Southern Ontario Polymer Clay Guild

Happy New Year Party Jan 29

2012-01-24T17:41:00.000-08:00

The January 29th meeting is a potluck Happy New Year party. Bring something to eat and share, and, if you'd like, a small gift to put in the pile for a Christmas gift exchange.

There will be games to play as well.

Also bring ideas for classes you'd like to teach or would like to learn so that we can start to set schedules for this year. We'll have a selection of books to generate ideas.

New members most definitely welcome.

November lesson - Christmas Reindeer

2011-11-20T12:32:00.000-08:00

November marks our last class for 2011 and we're going to be doing Christmas Reindeer. Skill level is beginner and I'll be sharing some of the materials if you don't have them.

Here are the material requirements

Scrap clay that's somewhat brownish rolled on thickest setting, 2-3 inches long and wide
Brown clay that contrasts a bit with scrap clay rolled on thin setting, same size
5 toothpicks
Coppery wire or other wire, about 12 inches, scissors or wire cutter
Red clay if making a Rudolph nose, black clay for regular nose
White and black clay to make eyes, pea size, or just use googly eyes
Something to colour the toothpicks with (I use a combination of Future and Pearlex)
Christmas embellishments
Optional - Pearlex powder in brownish colours for the body to highlight texture
Wire brush or sandpaper for texture
Glue (I like Weldbond)

If you can't make it to November's class be sure to join us in January for our Happy New Year Pot Luck.

New members always welcome.

Cold Connections, September's Meeting

2011-09-21T18:09:00.000-07:00

Here are the pictures of examples for this months class in Cold Connections with Elaine.

June's Meeting - Miniature Foods

2011-06-19T08:48:00.000-07:00

Hi Folks,

Our very own Jacey Culham will be teaching miniature food on Sunday June 26. Food items demonstrated will include bacon and eggs, donuts, cup of coffee, slice of pie and whole pie and more!

Supplies to bring along:

*Firm clay - Fimo classic, Kato or well leached Premo in lots of "food" colours - small amounts only will be needed of
white, dark brown, caramel, beige, yellow, red, green, orange - in fact just bring lots of colours period!
*Needle nose jewellery pliers
*wire cutter or nail clippers
*2 inch head pins
*TLS (liquid clay)
*small fine pointed paintbrush
*yogurt cup for water, yogurt or cottage cheese lid for palette
*jewellery findings - only if desired - earring wires, pin backs (very small), charm bracelet
*your regular clay kit including pasta machine
*patience and a sense of humour!

Additional Tool Pics For The Cat Pin Class

2011-03-18T18:03:00.000-07:00

Pictured above is the pigment ink marker I use to outline the cat's features, as well as the dollar store tool I use for making the cat's eyes.

March meeting - cat pins

2011-03-18T15:29:00.001-07:00

Here is a picture of what we'll be making at the March meeting - it's a hinged cat by Debbie.

For materials

For materials you'll need

3 colours of clay to make a skinner blend
Some brads which can be bought at Michaels (use your 40% off coupon)
Liquid clay
A marker which can write on clay
A pin back
Some white clay for eyes

Your basic clay kit

Here's a picture of the brads.

February Meeting - paper clip bracelets

2011-02-20T14:00:00.000-08:00

February's Meeting is how to make paper clip bracelets. This is considered an easy class and everyone should be able to walk away with a finished project. If you'd like, you can make earrings instead.

You'll need:

Circle Kemper Cutters (or equivalent), size 7/16” and 5/8”
Spiral paper clips (8-12, depending on your wrist size and whether you want earrings), I bought mine at Staples, an office supply store in Canada, they come 50 to a pack for about $7
Jump rings, 2 mm inner diameter minimum, 8-12, these can vary in size
A decorative sheet of clay, medium thickness (4 on my Amaco 7 setting pasta machine with 7 as the thickest setting), 2 inches by 2 inches, or big enough to cut 10-12 of the smaller circles. You can be creative here and use veneers, canes, mokume gane, whatever. Mica shift, however, won’t work.
A complementary colour sheet of clay that will form the underneath, same pasta thickness setting, large enough to cut an equivalent number of circles. This can also be decorative but it's not critical.
Pearlex and Future floor polish might also be helpful, but not required.

For the decorated side of the paper clip bring clay colours that you like. If you've got mistakes that are in the right colours for you but not big enough to do anything special with, this might be the use for the clay.

