Mixed Media Challenge Results

Wow! What an amazing variety of items people made for our September Mixed Media Challenge. A talented group of artists in our guild.....

Two people - Anne and Deb - made dolls so vastly different from each other as to defy comparison:

Anne's mixed media doll:

Deb's Clown Dogs:

See all the challenge results by clicking on the doll below.

KCPCG Mixed Media Challenge

September 14 Meeting Plans

The Kansas City Polymer Clay Guild will meeting Tuesday, September 14 at 6:30 pm at Heartland Bead Market in Lenexa.  

Features of this upcoming meeting:
♢ Demonstration: Puffed Pillow Potion Pot by Michele Wineland  We're just watching on this one! She's going to show us how she made those cute Potion Pots she made for out Spring Container Challenge.

♢ September CHALLENGE ITEM: is due; theme is Mixed Media 
 If you have finished your challenge item, you'd better get busy! Here are the results of our Spring Container Challenge.

KCPCG Container Challenge

Other events to keep in mind:
♢ NOVEMBER BEAD EXCHANGE: Theme RED is coming. We started a signup sheet last month for our annual bead exchange. You'll need to make as many beads as we have people signed up so each receives one of each bead.


♢ FOOTLOOSE CRAFTERNOON - Saturday, September 25, 12 noon - 4
Our 4th Saturday free play day! Bring your own project and clay along with friends.

Great info for those who teach and those who sell

A great reminder about what is legal (and not permitted) in using and learning from published materials and designs cam in today's Art Jewelry Newsletter (from Art Jewelry Magazine, Kalmbach Publishing) from editor Hazel Wheaton. View her essay here.

500 Judaica

Congratulations to KCPCG member Sue-Ellen Flescher, who was among the artist chosen for the recent Lark Books "500 Series" publication "500 Judaica".

We don't have a picture yet of the bead and wire kippot that was selected, but we will post it when we do. The book is on sale now, from Lark Books and from Amazon.

August Meeting is a Clay Play Day - Saturday, 8/14

Saturday, 12:00 - 4:00 pm

Hands-on learning Topic:  

Make one Skinner Blend and create several leaf cane variations 

led by MariEtta Adams

SUPPLIES & TOOLS
-basic tool kit plus
-a new, highly flexible blade
-a work surface to work on (big tile or parchment paper)
-cornstarch or baking powder
-paper towels
-premade Skinner blend, using any two colors of clay of any brand  (Marietta will use Premo cream and olive green)
USE 1/2 OZ OF EACH COLOR. If you want a larger cane, use 1 oz of each (or half a package). Roll it up into a bulls-eye jelly roll starting with the light color for the middle.

If you want to make a finished item (e.g. pendant, earrings, necklace, or ring), also bring any extra supplies, such as
-more clay for a base to decorate with canes
-extra flower canes you've made

If you need a refresher course, here's How to do a Skinner Blend from Polymer Clay Central

IF YOU'VE NEVER MADE A SKINNER BLEND:
Not to worry! It's easy! You have 2 options.
1) Take a look in a polymer-cafe book or at one of the following webpages and give it a go:
http://www.polymerclaycentral.com/poleigh/skinner.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gve4L0cmhWg
2) Bring your two colors, and your humble president I or some other helpful guild member will teach you how. If you have a PASTA MACHINE, you'll need it. It should be part of your basic tool kit.

Making a Bird Cane

Thanks to Deb for a great lesson on the bird cane. Most excellent job!! Here is the goldfinch cane she brought to share. Deb's finished cane was about 2" wide and 3 1/2" tall, the whole cane being 2" deep. She provided each member with step by step instructions, a color photo of a finch, plus a drawing on a clear plastic sheet to use as a guide when building the cane from slabs of color.

Here is the same cane, following partial reduction by Kim Keane. Kim used a Barbara McGuire technique, slapping the block onto a cement surface (equally on each face, repeating until the clay moves)

 Watch a video of the reducing process here.

Container Challenge Results - May 2010

May 2010's Saturday Play Day meeting was the deadline for the Kansas City Polymer Clay Guild's "Container" challenge. Creative containers could be vessels for a wide range of items - from tiny treasures to adult beverages. For more of these photos, check this link to an online photo album.

Patti Welch's inro box is about 4" tall when closed. She also wore great lavendar & stamped metal earrings that exactly matched her outfit.

Linda Lee Stewart's box with polymer lid.

Carol Hooper opted to decorate wine glasses with roses and vines.

Anne Rowe created a hanging closet sachet holder, making a round, hinged box with eyelet-lined scent holes. She used the lid of a garage-sale candle container as the baking form. Watch for her demo on this technique at our October meeting, Tuesday, October 12 at 6:30 p.m.

Deb Williams fabricated a tiny Egyption sarcophagus complete with mini mummies inside.

Beverly Potty crafted clay candle holders, festooned with Swarovski crystals, using cola cans as molds.

