Well we are back from our first polymer clay retreat and it was a blast! I arrived on Friday and was happy to see that Barbara Forbes-Lyons was there, Barbara did an interview with us at Synergy and you will get to see that in a later episode of Polymer Clay TV. It was nice to finally get to spend some time together and get to know each other better because at Synergy there just wasn’t the opportunity. Barbara came with a very talented artist named Ellen and they were claying like crazy all weekend, making amazing art. They decided not to take the classes but to take the opportunity to clay and just enjoy the experience.
One of the amazing things about the retreat was that you could really go for only the day if you wanted to or you could just clay or you could take classes with Sarah Shriver, Christi Friesen and Maureen Carlson. The way it worked was the students stayed in their class all three days and the teachers moved to the different classrooms. It was so cool to see what everyone was making and we have lots of footage and photos to share with you. The energy was great which kept me going until 11:00 at night and that was pretty amazing considering I am usually in bed by 9PM. The beds were terrible and I barely slept so I needed the energy to keep me going and it did.
Friday night there was a flamingo fashion show that had me cracking up so hard. The beak of the Flamingo and assorted accessories were made with polymer clay, you will see more of it on Polymer Clay TV. Then there was the brown bag swap, which was a lot of fun also. Kira arrived Saturday morning and she got a bunch of photos which we will be sharing with you. Saturday night there was a live auction and there was lots of goodies to bid on, I bought some silk screens which you will be seeing on a future episode of Polymer Clay TV and Polymer Clay Classroom.
Sunday brought the Bottle of Hope challenge and there were some amazing entries. We photographed and filmed those as well. There was a raffle that I participated in and I will try to find out who the winners were as we had to head out early Sunday to get the show ready for this week. It was a great experience and we want to thank Rhonda & Nita for everything and for making the event such a success. They are in the process of coordinating next years event so make sure to watch the website for details.
This week on Polymer Clay Podcast we will be sharing some more of our experiences at the Orlando Clay Fandango and we hope you will join us on Friday.