We'll also be doing a raffle and brainstorming for future class ideas. Bring books, ideas, and suggestions.

Cheers,

Sandy

Happy New Year Party

2011-01-18T14:19:00.000-08:00

Come one come all to join us in our Happy New Year Party.

When: Sunday January 30, 1:00

Where: Japanese Cultural Centre, Toronto Ontario

What: An afternoon of socializing with old and new friends

Bring a potluck meal to share with others.

If you'd like, you can also bring a present to exchange. Ideally something you've made from clay or can be used with clay. Approximate gift value $10.

We'll have a show and tell as well for clay or other hobbies that you'd like to show off.

All are welcome, including people who've never been before. We're a friendly group.

Remember to bring your dues money if you haven't already paid.

Cheers,

Sandy

2010-12-08T14:32:00.000-08:00

Another batch of Bottles of Hope were delivered to a Toronto hospital, take a look!

Janice's angels

2010-12-03T15:28:00.003-08:00

Hi Everyone,

Here are the results of the class that Janice taught - we all made beautiful and wonderful angels.

Seasons Greetings!

November's Angels

2010-11-26T14:20:00.000-08:00

Here's a couple of pics of the angel we are making on Sunday. She is just under 3" tall.

Janice

Here's what to bring:

- clay - white, trans, beige and some colour for hair
- extruder with multi-small holed disk (to extrude hair)
- white glitter or pearlex or perfect pearls (because angels sparkle)
- a thin tipped black marker
- skewers or round toothpick (a couple)
- something to bake on - if we could get a group of angels on a tile that would be great - we need to do 2 bakings
- tool for delicate manouvering like the small sized pointed clay shaper (this is for doing her hair and shaping her gown)
- blades, pasta machine, small sissors
- wire for a halo (or you can make it out of clay)
- TLS and super glue (just in case!)

More Confetti Style Bottles of Hope

2010-11-10T16:30:00.000-08:00

Here are the bottles I made using Barb's Confetti Spaghetti

Dan Cormier's Class

2010-10-24T14:56:00.001-07:00

Dan Cormier came to teach his "Beyond Relief" class last week. There was a lot to be learned and the 17 of us that were there enjoyed ourselves despite oven troubles and late flight arrivals.

The technique involved die forming of shapes and then "bioforming" the shapes. Here are the results of the class.

2010-09-20T14:48:00.001-07:00

Here is a picture of just my BOH that I made last year, most of them using the Confetti Spaghetti technique. It's quite a simple thing to do but effective and I did want to do some less feminine type bottles for the guys that get cancer.

Barb

2010-08-18T06:26:00.000-07:00

Good News!

The Dan Cormier Workshop is on!
Oct 16-17th at the Grenadier in Toronto 2100 Bloor St W (a few doors down from the Busy Bee's!) . Go to this link for Google maps http://maps.google.ca/maps and type in or cut and paste the name and address "Grenadier 2100 Bloor St W" to see it on the map.

Class hours are 10am-5pm each day but the room opens at 9am for set-up. Please arrive a half hour early at least to set up your work station.

Please bring your usual tool kit, pasta machine, sharp blades, work surface, your favorite tools etc. Clay will be provided.

The class is called Relief Beyond Belief and involves using die forms to creat a piece.

Cost for the workshop has been worked out and will be $225 per person for members, $250 for non members. There will be a kit fee of around $25-$30.

Dan has let me know that Polyform will be providing the Premo! clay for us for free!

This is going to be a great workshop, we look forward to seeing Dan and Tracy again.

Several people have notified me of their intention to come. If you have not done so but would like to attend, or want more info, email me at claychick64@gmail.com.

Janice

Guild Meeting July 25

2010-07-24T10:39:00.000-07:00

This Sunday's meeting will be a Bottle of Hope Day. We'll be making Bottles to be donated to the local hospital cancer wards.

I'll be demoing these types of Bottles of Hope for those that are interested. They're like an hour glass and you can turn them upside down and watch the inside "grains" move to and fro. They're fairly easy and provide some meditative peace to those that receive them. They're inspired by Ponsawan who won an award for her work.

They're a good use for clay that you don't know what to do with.

Materials list:

Canes, textures, stamps, pearlex, whatever you think you'd like to cover the outside with.

Clay colours that you want to work with - if you're thinking in terms of packages, less than one package of each colour will do.

If you have circle kemper cutters, that would be the best. I use a 5/8 inch for mine.

