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Polymer Clay Productions Press Pass To The Creative Hobby Association Show

Well we were on our first assignment as press at the Creative Hobby Association show (CHA) this past weekend. It was a whirlwind weekend full of crafty goodness. We were invited to film the Bottles Of Hope award ceremony that Amaco was having in their booth at the show. Lisa Pavelka was the host and an an old friend I hadn’t seen in 4-5 years. It was so great to see her, we popped in after one of her classes to say hi and she had the most incredible artwork on display. Amaco also surprised Lisa with an award at the show that you will be able to see on Polymer Clay TV.

I want to share everything about the weekend but so much went on that it is easier to talk about it on the podcast then to write it all down. We will be showing the awards on Polymer Clay TV next Friday so stay tuned for that. We also had the pleasure of meeting some amazingly talented artists. We are happy to say that we were able to get interviews with 2 of the winners of the award challenge for the Bottles Of Hope. For those who do not know about the Bottles of Hope program it is a program to take chemotherapy bottles or small bottles and to create pieces of artwork out of polymer clay that embody the theme of hope. They are then given to cancer patients to help give them hope and to let people know that someone cares and created something to show their support in trying times. I encourage everyone to get involved with this wonderful program. You can find more out about it by visiting Amaco’s website.

Amaco is re-introducing Friendly Plastic and doing some really cool things. One of pieces they made with Friendly Clay was a Mardi Gras Outfit which Kira Proudly modeled on Polymer Clay TV in an upcoming episode but here is a photo of it on display.

We also had the pleasure of interviewing 2 of the award winners of the Amaco Bottles Of Hope awards, Tommie Howell and Lynne Ann Schwarzenberg. They were such neat people we just had so much fun doing the interviews and you will get to see those on Polymer Clay TV as well. Lynne Ann & Tommie will be sending us some photos of their amazing work so you will get to see it as well as their winning bottles.

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We also interviewed a very talented artist & cane maker Charlene (Cat) Therien, she was so fun to talk to and she gave Kira and I one of her beautiful butterfly barrettes which I wore on one of the interviews. Unfortunately it was the first and last time I got to wear it as I forgot it in the hotel because I set it aside to make sure it was on the top of my carry on and didn’t get broken and forgot to put it in. Bummer! Make sure to check out her website to see her great canes and on top of that she sells them so you don’t have to make your own.

We went by the Polyform booth to check out the new clay they are making called Studio by Sculpey and they had samples of a light blue color. Here is a photo of what it looks like in the package and with some removed. There is a sort of cardboard waxy paper that the clay sits on in the package.

We have 2 extra bars to give away to 2 of our listeners and viewers. All you have to do is make a comment on our website or on Itunes and you will be automatically entered and we will announce the two winners in our newsletter and on the website on August 1st 2007. They will each get one bar which weigh approximately 3 ounces. I really like the clay and was able to make a crisp cane out of it, it feels kind of chalky as opposed to sticky. I asked Polyform how does it cane and they told me it wasn’t for caning so of course I had to try caning with it and to be honest I really liked it. It sliced nicely right after I made the cane. They say it is more durable then Premo. I question that because they had a larger vase made from the clay that had a large crack in it and I have never had that happen with Premo. I did however have that happen with Fimo Soft when it first came on the market. They did not want us to film or take any photos of their booth but I can tell you that the booth was dedicated to promoting the new addition to their clay line Studio by Sculpey.They had vases, drawer pulls and those little patio tables as well as some candlesticks. We were told since the clay wouldn’t be available until January next year that they didn’t want to tease the customers. For those of you who have never attended one of these shows thousands of people attend them over four days so obviously they had no problem teasing thousands of the industry people. Donna Dewberry did several tutorials at the booth and in the demonstration area which we sat in on. Apparently she was brought on board to work and train people to use the new line of clay Studio by Sculpey and is not on board for Premo or Sculpey. Make sure to tune in this Friday when Kira and I share lots more about our encounter and trip.

Polymer Clay Podcast will be available for download this Friday from our site, Itunes,Google Video,Yahoo Video,Veoh,YouTube as well as over 200 other directories. In this episode we will be sharing much more of our thoughts experiences on the show and the people we met so stay tuned and check back on Friday to listen.

Make sure to sign up for our newsletter to be automatically entered into our monthly drawings for prizes. We have a T-Shirt that Amaco gave us that we will be giving away as well as some other goodies we have to share.

We have also decided to create a prize gallery where our winners can pick a prize of their choice from the gallery so stay tuned for that. Enjoy the show!