Ohio Bead Swap

Our guild decided to try a swap with another guild recently. We swapped beads using metallic foils, glitter, or metallic powders with the creative people in the Columbus Ohio guild. Here is a photo of the beads we sent.
Everyone came up with such creative and unique solutions to the challenge. Too cool!
Thanks everyone for participating.

Nobody Here But Us Chickens

OK, I promise I won't mention pirates after today, really, scouts honor. I just wanted to share the adorable chicken I bought at Sandy Camp. What you say, do chickens have to do with pirates? Good question, and not much of a connection really, except that the only photo I have of Tina Goodrich, the wonderful chicken's creator, is, as you guessed it, a pirate at Sandy Camp! See her holding another one of her creations, Jack Sparrow. Both are much cuter in person, but this wasn't a Vogue photo shoot after all. You can see more of Tina's work by clicking on the link to her blog, KT Did Clay, from the list of blogs on the right. Thanks Tina for all your fun creations. They always make me smile. 

This little rooster is now the guardian of my kitchen cupboard. Anyone taking a dish, sees this colorful feathered sentry and hopefully has a little chuckle.

Hey, this guy means business!

Scull & Crossbones

Have you had your fill of pirate stuff yet? I had to mention my friend Shipwreck" Shelly Neal, who made the awesome cane you see below. The scull & crossbones design runs all the way through the cane, and is sliced like a jelly roll for use in jewelry or other applications. Reducing the cane size without too much distortion is no easy task. Shelly makes it look easy.

You can see by the grid lines that this cane measured at least 3 1/2 inches across before reducing it's size.

Check out the bracelet she made with some of the smaller slices. Well done Shelly!

Beads of Courage & Hearts for Heroes

A great outreach project we work on at the guild retreat is the Beads of Courage Program. This program is for children undergoing treatment for cancer and other serious illnesses. Children tell their story using colorful beads as meaningful symbols of courage that commemorate milestones they have achieved along their unique treatment path. You can read more about this program on their website: http://www.beadsofcourage.org/. In August they received a Pepsi grant of $25,000. Way to go!
While making these beads is an ongoing project of our guild throughout the year, you can see the ones we made at the retreat below.

Our other outreach project is Hearts for Heroes. Small heats are sent to deployed troops as a reminder that they are loved and appreciated and to thank  them for their service to our country. Below, are some of the hearts we made. They have a website too. http://www.hearts4heroes.com/.
Below are some of the hearts we made.

A Halloween Treat

One of the awesome and imaginative artists at Sandy Camp was Dawn Schiller. Dawn sculpts amazing figures with lots of personality. I love all the details and the expressive and unique nature of each little character. She states on her web site http://www.oddfae.com/



"Among my creations you'll find treefolk and witches, merfolk and wizards...fugitives from fairy tales; Figments of the Imagination, Odd Fae, the slightly-off-center, Autumn Things, the Green Man and Others....all having very little to do with the real world and everything to do with giggles 'n' snickers and Things that go Bump in the Night". Dawn was kind enough to give us a glimpse into her process by giving a workshop on creating tiny face pins. I bought a couple of her pin frames and feel inspired to make some characters of my own one of these days. Famous last words. Anyway, thanks Dawn for giving us a chance to see your process and for giving us these expressive and interesting sculptures.

Here you can see Dawn hard at work on one of her character pins. Kathy Davis, a collaborator on the skull below,  is seen in the background looking this direction.

Close up of the character taking shape. He looks quite satisfied with himself. I'm not so sure about the guy hiding behind Dawn's tools in the upper left part of the photo.

Don't you love this wonderful skull  collaboratively made by Dawn and Kathy for the Opportunity Drawing?

Hope you have a Happy Halloween.

Bottles of Hope

The Bottles of Hope Program began in 1999 by Diane Gregoire, a polymer clay artist who had survived breast cancer and a member of the Southern Connecticut Polymer Clay Guild. While sitting for hours during treatments, she noticed all the empty medicine bottles being thrown away and the idea was born.
We take these bottles, all from medications that are non-toxic, such as Heparin or sterile water, clean them, remove the tops and labels, and decorate them with imaginative polymer clay designs. Patients receiving these bottles, and the staff that cares for them, are so touched by the thought behind them that they become cherished tokens of the care of strangers. Some bottles have optional notes inside them with wishes for good health, poems, or inspirational messages.
At Sandy Camp this year, our guild made over 80 bottles for patients at Moores Cancer Center here in San Diego. You can see the creativity that went into each one.

Thanks to all the participants.

Sandy Camp

Ahoy mateys!
Just came back from several days of fun at Sandy Camp, the San Diego Polymer Clay Guild's annual retreat. We had so many talented artists all together under one tent, creating awesome and diverse works in jewelry, sculpture and an assortment of other things like Bottles of Hope, tiny boxes for treasure, and clay picture frames.
Our theme this year was Pirates. arg! Marie Segal, clay artist extraordinaire, made everyone on the organizing committee these beautiful and intricate heart necklaces. Aren't they awesome? Pirate treasure indeed. Thank you Marie for all the work you put into making these. I love mine and will treasure it as will everyone else on the committee, for sure. Marie's generosity and thoughtfulness didn't stop there. She also made us hoop earrings with the cutest parrot perched on one hoop you can see below. We were quite a crew of bejeweled pirate wenches thanks to you Marie. Check out Marie's blog by clicking on the link: Art From My Heart found on the right.

Here is "Mad Dog Marie" with the cutest little pirate at Sandy Camp.