Assorted beads, flakes, and whatever little things will fit in the bottle opening. They're for the "grains of sand" in the middle. Glitter, those little hole-less beads that we all pick up from time to time, you can even make your own clay bits for inside if you want.

Beading needle if you have one (for making small holes in the clay)

Bev's BOH stamps if you have those.

Your regular pasta kit (machine, tile, blades, etc)

Of course, there's no obligation to follow what I'm doing so bring whatever you'd like to play with.

I will bring bottles, extra fillings, and my collection of Bev's word stamps.

Cheers,

Sandy

Dan Cormier Workshop

2010-06-29T14:02:00.001-07:00

We are attempting a revival of this workshop! The date may change, so hang on, I'll post updates as they get worked out.
Janice

Sorry, this claass has been cancelled due to lack of time to organise and conflicting dates.

Relief Beyound Belief

Dates available for Dan to come up from Mexico (where he's now living!) are as follows:
Sept 25-26, Oct 2-3 and Oct 9-10.

Please vote as to which dates you would prefer so we can book him.

Thanks, Janice

June meeting cancelled

2010-06-22T14:40:00.001-07:00

Because of the expected traffic concerns surrounding the G20, the end of June guild meeting is cancelled. July's meeting will be ATCs taught by Karen.

Cloud cane workshop

2010-03-03T17:41:00.000-08:00

Thank Sandy for the great workshop on cloud canes. I certainly learned a thing or two today. Here are some images courtesy of Barb B.

February Class - Cloud Canes

2010-02-21T18:04:00.000-08:00

On February 28 we'll be making cloud canes. These are inspired by Mike Buessler. A sample is shown above.

Materials list:

- Blue clay in whatever colour you want your sky to be in, about a package full
- White clay, 1/4 package
- Small bit of black or grey clay, pebble size will be plenty
- Bits of clay that you want for hills in the background

Sharp cutting blade
pasta machine
cutting surface

See everyone on Sunday,

Sandy

Little canes

2010-02-09T19:09:00.000-08:00

At our last meeting Sandy brought in some small empty tape cases. I think she said that she was cleaning up and just couldn't bring herself to throw these little beauties away. I've already filled mine.
Thanks for sharing Sandy.
Wendy

Shrines

2010-02-09T12:36:00.000-08:00

I finally finished the shrine that I started back in November. When Janice announced that she was teaching shrines I hussled to come up with an idea that would make mine "useful" So here it is. I made this for my sister who breeds Pomeranians and in general has a very soft spot in her heart for animals. I made small name tags for each of her dogs that have passed away and I will also include name tags for her remaining dogs. (she can add these namse to the shrine when they pass away) Ok, ok sorry for sounding a little morbid here. Over all I think it's a happy looking shrine and a pleasant way to pay homage.

Wendy

Lessons learned from Janice

2009-12-09T16:35:00.000-08:00

Finally completed the ornament that I started using lessons learned from Janice's class.

Seasons greetings to all!

2009-11-30T15:45:00.000-08:00

Here are the pictures from our November meeting!
Someone has to teach me how to arrange them.

Correction

2009-10-25T16:12:00.000-07:00

Sorry, that last post should read from the September meeting, not August.

Oops!

Barb B.

Faux Wood Recipes from August 2009

2009-10-25T16:02:00.000-07:00

Hi All:

Here are the recipes from the August class. Sorry it took so long. Thanks to Janice for posting the other wood recipes from a couple of years ago!

1. I had a bunch of bits of various brown scraps that I mixed together. I mixed 2 scrap blend with 3 gold
2. Burnt Umber - 1, Silver - 2
3. Gold - 1, Pearl - 1
4. Pearl - 1, Gold - a smidge
5. Black - 2, Silver - 1
6. Burnt Umber - 2, Gold - 1
7. Burnt Umber - 2, Gold - 1, Silver -1
8. Copper - 2, Gold - 1
9. Copper - 1, Burnt Umber - 2
10. Raw Sienna - 2, Silver - 2, Gold -1
11. Pearl - 3, White - 1. Blend together and cut out 15 pieces and add 1/4 piece of Gold
12. Pearl - 3, White - 1. Blend together and cut out 15 pieces and add 1/4 piece of Silver
13. Raw Sienna - 1, Gold - 1

November Meeting

2009-10-20T09:03:00.000-07:00

The November meeting will be mini shrines. It will be a theme of your choice with a talk of design and construction. Samples with be brought to the October meet so you can get an idea, and you have the month to come up with your own concept.

