Guild Meeting July 8th

It is really summer out there now! - here is an update on the happenings and the upcomings...

At our JULY meeting, following an important and short business meeting to discuss guild matters, please plan on claying as you wish -- bring a project, or even better, come planning to make beads for our bead jar or to cover bottles for Bottles of Hope. Mile Hi has long had a bead jar (tho they greatly outgrew just a jar!) that is managed by Barb Harper. She makes an item for a member who is ill or has a loss etc when need arises. We need to designate a Bead Jar Maven to do this for our guild. I know the items made from the beads will mean a lot to anyone who receives them. The Bottles of Hope, for newer members, are small, usually medicine size, bottles covered with clay that are donated to hospice or cancer centers to be given as a token of hope to patients. They are very well received and it is a great way to use our hands, hearts and talents for those in need.

Cathie Graeser reminded me (thank goodness!) to remind bead swap participants to put their beads in a plastic bag with a business card saying who made the bead forour swap or to put a wire or string through the bead with a tiny card that has your name - it is fun to know who made the bead later on and very hard to remember since there will be 29 different beads! You will be making 31 total so that each guild can also have a strand to keep for posterity -Your beads are due next Sunday! I know there will be some claying going on this week... remember that beads must be black and white only... our Mile Hi buddies are more aware of the traditional rules than we have been and let me know about this.

Following the meeting (or perhaps during if time allows) those who are participating in the Country Christmas show will meet to organize - be thinking about decoration theme, the type of items you will have, how we will "woman" the booth, etc. Anne Morris is our chairman for this event.

Donna Kato Workshop

What a wonderful day Saturday was at the workshop! Thanks to all for participating and for helping with set up and food. It is so nice to be with a group that just jumps in when they see things that need doing. And also so cool to be around a welcoming, friendly bunch who know how to have fun while they learn. Donna was gentle. professional and easy to understand - as always :-) quintessential teacher!! We are so lucky to have her in our guild. I can't wait to practice the things we learned... and I think one of my pieces from Saturday might even be wearable with considerable sanding and buffing LOL...

Thanks, too, to Barb Fajardo , our new member from Albuquerque, for the very sweet flower chokers - what a lovely gesture!Our other new members are Madellen Spaete (who is a friend of Sally and Terry), Jeanne Foute (who heard about us through Bev) and Holly Williams (who is from the Denver area) and Maria Clark (who also attended the Haunani workshop) - welcome and thanks for joining in - I hope we see all of you again soon! ~Peg

Shane Smith

Shane Smith shared her mini mask demo at our June guild meeting. A portion of the demo, Shane showed us how to mirror cane slices for the base of the mask. Shane showed off some her canes pictured above. They were simply beautiful. Pictured below is Bev's finished mask.

I'm also including an image of Barb Harper's stunning polymer clay work, butterflies with foil embellishments. Wow!

Bead Swap Update

The bead swap between Pikes Peak Polymer Guild and the Mile High Polymer Guild is set for the July meeting with the cut off for signing up June 10th. Peg Monteith and Barb Harper are the joint swapmiesters. We decided after discussing it with both guilds to restrict it to black and white because that would make a cohesive group that would make a nice necklace or bracelet. Hopefully we'll get the same number of participants for both guilds. The plan is to make as many beads as the number of people who sign up. Barb will collect beads in July and distribute them to Denver in August since the guilds meet on different days. The picture above of B&W beads is from a past swap. This should be an easy swap to produce items for since beads are pretty easy to make. I'm looking forward to seeing what we come up with. I really enjoyed the last earring swap. So if you're a member and you would like to sign up contact either Peg Montieth or Barb Harper.

Clay Carnival Las Vegas 2007

Interested in 3 days playing with clay and learning techniques from 8 polymer clay instructors?? The carnival begins November 30 - December 2, 2007 at the Imperial Palace in Las Vegas. For more information click this link... Clay Carnival or you can join the clay carnival yahoo group here... Clay Carnival Yahoo Group

April Demo: Tracy Miller Art Dolls

We had a very exciting meeting in April. I think we had a record number of members show up! It was great to see so many new faces. Our guild is really growing! Everyone enjoyed the demo Tracy gave on making a polymer clay doll for our doll challenge. The "art doll" idea came from Art Doll Quarterly the summer 2006 edition.

Supplies needed:

19 and 24 gauge wire (Ace), polymer clay, aluminum foil, and wire cutters. The wire base was made to support the aluminum/polymer clay body. Gina included little beads on her "skirt" where the 24 gauge wire is wrapped around the 19 gauge wire. (sorry for the blurry image)

We decided to give members 3 months to complete their doll. We will present our dolls at our August meeting. Dolls should be professional grade and reflective of your style. Below is the list that we currently have signed up. If you haven't signed up, please email Tracy at tmsilks@msn.com and she will add you to the list. Tracy Miller, Kay Wilson, Barb Harper, Suzanne Kennedy, Barbara Watson, Lynn Thomas, Cathie Graeser, Gina Stephenson, Becky Carver, Deb Mather, Darlene Whitt, Marie Cacciatore, Tejae Floyde and Louise Ferris I also believe that Eva Rosado is participating.

Our latest swap was a big success and I'm so glad I participated and got so many cool pairs of earrings.

Barb Harper was at the meeting with examples from swaps that the Denver guild has done as well as samples of beads. There were so many I couldn't count! We are planning on our first swap with the Denver guild. Beads will be due at our July meeting. More details will be forthcoming.

April Demo: Tracy Miller Art Doll

Our next guild meeting will be Sunday, April 22 at 1 o'clock at Cottonwood Artists School. Tracy Miller, our guild president, will be bringing in a wire armature for a visual demonstration of constructing a base for a polymer clay art doll. Interested participants are welcome to sign up to participate in an art doll exhibit which will be held tentatively around August. We can make our dolls to have their own personality with our own unique style of working the clay. Members please bring in 16 gauge wire along with needle nose and round nose pliers so you can begin creating your art doll armature.

We will have our earring swap and the rest of the time can be playing with clay to make sheets to start covering the doll armature.

How exciting our very own Yuriy is featured on Polymer Clay Daily. Congratulations Yuriy!