Polymer Clay Productions, Inc.Polymer Clay Productions

I have been determined to get in my studio more to create and I have been making sure that I do. Sometimes life just gets in the way and it is hard but I need to make time for it as I am sure most of you do too.  I have been doing lots of experimenting and I am having so much fun! I have come to the conclusion that working and creating with polymer clay makes me happy and when I can’t or don’t do it, I am denying myself of something that really makes me happy.

To be honest I don’t care if I never sell another piece of my work, it is just the act of creating that gives me so much pleasure.  Now mind you I don’t need another necklace or bracelet or pair of earrings, especially since I don’t wear any jewelry.LOL  Of course I have made many more pieces of jewelry this week, so I am going to have to get busy listing them to sell because otherwise there won’t be any room left in my house.

I did art shows for over 10 years so I am used to sitting in the studio and making 20-30 things at a time and there is nothing better than doing that and liking everything you make. That doesn’t happen often but lately it has been amazing!. I have been experimenting with the silkscreening technique and what a blast I have been having. I will take some photos to share once I get some sterling silver jump rings to put all the jewelry together.

We are working on the newsletter and it should be going out soon, so make sure to look for it in the next few days. We are having a big sale this month in celebration of our 1 year anniversary on June 1st. Not only will there be big savings but we will be having a live event that you can attend and there will be lots of prizes to win, in fact we have so many prizes we are going to give one away every 15 minutes. Cone join us June 1st from 3-5PM eastern standard time here at the Polymer Clay Productions site. You must be present to win, so make sure to sign up for our community or newsletter for your invite.

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We had a lot of e-mails and comments about last Fridays episode of Polymer Clay TV where we demonstrated how to make magnetic clasps, so I wanted to respond to some of the comments here. Several of the comments and questions we received were about the magnets losing their magnetization after baking.  Kira and I both used Rare Earth magnets that were given to us by http://www.magnet4less.com.

Neither one of us had any problem with the magnets losing their magnetization. You have to remember that there will be a layer of clay between the magnets so they will not be as strong as out of the package but they will still be strong enough to hold the clasp together. Unfortunately I did not save the package the magnets came in so I can not tell you the exact ones I used. I will see if I can get that info from the company though.

Make sure to come back this Friday for a new episode of Polymer Clay Podcast where we will be sharing all the info on our upcoming anniversary party.

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I am often inspired to create by an array of things, there is no one source for my creative inspiration it comes from sometimes the smallest of things and sometimes monumental things or life changes. Over the past few years my life has changed and I have found I am inspired by different things now and I think it shows in my art. Lately my focus has been on learning the silkscreening process and I am having a ton of fun. I am posting a few photos for you to see what I have been playing around with.

My main focus over the past years was the millefiori technique and creating items with the different canes to make and sell at the art shows in quantity. I no longer do art shows and don’t need to make tons of things anymore. I find that sometimes it keeps me from doing some of the pieces I would like to do that would be quite large and would be a perfect attention grabber at the art shows. I say to myself what am I going to do with such a large sculpture as my house is full of my artwork already and I am trying to unload somethings. Unload somethings, that makes me laugh because my husband Ed and I used to laugh at the older couples who admired our artwork at the art shows but said they weren’t buying anything because they were unloading. I think as you get older things just seem to get in the way and make more work, like dusting. LOL

I have been making jewelry since I was 5 years old when my mother taught me how to. Recently I had been burnt out on making jewelry and thought that perhaps I might not make jewelry anymore but it seems I always come back to my roots and have made some silk screened beads and pendants of course with the intention of making some jewelry with them.

My mother has Alzhiemers and unfortunately she will never be able to use her beads again so now combined with my extensive collection of beads I officially have more beads than I could ever use in my life. I am OK with that and have shared some of her collection with Etsy buyers but I have to say my mothers collection is absolutely incredible! Her collection spans more than 30 years of visiting antique shows, thrift stores, yard sales and of course arts & craft shows.

Now that I am back on the path of jewelry making I am sure you will see lots of my mothers collection incorporated into my designs. My mother loved to create wire wrapped fused glass pieces she would make herself and I am typically not a fan of wire wrapping but she did some gorgeous work. I will have to take some photos to share with you. My mother was a psychologist not to mention my father was too but her clients would often ask her to buy her necklaces and she hated to sell them and unless someone nagged her she would not sell them and then only for a good price. My mom would spend weeks perfecting just one piece and it showed. I have to say I would go crazy working on one small piece for that long, I like to make something and have instant gratification which I am sure is why I love polymer clay so much.