You can include hinges, boxes, books, dolls, small objects to add on, mixed media, christmas ideas (gifts!) or whatever you fancy! Dig out your imagination!

2009-10-14T07:53:00.000-07:00

Here are the notes for Barb's faux wood class!

These techniques have been adapted from Bob Wiley's at www.pcpolyzine.com and www.hgtv.com.

Start with the pearl/mica clay. If you are blending colours, do so now, then run the clay through on the THICKEST setting to thoroughly blend the colours and to align the mica particles in your sheet. TURN YOUR SHEET 90 DEGREES and start to roll a log, making sure that you don't trap any air while your are rolling. Squeeze the ends to force out any air there. Start twisting the log, doing short areas at a time. If the log breaks just push the two pieces back together and hold it while you continue to twist the rest of the log. THE TWISTS SHOULD BE VERY CLOSE TOGETHER.

Lay the log on top or your pasta machine and using the widest setting roll the clay through. Continue to roll the clay through at narrower settings to achieve a sheet of wood that has a grain through it.

Mixing various colours of clay will achieve different 'species' of wood. Sof the types that I have attempted are a very pale 'maple', 'oak', 'Brazilian rosewood', 'cherry', and some that are just 'wood'. Amazingly enough, the red and green pearl mixed together make a nice accent to other clays.

Recipes:

1- pearl with a smidge of gold for a very pale wood
2- 6 parts pearl to 1 part gold
3- 1 prt ecru : 1 prt silver : 2 prts pearl
4- 1 gold : 4 white : 2 pearl
5- 1 gold : 1 translucent : 1 ecru : 1 pearl
6- 6 black : 1 silver makes anthracite
7- straight gold
8- 2 copper : 1 silver make a cherry sort
9- 4 burnt umber : 1 gold
10- mix red pearl and green pearl 1:1 (not entirely mixed) : 8 gold (ie. 1 prt mix : 8 prt gold)
11- #6 anthracite with a smidge of Alizaron Crimson and burnt umber make a Brazilian rosewood
(Cut random sized wedges out of the sheets of anthracite mix and burnt umber. Make up a sheet of the two colours using random pieces next to each other. Burnish the pieces together. Straighten the bottom edge of the sheet and roll up into a log. Proceed as before.)

Maybe someone who took pictures could post them???

Upcoming Workshop

2009-09-28T14:17:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone,

It's time for a quick and easy vote. We are hoping to get either Dan Cormier to do the "Relief beyond Belief" workshop or Jeffery Lloyd Dever to do one in the fall of 2010. Below are examples of both these artist's works.

Dan Cormier:

http://www.dancormier.ca/DanCormier/ReliefBeyondBelief.html

Jeffery Lloyd Dever:

http://www.functionart.com/AM/Artists/DeverJ/DeverJinventory.html

Please choose who you would prefer to see at the right of the page and we will try to arrange it.
Thanks, Janice

Cynthia's BOH workshop Aug /09

2009-09-18T10:25:00.000-07:00

Cynthia taught an amazing BOH workshop last month. She showed us how to top the bottles with her phenomenal hats and she supplied us all with well written instructions too. She made it look so easy but in reality the hats are quite challenging (at least they were for me) but definately well worth the effort!
Thanks for taking the time to prepare such a great workshop, we know it wasn't easy for you considering that you had just arrived back home shortly before.

Another great collection of BOH this month. The "monsters" are from Sandy W's great imagination and mozst of the "little people" are from Sandy's mom Janie who never ceases to amaze us with her talent! Thanks foe all of your hard work.

Fancy Hats

2009-08-19T05:43:00.000-07:00

Here are some photos of my fancy hats.

At our next meeting we are going to make Bottles of Hope and I will show you how I make my fancy hats. These have been very popular with patients and the nurses have requested more.
Supplies:
Normal clay kit
For this project you need firm clays, either Kato or well-leached Premo.

