Ilysa Bierer discovered Fimo, the original brand of polymer clay, in 1989 while living in NYC and was instantly hooked. Ilysa now creates at her home in North Florida. She has been working with polymer clay for 18 years and has won numerous awards for her work including Best of Show. Her work has been featured in several polymer clay books, in national magazines and she has designed projects for many companies.

Ilysa and her husband Ed opened an art gallery called Infinite Possibilities in 1995. It was named with two things in mind- the versatility of polymer clay, and a verse from a Tracy Chapman song that talked about how we are living in a world of infinite possibilities, so always keep dreaming. Ilysa and Ed had always dreamed of traveling the country together. When they had an opportunity to participate in an art show for the first time and had a lot of success, they knew they could make that dream a reality. They decided to close the gallery, get rid of all their possessions and travel around the country participating in art shows and festivals. They did this for over 10 years.

Ilysa has taught many classes, she has demonstrated at one of the major hobby industry trade shows, and she has produced her own instructional DVD about creating with polymer clay. Her innovative thinking brought her to start the online polymer clay guild, Polymer Clay Artist’s Guild of Etsy, where she met Kira who signed on to partner in running the guild and the guild’s website.

Ilysa had an idea to start a podcast and companion videocast and thought Kira would be the perfect partner. Polymer Clay Productions was born.

You can see Ilysa’s artwork by visiting her website at http://www.emeraldearth.com and at http://www.ilysaart.etsy.com