Dan Cormier - down in Lexington.

packing up the studio and the Daphne Farago collection

2007-05-29T15:25:00.000-07:00

Last night I packed up a good part of my studio to ship it to Georgia - I'm taking a certification class in Art Clay Silver with Pam East next week, and will need a goodly number of my tools and metal clay paraphernalia down there. Since I'm flying and my last couple of experiences with the "inspectors and handlers of checked bags" has been less than stellar, I figured shipping with insurance might ensure that what I shipped got there.

and now my metal studio looks pretty empty - yes, the big stuff , like the kilns and the drill press and grinders are there - and I didn't ship most of my molds or textures, but now through the end of the week, I'll probably be playing with polymer in my spare time, rather than metal clay. not that there's much "spare time", as the real job is intruding into my "free" time this week with Town Meeting - a uniquely New England experience. I'm thinking about an article in the Boston Globe last week about a new jewelry exhibit at the Boston MFA - "Jewelry by Artists: The Daphne Farago Collection"- about 300 pieces, mostly by studio (as opposed to production) jewelers that Mrs Farago collected over a 50 year period - two of the pictures in the Globe really caught my eye - a Calder necklace that is very evocative of his mobiles, and a John Paul Miller pendant entitled Polyp Colony that uses granulation and enameling to replicate the amazing colors and textures of a sea polyp. the MFA website has a interactive preview program at . When I viewed it, a few of the links appear to be broken, but try all 15 screens.

Perhaps in thinking back over some of the artworks I enjoyed in museums around the work, I can come up with a jewelry design that evokes one of them - maybe watery green-blue opals (to replicate the brush strokes in one of Monet's Giverny paintings) in a silver and gold waterlily setting. A good way to spend 4 hours in an uncomfortable seat in a high school auditorium, while those around me debate prudent spending policies.
If you go to the interactive MFA program, be sure to go to screen 13- where there's a Jan Yager sterling silver dandelion that reminds me of the metal clay over botanicals that I do from time to time. Would be interesting to hear how the artist captured the veining in sterling- probably not as easily as we do in metal clay.

the disposable life and why education matters,even to an artist

2007-05-27T14:10:00.000-07:00

As I'm new to this blogging thing, I hope you can forgive the lack of fancy bells & whistles at the moment - I have to find out how to have the link appear with a picture, rather than just doing the addresses as I've been doing - this too will come if you have patience.

The disposable life

for 30 years, I was a dyed in the wool Minolta SLR fan. I have 5 35 mm minoltas, ranging from a SRT101 to a 570 to a 700 to a XG7. these are workhorse cameras- I rock climbed with them, bashing them into rock walls at Yosemite, dropping them as I fell into a tide pool at Big Sur. heck, I cross country skied through the Sierras, falling occasionally into snowbanks with them. I have a plethora of lenses that fit all the cameras, most with multiple dings on the cases. The 101 was my favorite for ice & snow- with manual everything, I didn't have to worry about the batteries dying. all metal bodies- and the lenses were mostly metal, too. and with all those dings and drops, I never had a piece of equipment fail on me.

then digital came along. I'm a late converter. It wasn't until a trip to New Orleans in the late 90's that I finally picked up a little digital camera - the gateway DC50. small, but not so small my chunky fingers had trouble with control, it served me well in a 5 megapixel world. but I yearned for a digital slr and last year invested in a canon digital rebel.

sure, the body is mostly plastic and the lens is too, but it does do 8 MP of glorious picture. and it looks and feels and behaves more or less like a SLR. Until last week, while trying to get reshots for a Step by Step Beads article, and the camera dropped out of its case as I opened it, and fell approximately 24 inches onto a heavily carpeted floor, landing lens down. well, I have a recommendation for you if you own one of these babies - don't take them rock climbing at Yosemite...don't take them to Big Sur....forget about cross country skiing with them...don't open the camera case unless it's sitting on a table. You'll notice the pic at left shows a slightly larger space to the left than the right of the
lens cap? and that silly little difference means that nothing automatic on the camera worked. called Canon , since the camera was less than a year old and was told that their warranty doesn't cover stupidity (well, they put it nicely but that's what they meant). when I mentioned how I tortured my minoltas, there was a pause, then the nice young man responded- "that's probably why Minolta got out of the camera business. Would you like to order a new lens?"

He may be right. I used to buy a tire that guaranteed me 40,000 miles - I regularly got 50-60,000 out of them. they're not made anymore. I think canon and their lenses are like the printer companies, who low ball the price on a printer, but the price of the replacement cartridges kill you. maybe that's why the landfills are are becoming "landfulls" = full of last year's cellphones and pda's and computer monitors that no one wants. give your old cellphones to your local women's shelter or police department - they'll recycle them for abused spouses safety nets.

why education matters,even to an artist

it's a strange world we live in. yes, I bought the replacement lens because a week from today, I fly south to Atlanta to take a Sr. Certification class in Art Clay Silver with the divine Pam East. Yes, this is on top of the old format 3-day level 1 and 2 certs that I hold from PMC Connection. I am so excited about this class. I've had to work around a move at my "real job", and Mom's illness, but it's finally going to happen-and I want to be able to take pictures during the class.

Pam (in case you don't know her) is one of the few US ACS Master instructors, and an enameling whiz. she has a book (http://www.pinzart.com/product/0413) coming out shortly on the art of enameling on metal clay and I'll be coming away with 6 projects, a wealth of information- and an idea of what 3 projects I need to submit to the jury to qualify as a sr instructor.

so there is a goal in mind for this class I'm taking, but even if there weren't, I'd probably still be doing it.