Clay in colors suitable for hats and ribbon trim:
-for a straw hat, use Premo Ecru or a mix of Kato (4 parts white, 2 parts brown, 1.5 parts yellow)
-black is good if using bright feathers for decoration
Clay in colors of your choice to cover the bottle. Contrasting colors for polka dots.
Bottles , preferably Botox bottles
Set of small Kemper circle cutters. We use several of them.
Set of Circle cutters: 1/2", 3/4", 7/8", 1", 1 and 1/4", 2", 2 and 1/4 (The Ateco cutters have the sizes we need)
Set of Oval cutters in case we want to make cowboy hats
Index cards

Decorations for hats:
-feathers (Michaels sells packages of brightly colored feathers with dots. They are on the "craft supplies" aisle. You can also use natural colored feathers. You want the smallest sizes)
-Tiny little fabric flowers. Michaels has them in the wedding area, I think. My dollar store has "mini craft roses".
I will have some feathers and flowers to share.
-any other hat decorations you would like. Actual ribbon or trim, for example.

Something to texture the hat - I will bring some netting to share

If you have the wooden block with hole in it that I gave out when we did the flower BOHs, bring it. Helpful but not required.

I use a mould to make the base for my hats but it is not required. However, if you have some 2-part moulding material, bring it and you can make a mould from the big marble I used. It's a perfect size. I also have little cowboy hats and you can make a mould of one of them.

Cynthia

Striped Tube Bead Workshop

2009-08-05T18:58:00.000-07:00

Laurie taught us a wonderful workshop on making striped tube beads. She got the idea from Donna Kato's last book (which, by the way, Laurie contributed an article on colour theory to)
Way to go Laurie!

Laurie taught Donna Kato swirly beads

2009-07-28T15:58:00.001-07:00

Hi All,

This last weekend Laurie taught us how to make swirly beads. The technique is from Donna Kato's Millefiore book. It's much easier than it looks.

Here are the photos of the bead that I made in class. I didn't mark mine to chop into equal lengths since I wasn't sure what I was going to do with mine. You don't see the glow in the dark clay that I added as part of the bead.

Karen and Janice weren't able to attend so today I taught them the technique. Laurie strongly suggested not worrying about colour scheme and that the technique is a great way to use up scraps.

So with this one I didn't worry about what I threw together. And yet the three of us oohed and aaahed at the result.

We were making Bottles of Hope today and it occured to me that this technique would make perfect candles. So you can see my first attempt at a cupcake BOH with the candle from the class that Laurie taught.

Wendy will be posting photos of other guild member results.

In the mean time, thanks so much to Laurie for teaching a deceptively simple but versatile technique.

Sandy

Results from May's "I Spy" workshop

2009-06-02T10:51:00.000-07:00

Bottles of Hope

2009-06-02T10:28:00.000-07:00

Here are a few more BOH. Can you believe that the "little People" were made by a complete newbie to polymer clay! Great work Janie P!
Let's see how many more we can have made for our next meeting on June 28th.

Shower (continued)

2009-05-31T16:21:00.000-07:00

This fantastic blanket was handmade by Karen.

Laura's Baby Shower

2009-05-31T16:05:00.000-07:00

Hi All,

Last Sunday Barbara C (with helpers Jacey & Barb B) hosted a lovely baby shower for our long standing SOPCG member and much valued BOH Co-ordintor Laura. There were tons of gifts and a great spread of food. Here's a few pictures of the soon-to-be Mom.

Note how happy Laura is to be receiving a pasta maker!

Laura's Mom & Sister helped out with the gift opening.

February 22, 2009

2009-02-22T14:50:00.000-08:00

We had a wonderful class today by Sandy W. She taught us how she covers tins and used Pearl Ex and texture sheets. Mine actually turned out not too bad! I still have to bake the bottom part of the tin and then I'll post a picture of the finished tin.

We also had a newbie join us today - welcome to Lee!

As part of the challenge last month to make a real effort to produce Bottles of Hope we really did ourselves proud this month! Jacey and I had a marathon last weekend, producing 36 BOH between the 2 of us. Barbara C. showed up with 34 or so that she produced last week and Wendy did 21! One of our relative newbies, Patti had 3 done for her donation. Well done ladies!!! We are well on our way to reaching the goal of 365 - should we double that number? Yay or nay? The picture posted is all of the BOH that were handed in today.

Barbara B.