While going through and packing up my mothers things when we had to sell her house I discovered a bag of pendants that she had made years and years ago and I actually remember her sitting at the kitchen table embedding quartz crystals into this clay to make the pendants. Well the clay happened to be Fimo and I didn’t discover or realize she ever worked with the clay until all these years later. I discovered the clay years later while living in NYC and never even had any idea it was the same clay my mom had used. Too funny!

What got me talking about inspiration is that I received a copy of Artful Blogging & Art Doll Quarterly from Stampington

The magazines are full of inspiration and the photos are beautiful. We will be reviewing these magazine books on an upcoming issue of Polymer Clay Podcast and you won’t want to miss it. Speaking of Polymer Clay Podcast, don’t forget to come back Friday for a new episode. I hope you get inspired to create something today!

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This week, we review Make it Mine magazine, and talk about Design Originals book by Barbara McGuire- Creative Canes We loved both- and we have several copies of the magazine, generously given to us by Kalmbach, to give away. Hurry up and sign up for our newsletter to be entered to win. (It hasn’t gone out yet this month!)

We also talk about our Polymer Clay TV topic for next week- what to do when you can’t bake something because you’ll ruin it. Basically, test first- try not to ruin your finished piece because you didn’t know if it would be ok in the oven. Then make your decorations, bake them, and attach. Be sure to come back for our demo next Friday.

Also- a new weekly event here will be the Bottles of Hope on Sunday - an encouraging, inspirational, and giving way to challenge your creativity. Each Sunday starting April 13, we will place a picture guestbook on the site where we (and you) can load up pictures of your bottles of hope, based on a weekly theme. Our first theme is “Spring.” Most weeks, this will just be a creative excercise, but we anticipate that four times a year we will hold a quarterly competition and try to get some “celebrity” judges in on it. If you make bottles of hope weekly along with us, you can send them to us for distribution, or feel free to send them out to cancer patients yourselves. IF you are interested- we are holding a little competition right now to come up with a catchy name for our Sunday event. We couldn’t think of a good one! So if you can help us out, either comment on the site or send us an email with your idea. We will pick our top three and send you out a copy of Make it Mine to thank you.

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At the Orlando Clay Fandango I had a chance to talk to Joan Clipp who started Polymer Cafe magazine. We had a discussion about how she started the magazine and it was the exact same way Kira and I started Polymer Clay Podcast and Polymer Clay TV, with lots of research and lots of hard work. While Joan and I were talking she mentioned that she had heard something a while back about someone wanting to start a polymer clay documentary. Well, it got me thinking how cool that would be.

Polymer clay has come a long way just since I started working with it 19 years ago. When I started there were no books out on the subject yet. I remember when Nan Roche’s book, The New Clay came out, I was so excited to see what others were doing with the medium because up to that point I had only seen 3-4 others even using the medium. Now there are tons of great books on all kinds of techniques, there are videos, DVD’s, classes and of course a weekly podcast & videocast.

I am wondering if this is something the community would like to see documented. I would love to hear your comments on the subject and if you have any idea who might have wanted to start the project, please let me know. I think it is a great idea but it would be a ton of work.

Make sure to come back tomorrow for a new episode of Polymer Clay Podcast. See you then!

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Today at 1PM  eastern time zone,I will be in the Etsy virtual lab, you can read all about it in yesterdays post and I hope you will join me there. I have been busy editing and everything should be finished today. Since I am leaving on Friday to go to the Orlando Clay Fandango I will be posting the video early. Not sure exactly what time but Polymer Clay TV should be available earlier than usual, so check back for that.

This week on Polymer Clay TV we start off with an interview with Christi Friesen who you probably know from the critters she creates. Christi shares some of her upcoming plans and the release date of her latest book. After Christi Kira and I share the mokume gane technique with you. It is a fun technique that is easy to master and create a wide variety of things with. We made eggs with the technique with Easter just around the corner. After our demo we have an interview with Ann & Karen Mitchell and they share how they got started creating with polymer clay. They were working on a vest made with polymer clay at CHA and you will get to see it on the video. Hopefully I can get a hold of the finished vest and share a photo with you when I do.

We still have tons of video to share so the upcoming videos will be a little longer than normal so if you are watching the videos on You Tube you will not be able to view the last 2 videos and possibly some of the upcoming ones as the files are too big for You Tube. You can ALWAYS watch the videos at our website. Enjoy!

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