Just as I've signed up to take a class with Kelly Russell (http://www.beadfuddled.com/)

and just missed a class with Jana Roberts Benzon (http://www.janarobertsbenzon.com/) .

I'm a firm believer in learning, and whenever possible, learning from someone who's the very best at what they do - even if it's something I may never use again, once I learn it, it's mine and no one can take it away. and someday (like those physics classes back in high school- as I stood last year with a chainsaw in hand and a tree on my garage roof, I was able to calcualte where to tie the rope from the car to the tree- and where to cut the tree so that it came down exactly where I wanted it to with minimal damage to the roof) it may come in handy. and both these artists are genuinely nice people, in addition to being fantastic artists.

I met Kelly at The Bead House (www.thebeadhouse.com) in Bristol, RI, during one of Celie Fago's Hollow forms and Keum Boo classes (www.celiefago.com) and she blew me away. and Jana left us speechless last July at the SO CT Polymer Clay guild's retreat - Clay Connections- when she showed us her method of getting canes moving to reduce them (and these were HUGE canes) - by flailing them on the floor. her demos at this event were SRO - and filled with laughter. that's been one of the great things about working with metal clay and polymer clay - the wonderful, sharing people I've met along the way.

Lindly Haunani (http://www.lindlyhaunani.com) was able to help me 'see colors' (no small feat as I'm colorblind to browns and greens) while we were "dancing with the rainbows " at a weekend with the Lexington MA polymer clay guild.

Christi Friesen (www.cforiginals.net) got me hooked on sculptural techniques with that same group- and taught me that it's never too late to have a happy childhood.

Sarah Shriver (www.sarahshriver.com) taught me not to be frugal with my clay when making canes (what do you mean, reduce the cane down to 1"? I started out at 1"!!!), so when I met Jana and her 25 pound canes, I didn't write her off as a crazy lady.

can I replicate anything that any of these magnificent artists taught me? not exactly, but I find myself incorporating pieces of things I learned from each of them into my work - and it makes me a better artist. ...and a less boring person.

so keep taking classes - and maybe take one from me (www.silvergoldnglass.com), so I can afford to take more......

a first for everything

2007-05-27T10:02:00.000-07:00

After following a couple of my favorite blogs - http://www.polymerclaydaily.com/ and http://www.squidoo.com/preciousmetalclay , I've decided to add my thoughts to cyberspace, too.
I'm one of those odd artisans who came to polymer and metal clay late in life - made a conscious decision to add Metal clay to my jewelry making repertoire about 5 years ago, when two unfortunate events occurred - my mother, who's lived with me since my dad died, developed colon cancer and I developed carpal tunnel syndrome. I knew my hands were giving out and it was going to be very hard to drag stained glass around to chemotherapy sessions- that had been my creative outlet for about 15 years.

I started with beading, making tons of beaded bangle bracelets while mom underwent CT scans, chemotherapy and surgeries. Beading is highly portable, and it became almost a form of meditation for me during mom's many medical procedures. As long as my hands were busy, my mind remained calm....

then I moved on to move complicated peyote stitch necklaces, but was frustrated by the focal beads I found in local bead shops.

I'd seen work that Barbara Becker Simon (http://www.bbsimon.com/) had done with metal clay and thought - I can do that.

Looking around, there were almost no general or introductory classes in metal clay available in the area, but I did spot a level 1 certification class taught by Cathy Szemanek about an hour away. 2 hours before my first day of class was to begin, mom suffered congestive heart failure and I spent the day at the hospital with her. days 2 and 3 were busy, busy , busy as I played catchup with a medium I fell in love with. Level 2 cert followed and several classes in specific techniques.

In one class we used polymer clay to make molds of antique beads - and that was my polymer experience for a couple of years. then a friend said "you know, you can do a lot more with polymer . the local guild is hosting a 3 day retreat - why not come along...." and another yellow brick road opened up to me.

the members of the NH and central MA polymer clay guilds that hosted the event (the inaugural Klay Karma in 2005) were very welcoming.
poor Judy Dunn (http://www.moms-studio.com/) had me as a table mate and she very patiently introduced me to skinner blends and clay extruders. The members of the So CT guild held and comforted me as I talked about Mom's cancer . As a result of the retreat, I joined the MA guild
and about 6 months later, I joined the NH guild to take a class with Kathleen Dustin (http://www.kathleendustin.com/) at Wingdoodle (http://www.wingdoodle.com/) in Warner , NH. Boy, talk about jumping off the deep end. before that class, I could make 4 different canes. At the end of the class I was layering gold leaf with translucent clay , slicing the resultant cane at an angle and overlaying those slices over drawings I'd made on the base bead- and several other canes - then sanding the baked piece to bring out the translucence, It may not have come up to the standards of the other, more experienced, participants in the class, but I'd moved light years ahead of where I'd been 3 days earlier.

Mom's health continues to be a roller coaster ride. but during her good periods, I've found time to expand my interest in polymer and metal clay and fused glass- started teaching metal clay through the Brookline (MA) Adult Ed program, where I'd previously taught stained glass, and jumped off the website bridge with a basic personal website - http://www.silvergoldnglass.com/.

and now a blog... stay tuned for my ramblings.