Materials list for February Meeting

2009-02-15T07:38:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone,

We'll be learning how to cover dollar store tins with scrap clay and Pearlex powders at the February tutorial. To do this you'll need:

- A tin - I'll be using the Dollarama McKeever and Danlee Mixed Fruit Drops candy tin found in the candy section of the store, but any tin will do
- Scrap clay - a goodly amount, enough to cover a tin
- A small bit (a ball the size of a quarter) of clay that you might like as a background
- Texture sheets, I will have some and Wendy will be bringing in some from Bev's collection
- Pearlex or Perfect Pearls powders (use a 40% off coupon for Michaeals found at http://oshawa.flyerland.ca/ if you don't already have some)
- A makeup brush or sponge (also a dollar store item)
- Any other embellishments you may want
- Circle or other shape cutters if you want to get creative
general clay kit (pasta machine, tile, blade, etc)
- If you'd like to bring old canes I'll show how to do those as well, but the focus will be on scrap clay.

See everyone on Sunday,

Sandy

upcoming "I Spy" workshop

2009-02-14T16:43:00.000-08:00

Here are 2 examples of the "I Spy" pendants we will be creating at an upcoming workshop. (there are 2 front views and 2 back views) You will need to go to Dollarama and purchase the magnifing glass pictured here. Other than that you only need a small amount of clay, pearlex powders or pulvers and some little trinkets like charms or beads or decorative brads from the scrapbooking section.

An Easy Versatile Cane - Even if you think you can't cane

2009-01-31T12:43:00.000-08:00

The 2009 guild schedule got off to a stellar start with a workshop from Cathy M on the wonderful, organic Brain Cane on January 28. This cane is so easy that one guild member said it should be called the "No-Brain Cane." And it yields wonderful results. Here is a sample of the cane by Barbara B covering bottles of hope.

Barbara also did an amazing job on the lids, so check later for an up-coming post on lids.

Step 1: Start with a Skinner blend. There are lots of wonderful internet postings on how to do this blend, so instead of telling you here, we'll inspire you with samples of some of the blends made by guild members.

You can see that the color palettes vary but they all yield great results. Cathy recommends using metallic or pearl colors for best results when using cane slices.

Here's a tip from Barbara C: make your Skinner blend in your favorite colors and when you're done, add a layer of white pearl on top and blend. Your colors will be a little lighter and all pearl.

Now run your Skinner blend through the pasta machine feeding one solid color in first on the thickest setting. Do this twice more on thinner settings until you have your blend on the third thickest setting. Set aside.

Make a sandwich of conditioned clay using : black, white and black again. Run through the pasta machine on the thickest setting and repeat twice more until it is at your third thickest setting.

Now join the elongated Skinner blend and the black/white/black sheet. Run though the pasta machine at the thickest setting and once more to reduce to your second thickest.

You may need a friend for this part: Hold your hand under the bottom mouth of the pasta machine. Run the resulting sheet through your third thickest setting while moving your hand under the machines backwards and forwards "crumpling" the clay rather than letting a smooth sheet come out. Leave a "tail" of about 3 inches and run through the machine without crumpling.

Roll the crumpled clay into a log and wrap the tail with the black edge on the outside of the cane. Squeeze the middle and roll to reduce and remove air pockets.

Your cane is ready to use.

Cathy recommends laying slices on a matching, complimentrary or contrasting color and reduce a couple of times through the pasta machine to let the metallic/glitter shine.

Here are some finished cane samples as well as a covered Bottle of Hope.

Variations on a Theme

Cathy loves to try a new twist on a polymer basic and the Brain Cane was no exception. On this cane she inserts a white and black bullseye cane and the result is reminiscent of a monarch butterfly's wing.

There are also lots of variations possible by changing the Skinner blends - monochromatic, analogous, complimentary color schemes for example. One member changed the black and white sandwich to gold/green/gold with great results. Why not give the Brain Cane a try in your favorite color scheme?

New Year Resolution - A Bottle of Hope a Day

2009-01-16T07:38:00.000-08:00

At our end-of-the-year pot luck meeting, Guild members challenged themselves to produce a Bottle of Hope each day of the year. By the end of 2009, the Guild plans to collectively produce at least 365 Bottles of Hope for distribution to cancer patients in Toronto. We hope to post photos as we go.

The bottles are a great way to use small pieces of canes or scrap clay or to try a new technique. In the bottles below, Sandy added glitter to the surface of the raw clay. During baking, some of the glitter expanded giving the bottle a unique "prickly" texture.

Janice V loves to experiment with new techniques. Guild members can usually identify an item made by Janice V due to the craftsmanship or her use of pastel pinks and blues. The bottles below are "typical" of Janice V's work.

