……until our next clay day! We are operating a waiting list so please let us know if you find you are unable to come. You can either email us (contact details on the Contact page) or leave a comment to this post. If possible please let us know before the weekend so we have time to offer the place to somebody else.
Also, we are looking for somebody to write a short report of the meeting for the website. All you need to do is write about the day taking whatever approach you like. You don’t need to be a journalist! After the meeting you just email your report to us and we do the rest.
If you would like to help in this way, either at this meeting or any other then let us know by leaving a comment or sending an email.
See you next Sunday!
We are delighted to be able to open up our Christi Friesen workshops to all comers. Christi will be joining us for 2 workshops on 6th and 7th May 2012 (May Bank Holiday weekend). The cost of each workshop is £85. Christi is such a generous teacher so you will leave with several completed projects and lots of tips and ideas. Click on the links below for full details of each workshop and how to register
We have reached our capacity for the January Clay Day so the waiting list is now in operation. If you were planning to come please do still register and we will place you on the waiting list. This will be managed on a first come first served basis should a place become available. While we can’t guarantee you a place it helps us to know how many people would liked to have come so we can look at how we might be able to fit more people in.
A special reminder to all of you who are booked on – please let us know as soon as possible if you are no longer able to attend.
With only 4 places left at our meeting on 29th January you need to get your skates on if you want to come. Apart from the usual show and tell, “nursery” class and the chance to chat and share ideas, Cara will be demoing her flower beads and Susan will be discussing techniques for finishing. You can book here now.
If you have already booked and not paid in advance via PayPal, do consider doing so as it will speed things up on the day. The details are in your confirmation email. We look forward to seeing you in a few weeks.
On 16th January bookings for our Christi Friesen workshops will be opened up to the wider polymer clay community so if you want to be sure of your place you need to book now. If you attended at least one of our meetings during 2011 then you are eligible for priority booking. For more details click on the links below.
If you were unable to attend one of our meetings during 2011 you can still register your interest and we will place you on our waiting list for when the bookings open on 16th January.
Our next meeting is Sunday 29 January. Cara is going to demonstrate how she makes background-less flower canes and then uses them to create 3-D flower beads. She makes both open flower and closed-bud beads, and she will bring some examples of jewellery she has made with them (I have seen one of her bracelets, it was beautiful!) Susan will be talking about ways you can give your work a professional finish.
If you want to have a go at Cara’s ideas you will need
Pasta machine
Work surface
Sharp knife/clay blade
Acrylic roller
Ball end stylus approx 6mm in diameter (I use the medium sized Sculpey style and detail tool) for flowers about 1.5cm in diameter, for smaller or larger flowers you will need a smaller or larger ball.
Needle tool and/or drill
Firm polymer clay (she uses Kato) in 3 colours, one for the petal colour, one for the centre and one for the outline.
We will be at the Hugh Cubitt Community Centre in Islington again (full details of the exact location can be found by clicking here), and as usual we will start at 10.30 and finish at about 4.30 and the cost will be £15. The café will be open for drinks and refreshments, or of course you can bring your own snack with you.
Hope you’ll be able to come – click here to register
Cynthia Tinapple, the curator of Polymer Clay Daily, has published a lovely little e-book called 7 Great Ways to Teach Yourself Polymer Clay. It has been recommended by one of our members (Thank you Cris!) and we have permission from Cynthia share it with you. You can download it here for free.
Wishing you all a very Happy Christmas and New Year and hope to see you at a clay day in 2012.
Best wishes
Carol (Blackburn)
Another extremely well attended meeting, with a total of 40 members, the second at our excellent new venue Hugh Cubitt Centre. A warm welcome to our new members: Suzanne Bourne; Doreen Perry; Lynne Taylor and Lesley Williams.
The atmosphere was buzzing with anticipation for Sue Heaser’s demo on her pietre dure technique. The show and tell table was set up, but with such a packed day ahead, it was left as an informal ‘have a look’, and not the usual discussion about all the pieces.
Sue started with an introduction to pietre dure, sharing with us how she first developed the technique using polymer clay, wrote a book on the subject and was encouraged to take classes. Sue also showed us examples of her work, with the use of an overhead projector (supplied by Susan Rimmer/borrowed from her son), and talked about the Gilbert exhibition currently on at the V&A Museum, from which she has found inspiration for her work.
After this introduction we split into two groups, each group taking it in turns to come in closer for Sue to show us how to make our own piece of pietre dure.
Nico’s coffee shop stayed open for us all day, serving us breakfast, an excellent lunch and drinks throughout the day, all at very reasonable prices.
After lunch Veronika Sturdy showed us a different method for image transfer. She has been experimenting using a variety of clays and has found that when using Fimo soft the image will transfer to the clay without the need for water. What a difference, no mess and the image transferred is sharper, with no missing bits or smudges.
And lastly, to an unusually hushed room, the much awaited raffle for the Elise Winters brooch was drawn, and won by Nadege Honey. Well done Nadege.
A big thank you to Sue for travelling so far to see us, and for the great presentation of her pietre dure technique. And thank you also to Veronika.
Wow what a brilliant day, the best so far.
Our next meeting will be on Sunday 29th January 2012, so mark your diary (if you have one yet), and we hope to see you there.
(Report by Ann Parker, Photos by Carol Blackburn)
At today’s LPCG gathering we were delighted to announce that Christi Friesen will be joining us for 2 workshops on 6th and 7th May 2012 (May Bank Holiday weekend). In each workshop Christi will teach 3 different projects so you will go away with some amazing work and buzzing with ideas. You can sign up for one or both. Click on the links below for full details of each workshop and how to register
Sunday 6th May “In the Garden”
Monday 7th May “Creature Feature”
Spaces will be limited and we expect these workshops to be very popular so don’t wait too long to register.
