Author Archive

Live Online Classes are a hit!

// May 9th, 2011 // No Comments » // Blog

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Wow, our latest survey has garnered a lot of attention and responses! Thank you so much to everyone so far who has answered and helped us out with determining some of our future. Here’s what people are saying so far:

Overwhelming response- you would love to take a LIVE online class in the presence of your teacher
You think there should be downloadable reference materials like pdfs, instructions, and supply lists
There are many responses concerned with the timeframe- young children at home, different time zones, etc. make you concerned that you might not be able to make it at the set time
You want continued support and access to class materials so you can try it out.

So, here are my thoughts…We have already decided that the course will not be a “one-shot-deal,” there will be a private forum where you can upload photos, have conversations, and ask questions so you DO learn. We have the ability to save the video feed and post it for you to peruse later at a more leisurely pace, repeating the parts you missed or that weren’t clear. I also believe we will offer the courses at more than one price point- full access, live with your teacher, and then for those who can’t make it, a different price for access to the recordings and class materials. Online courses are great, but we’ve felt that without the presence of the teacher and the ability to have YOUR questions answered and your issues demonstrated on the spot can be a problem, especially for those who like to SEE to learn. Stay tuned, and answer the survey in your inbox if you haven’t already. We will be picking a prize winner at the end of the week!

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Jones Tones glitters and foils, and polymer clay!

// April 6th, 2011 // No Comments » // VideoCast

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We are playing with Jones Tones again- we’ve found several new ways to use it on polymer clay both baked and unbaked, and we’ve got a pile of glitter and inclusions to play with! We talk about it on this week’s free podcast, and be sure to watch Polymer Clay TV this month to see some free color recipes we’re creating with Jones Tones Glitter and Polymer Clay! Thanks to Jones Tones for sponsoring this month’s shows!
Jones Tones glitter and polymer clay

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We’re beginning to list our videos one at a time!

// April 1st, 2011 // No Comments » // Blog

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And stay tuned for our NEW subscription, beginning in May! You can check out the first three titles available as single videos at the Video library titles list under the Online Videos tab. We’ll be putting up three more videos shortly and then at a nice steady rate until all 50 are listed for you to try one at a time. We know sometimes you want to try out a technique or project without having to buy a whole library or subscription, so we went searching for a new video server.

That’s one of the challenges of doing online video. The videos we make are “large” because we show you the whole project, which takes 20-40 minutes. That’s a lot of megabytes. When you watch a youtube video, you are watching something that has been “crunched” by their service into a more manageable file size, therefore a lot of times the videos are not so great quality. Youtube is also a free service, but they are run with ad revenue and GIANT servers, so they can handle the video load. Most server’s aren’t set up that way, so when you want to do video you have to find a special kind of server. Special usually means “more money.” Recently, advances have been made with technology allowing *us* to find server space that is fairly reasonable! Yay! Plus, we recently switch to HD video cameras- that’s right everyone, ALL of our videos are now filmed in HD- which once again, means a bump up in file size. Just wait until you see our DVDs. The quality is amazing! We’ve filmed every one of Lynne Ann’s videos in HD, and it’s just like sitting at a table with her for the afternoon.

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Yay! Premo finally comes in RED! New colors review

// March 18th, 2011 // No Comments » // , VideoCast

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New Premo Polymer clay colors

Just got a shipment of all the new Polyform colors, they released Sculpey III, Premo and a new line called Premo Accents. Some of the new colors are borrowed directly from the Studio line which has been discontinued, such as Wasabi and Pomegranate. The new metallic have chunkier mica, which means more sparkle. And there’s a new set of translucent colors. Honestly, you could make all these colors by mixing what you already have, but having them premade off the shelf is kinda nice. Watch for the new colors in upcoming projects!

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This week’s polymer clay video

// February 10th, 2011 // No Comments » // Blog

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Curious about beadable blanks? Check out these by Karen Thomas Designs.
Here’s how we used some:

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