At the February 2009 meeting Janice will demonstrate a technique called mokume gane. This easy technique produces a unique sheet of clay which can be used to cover beads, tins, books - even bottles of hope! The two green bottles below are covered with the the same piece of Janice's mokume gane. Why do they look so different? You'll find out at the February meeting.

Remember, our January meeting is coming up on the 26th. Cathy M will be teaching us variations of the brain cane and we'll generate more bottles then.

New members always welcome.

Creativ Festival

2008-10-31T08:36:00.000-07:00

Hi all!

Here's some pictures from the recent Creativ Festival taken at the Shades of Clay booth.

Helen.

October Results!

2008-10-26T15:51:00.000-07:00

Barb B did a wonderful job at teaching a Donna Kato bead today (and the shortbread cookies were much appreciated). The above photo is a sample of our results before we started trying to add the thin layer of translucent clay to them. I think all of us were impressed with the beads (and if not our own, of others for sure).

The inking and stamping were fun, but the class got quite a bit quieter as we all wrestled with the translucent layer. For those that need additional help, please bake your beads for 30 minutes or more. Sand with 400 and 600 grit sandpaper and bring to the Christmas Party. Janice will be bringing her buffer and allowing us to finish our beads then.

Other items of note:
- next month's meeting is the Christmas Party, if you'd like to participate in the gift swap please either bring something hand made or of less than $10 value.
- membership fees are due - you save $10 if you pay before Jan 1
- we had two new members join us and they've already paid for next year. Welcome!
- Cathy will be teaching versions of the brain cane for January's class and Janice has agreed to teach and demo the myriad of mokume gane techniques. We have a request for a class mosaics so any volunteers would be great for that.

So thanks Barb, for a beautiful class. I'll speak for everyone by saying you did a great job and we were glad to have been a part of it.

Sandy

Materials list for Oct 28 Meeting

2008-10-20T19:02:00.000-07:00

As a reminder, the October 26 meeting will be a demo from Donna Kato's Simple Inked Beads. If you have Donna's second book (blue cover) Creative Surface Effects, it's shown on page 122.

Janice posted my first effort (which you can see here) in the blog after she sanded and polished it for me - thank you!

For supplies you will need
- your basic clay stuff (pasta machine, tile, blades, etc)
- a bit of scrap clay (for the bead base)
- white clay, translucent clay,
- liquid claychalk inks, I have some and Sharon and Sandy have offered to bring theirs along
- stamps - something for a design around the bead (lettering or a floral spray),
- small stamps (a swirl or small designs to dab here and there)
- a permanant ink
- gold leaf
- bamboo skewer
- sand paper for finishing

Janice will be bringing her buffer with her and if there's time we will be able to bake and buff some beads.

Barb B.

Come see Shades of Clay this weekend...

2008-10-14T03:32:00.000-07:00

I've copied the next bit directly from the Shades of Clay website. For those that don't know, Shades of Clay is run by our past president and founding Guild member, Marg Scott. Marg is a beautiful woman and well worth meeting. Her booth, I'm sure, will be tempting. Other guild members will be helping out at the booth as well.

This fall, Shades of Clay will be at booth 560 of the CreativFestival at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. This annual event covers 200,000sq' of vendors, exhibitions, demos, book signings, make 'n takes, fashion shows and so much more. There are over 300 workshops held in conjuction with the festival. Workshops start October 15th; vendor sale starts October 17th and runs through to the 19th.

The Festival originated as the Sewing & Needlework Festival and has evolved to include all arts and crafts; after all, creativity has no boundaries and so many of us enjoy multiple crafts, often combining them in new and unusual ways!

Shades of Clay is proud to be sponsoring workshops by Donna Kato and Helen Breil; booth demos by Donna, Helen and Susan Pickering Rothamel. Plus book signings by Donna. And the introduction of the "Cabezel".

Save on tickets when using the link below and the Shades of Clay promo code 180SC
Adults $12.00 (save $3.00) Seniors 60+ $10.00 (save $2.00) Youth $4.00 (8-17)

purchase tickets

Hope to see you there.

Flyerland.ca - a way to always get your Michael's coupon

2008-10-04T05:37:00.001-07:00

Just as an FYI, our local Michael's has issued a notice that the Michael's brochures are now carried electronically at http://toronto.flyerland.ca/. Once you sign up they will send you an e-mail everytime a new flyer comes out for whatever stores you want to track.

You can print off the coupon and use it at your leisure.

