Back From Synergy Conference Heading to Orlando Clay Fandango

// February 25th, 2008 //

Most of our traveling is done and it was a busy two weeks traveling to California and Maryland but we had lots of fun and got lots of great footage that we will be sharing with you. We also attended the American Craft Council show and to my surprise there were at least 5 polymer clay artists included in the show. I think that people are starting to understand the medium and realizing that it isn’t the medium but what the artist does with the medium that makes the piece. There was an artist there selling millefiori bowls that were gorgeous, every bowl was unique and highly detailed. We filmed her booth as well as a few of the other polymer clay artists that were at the show, so stay tuned for the footage.

It was so nice to put all the faces with all the names and get to see some of the artwork in person at Synergy. There was a gallery that was full of artwork that could be purchased during the show and a silent auction to bid on your favorite items. Sales were pretty brisk in the gallery and there wasn’t much left when I went home. I loved the variety of styles and was inspired by everything I saw at both of the shows. The majority of the art for sale was jewelry but there was some table top and home decor in the gallery.

On Friday there was also a vendor fair and there were about 1 dozen vendors selling all kinds of goodies. I purchased a mold and a texture tool from Kim Cavender and some bracelet blanks and transfers from Melanie West. Our new friend Mike from Alumilite was there also and he gave us some goodies to go home and play with.

We set up in the main area and were catching people as they walked by and seeing if they wanted to do an interview with us. We interviewed a ton of artists and had so much fun getting to know them. We were invited by Seth Savarick to attend his class on Saturday and what a treat it was. Seth is such a great guy and he really did his research. The class was called From Imitation to Inspiration and he started the class playing music that was inspired by each other and some had actually had lawsuits because of it. It was a real eye opener as some of the songs were so different but they has some of the same use of cords. Even though we couldn’t stay for the entire class, it really got me thinking. Thanks Seth!

One of the other highlights of my trip was getting to see snow for the first time in 20 years. It started snowing the first day I arrived and I even got to walk in it.LOL

The other big highlight was getting to meet some of the members of the PCAGOE. We got to meet up with Janice of http://www.Naftali.etsy.com, Elizabeth Bonura, Bettina Welker, Iris Mishly, Lisa from Polka Dot Creations and Mary Ellen, who unfortunately got sick. It was so fun to get to hang out with our friends in person and get to know them better. Bettina came from Germany and Iris came from Israel. Iris also told us she was listening to our show at the gym and heard us talking about Synergy and she went home and told her husband she had to go, we are glad you came Iris!

This month our travel schedule is much lighter as all we have to do is drive a few hours to the upcoming Orlando Clay Fandango, March 13-17. We will be there Friday and Saturday and hope you will too. We would love to have you join us at the retreat, there are still some spaces left to attend. There will be fabulous teachers at the event, Christi Friesen, Maureen Carlson and Sarah Shriver. Christi was so much fun getting to know and she has offered to do a demo for us if she can find the time at the retreat. Maureen has some really cool face molds coming out, I think there are three out now but a few more expected soon. Sarah was on a panel discussion we got to listen to at Synergy and she considers herself more of a production artist. It was really nice to see her amazing work in person and get to meet her. You can find all the info on attending this event at the website. We hope to see you there.

This Friday we have a new episode of Polymer Clay TV to share with you. It is still in the editing stage so I am not sure what you will see, it might be a combination of both CHA & Synergy footage so come back Friday to see.