Don't Miss Clay Camp May 14-17, 2010!

The NW Polymer Clay Guild announces open registration for its annual “Clay Camp.” This 4 day event is presented at Camp Huston, in beautiful Gold Bar, Washington (about one hour NE of Seattle). The full weekend (Fri-Mon) is a bargain at $235, which includes lodging, meals, and various demonstrations and events. Partial weekend and day-camper rates are also available. We’ll have a large work area, several convection ovens, a bench buffer, and a beautiful setting.

There will also be classes by Meredith Arnold, Kristi Zevenbergen and others for an additional fee. New this year will be an assortment of “technique booths” sponsored by Guild members. These include soldering, wire-working, kemper cutters, and more. Events will also include the scholarship silent auction, the Brown-bag craft items exchange, ad hoc demonstrations, food, fun and fellowship.

To join us, print out your registration form and mail it with your check today. Don't miss out on the fun!

Wire Working Tools

From time to time, I teach classes on wire working and jewelry making. Most recently, I taught at the Polymer Clay Guild. We had a great conversation on tools, and I promised to provide resource information. I thought readers of this blog may like them too. For a great two-page reference sheet on pliers, check out this.

The basic tools I recommend are:

• Round Nose Pliers
• Bent Nose Pliers
• Chain Nose Pliers
• Flush Cutter

Optional but good to have

• Wire Wrapping Pliers
  
• Nylon-jaw Pliers
• Crimping Pliers
• Wire Gauge (not shown).
  

If you want to flatten or texture your wire, you will also want:

• Steel bench block (My first one was 2-1/2" x 2-1/2" x 3/4"but I went back to buy a 5”x5”)
  
• Hammer You can use almost any hammer, and it doesn’t have to be a big heavy one. To work-harden without texturing, you’ll want a hammer with a nylon tip or a rawhide mallet.

Where to buy

I find the “best bang for the buck” at Contenti, a resource for jewelry making supplies. They have quite a few pliers that are a very good quality for a very good price.

For tools and lots of nifty beads and supplies, I like Rings & Things. http://www.rings-things.com/

Finally, the two most mentioned suppliers mentioned by professional jewelers are Rio Grande and Thunderbird Supply.

(Disclosure: I do not work for any of these suppliers. I just like their stuff)

Soul growing through art

One of my polymer pals asked me about how I apply my education. It's an excellent question, and has me musing about how I could expand what I'm doing with it. I spent a great deal of time in school thinking about symbols and how they work in our lives. Some of my academic exploration was experiential, creating art. But that creation often sprang from alpha-state consciousness.

The alpha-state is a dreamy, meditative brainwave state. I learned many psycho-technologies for getting to that state, and it seems to me that I should be sharing some of those tools with my creative friends. Guided meditation, shamanic journeying, dream incubation, proprioceptive writing and other techniques are in my tool-box. It's time to find ways to get those out into the world.

I think I've got a good opportunity coming up. The NWPCG is having our annual Clay Camp, an art-making "summer camp" (in May) for adults. We'll be having a variety of classes, demos and events, and it's the perfect time to introduce my "woo-woo" side to my poly-pals. See this space in the future to see what I come up with!

Who knows where time goes?

I've got Judy Collins and Joni Mitchell echoing in my head today. It's easy for me to imagine time is endless, and I'll always be able to do it tomorrow... And yet, that is really not true. The arrival of spring weather here in Seattle reminds me that it definitely is time to enter into new things.

The two main projects I've been working on are setting the year's programming for the NW Polymer Clay Guild, and preparing my transport and display cases to take my creations around. I've made a good start on the programming, with Jana Roberts Benzon scheduled for November 13 & 14; Kristi Zevenbergen to teach at Clay Camp (May 14-17); and Ronna Sarvas Weltman to present a program on "Getting Published."

Tomorrow, I'll post photos of my display cases.

Getting ready for open studio

I've been working on prepping my various pieces for the open studio on November 21st. This is one of my favorite necklaces -- using polymer clay and brass beads, and brass chain. It's in the "Moss" series.

Open Studio and Trunk Sale

I'm hosting my first open studio and trunk sale this coming Saturday. I'll be selling beads, jewelry, home decor items, and crafty de-stash items. With my studio open to view, you'll see many of the tools I've made for working with PC, and how I organize the ton of stuff I've accumulated for my various mixed-media pursuits.

Here're the details:
Time: 11am to 4pm, Saturday, October 24th.
Location: 2210 NW 64th Street, Seattle (in Ballard).

The Soul's Process

This month, Kristi Zevenbergen made a presentation at the NWPCG meeting. We saw slides of her work as it has developed over time. She talked to us about how she incorporates her life and psychological processes into her jewelry making process. It's great to listen to someone who is so aware of how who she is, is expressed in what she does.

It sparked me to consider how I might facilitate this process for myself and others. I've used guided meditations for my students to access images of a deep self in my mask-making workshops. A good question can guide a productive writing/sharing session. They are all ways to access that visual and symbolic part of our brain where so much wisdom resides...if we can learn how to understand it.

I believe that the soul speaks a language that differs from the one I'm using to communicate to you. An image that appears in a dream may have line and color, but it can also have a sort of taste or aroma, and a woven emotional presence. It can have so much within it that understanding all it contains may take years. I've been inspired by Robert Bosnak, the Jungian analyst who wrote A Little Course in Dreams. In it, he talks about how you can begin to decode the language of the dream.

Our art can use the images of dreams, the images from the soul. Kristi's work shows her soul -- and she knows it. Here's a wish that the work you do today will show your soul.