Here's the link to this week's coupons for those that are thinking they might like to buy some inks for this month's bead demo.
http://toronto.flyerland.ca/view_coupon.php?coupon_id=1029

And here's the link for the Michael's brochure this week:
http://toronto.flyerland.ca/view_flyer.php?flyer_id=2246

Cheers,

Sandy

October's meeting bead

2008-09-30T10:19:00.000-07:00

I sanded and buffed Barb's bead that she will be demoing at October's meeting. I just used the coarse then fine sanding blocks and then went to the buffer.

The bead is based on a technique from Donna Kato's Surface Techniques book.

Janice

Two of our members are featured on Polymer Clay Daily!

2008-09-30T09:14:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to Wendy and Bev. Polymer Clay Daily posted a very nice blurb about their Cabezel molds on September 22. You can see the link here here.

We're honoured to have such talented members in our Guild and it's nice to see others recognizing the talent.

Today's lesson - Silk Screening

2008-09-28T18:17:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone,

We were honoured to have our very own Janice V teach us how to silk screen today. She did a wonderful job and thanks to her generosity with the supplies we all came away with screens that we liked and can re-use. This first photo shows the materials that are used. Essentially a black and white image is copied onto a transparency. This is then placed over the light sensitive undeveloped screen, covered in a dark bag, and then taken into the sun. Stand facing the sun for half a minute or so and then bring the kit back into the room, plunk in water for 10 minutes, scrub away whatever wants to come off, and presto - a wonderful silk screen!

Janice is in love with inro boxes and brought along several of her samples that she's embellished with silk screening. These, according to her (and only her) are "not very good". The rest of us think otherwise.

We all spent our 30 seconds out in the sun waiting for the plates to be exposed. Then we set the screens and dried them. Once they were completed we were able to use them to squeegee paint onto clay. Here are a couple of samples after they've been painted. They show some of the differences in playing with colours and clay.

I didn't get a decent photo of Barb's amazing colour interference acrylic paint - it was neat to see what it did on different colours of clay. Everyone had a wonderful time. Janice and her excellent teaching skills demystified the process that looks intimidating on paper.

This last image really shows the impact of white balance in a digital camera. It's exactly the same piece, but the camera settings on the first one were true and were taken only after I noticed that the photo on the right made the clay look really blue. For those that are never satisfied with their colours in the digital cameras (particularly for indoor shots), I'd highly recommend a camera that allows for changing the white balance.

You can buy the StencilPro kits at http://www.cbridge.com/. Janice doesn't recommend the high resolution screens.

Next month's class is from Donna Kato's surface techniques. It'll be taught by Barb B. Materials list and other information to follow.

Cheers,

Sandy

Donna Kato Classses

2008-09-27T12:50:00.001-07:00

These rings show the techniques learned.
Pods, zippers, canes.

BIG Beads and fine rings.

Samples of finished products by the students.

Like Wendy has stated, the bracelets are wonderful but not something that can be accomplished without alot of practice.. unless, of course, your name is Janice.

Another great tip from Donna was how she stores her canes. In Ammo boxes (for bullet storage)! I have sourced out a Canadian supplier. Check them out.

Cabela's shotgun cases

I called the gun store (Giovanni's) that I know, here in Toronto (on Wilson Av) and they said they do have some ammo boxes (but I didn't clarify if they were the ones shown above). Cheryl and I were going to check them out the other day but the store was closed when we arrived. Must go back.

All in all, a great weekend class. Gail

Kato Workshop

2008-09-24T19:21:00.000-07:00

I had a wonderful time on the week-end learning from one of the greats, Donna Kato. When all was said and done I had a wonderful collection of tiny canes and a lot of new methods and ways of doing things. Donna taught us how to make pods and beads and a great way to store Skinner blends. She also taught us how to make her gorgeous, chunky bracelets but I don't think I'm alone in admitting that this lesson was a lot harder than it looked and only after weeks of practice would I be able to make anything that even began to resemble one of Donna's bracelets !!!

2008-09-22T18:06:00.000-07:00

Teaser

Here is a little teaser of the finished projects from Donna Kato's class.

Donna Kato Workshop

2008-09-19T06:06:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is the start of the Donna Kato workshop in Toronto. I am getting quite excited at the thought of learning new techniques from Donna. I've never had the opportunity to take a class from her but I've heard that she is an amazing teacher. We'll be learning all about creating pods and bracelets. I can hardly wait. I will take some photos and tell you all about it when it's over.

Wendy O