MariEtta Adams covered a small matchbox, then transformed it into a Asian-style pendant with matching earrings, using Barbara McGuire image transfers.

Donna Hess sent in her covered vase container, using some great sliced leaf canes and rolled snakes to adorn the green-covered tall vase.

Kim Keane covered a round tin with gold clay using a dark acrylic antiquing to highlight the deep texture of the clay. Note her use of her initial cane which she uses to identify all her pieces.

Michele Wineland created a  Pillow Puff Potion Pot, using foils and a technique we want her to share with us in a demo - using air to hold the clay in a puffy shape while baking!

Robin Young celebrates the 50th anniversary of the universal Peace symbol with her guitar purse! A guitar shaped tin is covered with canes, hinged and closure of leather and lined with spiral fabric that matches the spiral canes! The large PEACE sign attaches to the snap closure.

Great job, ladies! What a variety of sizes, shapes, techniques and ideas. Thanks for sharing. For more of these photos, check this link to an online photo album.

The rest of the afternoon was spent with Deb Williams' bird cane demo.

Published!

Congratulations to Sue Ellen Flescher! One of her Judaica pieces was selected to be included in an upcoming Lark Books publication. More info in the fall.

Making a Bird Cane

This is one of our quarterly SATURDAY Clay Play Day meetings - May 8 from Noon - 4pm

CHALLENGE ITEM DUE:
Theme: CONTAINER  (Can you think outside the box? Lidless? Sideways? Cover a vase or box? Make a drape bowl on a form? Pinch a pot?)

Deb Williams will be showing us how she makes her incredible birds. This is her Pileated Woodpecker. Below are the colors needed for a goldfinch, which is what we'll be doing on Saturday.

SUPPLY LIST for a goldfinch cane:

Clay: Use a firmer clay, like Premo, Kato, or Fimo Classic:

* 2 blocks zinc yellow (or cadmium yellow)
* 1 block black
* 1 block white
* 1/2 block orange
* 1 block raw sienna for the branch
* Clay for the background:  I mixed colors to come up with a "fern" green for my cane, but Fimo classic has something similar.  You can think about this later if you want.


Tools:

* Pasta machine
* Flexible blade
* Ripple blade (or you can use mine)
* Wax paper

It would be best to have your clay already conditioned and in flat sheets (at the thickest setting) so you don't have to spend time doing this at the meeting.  You'll also need to flatten some black to a #8 (thin) for the details and to outline the bird, but you can wait until the demo to do this. 


Saturday, May 8, 2010
12 noon - 4 pm
Heartland Bead Market
13440 Santa Fe Trail
Lenexa, KS 66215

Face Canes with Barbara McGuire

Members of KCPCG and others recently spent a day with PC artist Barbara McGuire, learning to make her signature face canes.

 

Barbara gave pictures of faces to create patterns from. 

 

Everyone created face canes - these are unidentified and in various stages.

 

Challenge

Teri challenged us all to a new challenge - CONTAINERS. Make a box, bag, pod, purse, envelope, bowl or other container from polymer clay. Add other media or not as you wish. This challenge is due at the May meeting, which is Saturday, May 8.

March 2010 Meeting

Robin Young demonstrated how she makes her disc beads. (Note: She was inspired a chapter in Ronna Sarvas Weltman's new book Ancient Modern: Polymer Clay & Wire Jewelry) but she changed the process quite a bit to make it uniquely Robin...

She also brought a couple fish pendants made for her daughter's upcoming Spring Break Cruise - fish with purses!

Michele Winegarden shared a couple large pendants she made - one using a face cane from a Barbara McGuire face cane slice.

Michele also brought a fantastic winged face pendant using a faux cloisonne technique.

Kim Keane shared several (she never makes just one!) pendants and beads made using a layering technique involving silver leaf, inks, liquid clay and more. She will demo this technique later this year.

February 16, 2010 - KC PMC Guild meeting

Besides learning to make tiny flowers with Donna Hess, members brought recent work to share. MariEtta covered a cigar box for the guild to use as our Bead Archive box. Great job - maybe she can demo this sometime??

 

Donna brought a pair of earrings using the tiny sculptural flowers technique. Love the non-identical set, made from a full heart that is cut in two pieces.

Michelle, Robin and Kim were all inspired by Christi Friesen's new book Steampunkery and they brought their results. This is a heart pendant made by Michelle.

Robin still loves fish and she combined her fish with Steampunk style to come up with these great little guys. She also made a beetle and a fly.

 

 

Kim really got into Steampunk mode with hearts and a belted bangle that look like leather.

She also combined the her favorite resin technique with the gears. 

How about Steampunk + resin + flowers??? There is no end in sight.

Deb Williams brought several of her bird canes (which she will demo at the Sat. May 8 Play Day)

Great Cardinal cane (this plug is about 1 1/2" wide X 2" tall and stand about 1 1/2 high).

Pileated Woodpecker has great detail. Can't wait to see her do this in May!

Robin pendant made from another of her canes.