Victory!

After 2 days, 11 containers, many cups of coffee and 14 lbs (!) of clay i have finally gained victory over the scrap pile(s). I don't know about the rest of you, but I tend to collect bits here, pieces there, ends of canes, projects that were, well... ugly. All of these get tossed into a container to be sorted later. I also don't actually have a set place to work on my clay so I tend to wander around the house to where ever the light is the best or where my kids are playing. So I found little bowls of scraps in my bedroom, in the basement, and around my kitchen table. Because of this I also tend to open a pack of clay, not use the whole thing and later, in another location, open more of the same color. So I end up with many half used blocks floating around my 3 areas too. I don't like wasting any clay so what I do when I finally get around to dealing with the pile is sort the scrap by color and blend the groups together into new colors. Any clay that is too muddy already or maybe got dusty goes into the "crap clay" pile. This will become project bases and bead guts. This time I documented the scrap adventure and I'm pretty pleased with all of the good clay I discovered in the process. After two full days of my family having to eat at the coffee table, I think my husband is glad to have his table back :)

Here are my containers full of canes, partial blocks of clay and scraps

Moving through the piles - cell phone ready, and I think that is the second cup of coffee...

Here I have my color piles which I will sort into smaller piles based on shades. (or is it hues?)

Half way there - I've switched to a new coffee cup, BTW that blue and brown mug is my favorite mug! It was made by a local artist.

Look at all my pretty new clay!

Nicely organized canes - but looks like I'm running a bit low. Next project massive cane building with my new colors!

Alas, not all clay can be saved. Looks like I'll have enough bead guts for a lifetime!

Still holding on to summer

What day is it? Can it really be true that summer is over? Days seem to just fly by recently. I just had my last show of the summer. It has officially been one year since my first solo show. Once again the "Walk on Art Street" was a tremendous success. I had a few new items that seemed to go over well. I made beaded wine bottle stoppers, key rings and tiny delicate necklaces specifically for this show. This show was held in the town where I live (Ottumwa, Iowa) and to make it even more special, I was a featured artist in the local paper! A reporter came to my home the week before the show to interview me. I think the added publicity really paid off too, many people came to my booth because they said that they saw me in the paper. I didn't actually get to see the article because we don't get the paper but I read it online. So if anyone out there happens to have an extra copy could you send it my way??
Here is the online version of the article.

Updates #2

The week following the Oskaloosa show I had the opportunity to teach polymer clay art to a group of students from the local high school. Ottumwa's community college has a program called Upward Bound to encourage would-be first generation college students. These students live at the college for 6 weeks and attend classes to get an idea of college life. If they participate the summer before their Sr year they can also receive some college credits. It was a really neat program and I was proud to get to be a part of it. I took pictures of some of the students work which I will add when I find my camera...

I taught the kids how to make some simple canes and showed them some different ways to use them. We made covered pens and stands, ring bowls, key chains and other fun stuff! I also showed them how to use their cane ends for swirled lentil beads.

These are the pens and holders the class made. I think they all did a great job!

Yoslin with my stack of clay books and magazines (wearing her new bracelet!)

One of the guys perfecting his swirl technique.

Updates #1

My life has been non stop crazy for the last several weeks. Is it already July???? I thought that Summer was suppose to be the time of year when we all slow down and enjoy the outdoors, BBQs and the good life? Well maybe we get a bit of that but everything else still seems to come at 100 mph. So I guess I should break this up into instalments

Mid June marked the first show of the season for me. It was held in the near by town of Oskaloosa, IA. This was my first time doing this show and I thought that it went very well. Even though the weather was quite cool and a bit damp they had a good crowd and I had decent sales and good feedback. As usual my ring bowls were my best seller. This was also my first opportunity to try out my new propanels and shelf displays! I only used 3 of my walls for 2 reasons; first I was concerned that if it got hot I would have no breeze with the walls all up, and second I found out that my tent is too low for the support poles on my walls. but by using just the tree I was able to secure them right to the tent and still have some air flow.

One Lovely Blog

I was just notified that Alice Stropple has given my blog a "One Lovely Blog" award. How sweet! Now it is my job to pass on the award on to 15 blogs that I enjoy. That will take me a bit of time to choose! Thank you so much Alice!

New work and New Pics

It's show season again and I have been very busy getting myself ready. I have new product lines and a revamped booth as well. Today I finally got around to taking some pictures and wonder of all wonders, I've even loaded them into my computer and onto my blog in the same day! (That is a big accomplishment for me!) So as they say, a picture says a thousand words.

Aghhhhhh!

For the first time ever I have killed a batch of beads. :( I was baking about 2 dozen beads that I had been working on for a few days. Meanwhile I started making lunch. I don't know where my brain went during the next few minutes but without thinking I turned on the broiler to roast some peppers! I know I should have a separate clay oven but I don't at this point. When I opened my oven there were my new black beads. It had only been maybe 3 mins or so but they were toasted and smoking. The beads went outside and all the windows were opened. In all the years that I have been working with clay this is the only time I've ever burnt something. I really should get myself a clay oven