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July 2008

July 2008 Meeting Notes

Nine members and two guests gathered in July for our informal program on making beads. April S. demonstrated tools she has found helpful, including several bead rollers. Several members brought beads they had made in the past and shared tips. Everyone enjoyed experimenting with bead-making techniques.
**Show and Tell:** Members brought some beautiful things to show. Penni Jo brought clay thunderbirds she had designed for a customer. Nance and April showed beads they had made. Jane and Angela brought Bottles of Hope.
During our business meeting, Vice President April S. reviewed the upcoming meeting schedule, which follows:
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**August 9:** Ink-Jet Image Transfers with Shirley
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**August 30:** Play Day
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**September 13:** Mokume Gane with Nance
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**October 11:** Translucent Layering with Jane
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**November 8:** Open
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**November 29:** Play Day
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**December 13:** Open
It was noted that the August play day falls on Labor Day Weekend. We will discuss this at our August meeting.
**Reports:**
**Library:** Librarian Jane L. announced that the June selection for our library, *The Human Figure in Clay*, had arrived. She commented that it has wonderful detail.
**Bottles of Hope:** Coordinator Nance R. announced that she now has accumulated lots of finished bottles for our project. She still has lots of empty ones for anyone else who wants to decorate them. The Norman Newcomers Club may do more bottles this summer, and we will include them in our publicity when the time comes. Angela commented that Cindy Matteson has inquired about our progress with the project.
**Treasurer’s Report::** Angela reported our balance as $405.44. Lisa became our newest member in June, bringing our membership to 13.
**New Business:**
**Liability for Minors:** Penni Jo voiced concern about the safety of children working with polymer clay tools at our meetings and the resulting liability issues for the guild. She suggested that we add wording to our “About ” page on our Web site, specifying an age (possibly 18) below which a person could not attend our meetings without a parent or supervising adult. There was general agreement that we should do this.
**Tulsa Guild:** Angela announced that the Tulsa group would like to get together for a play day. We discussed our scheduled play days as possible dates and churches or libraries as possible venues in the Oklahoma City area. Angela will call the guild to discuss possible dates.
Angela asked whether anyone would be interested in giving private lessons in jewelry making. We have received an inquiry through our Web site.
**Library Drawing:** The book selected for purchase this month is *Polymer Clay Beads: Techniques, Projects, Inspiration*, by Grant Diffendaffer.
**Raffle:** Penni Jo, April S. and Nance brought raffle items. Winners were Angela, Lee Ann, and Shirley. The winners will bring raffle items for our next raffle, which will be at our September meeting. We will have a swap at our August meeting.
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July Meeting: All About Polymer Clay Beads

This month is an exciting learning opportunity. **We will be sharing tips and techniques on creating polymer clay beads.**
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Many members have expressed an interest in learning how to make polymer clay beads. There are so many different ways and kinds of beads that we thought it was time to have a meeting where we can all share tips on what works, what doesn’t work, how to operate some of the bead making rollers and anything else that comes up about polymer clay beads.
If you don’t have any idea how to do any of these things, this would be a wonderful opportunity to come learn, play and ask any questions you may have, I’m sure there will be plenty of members that can share experiences.
– **When: Saturday, July 12, 2008, 1:00 – 4:00 p.m.**
– **Where: The new Hobby Lobby in Norman, 2417 W. Main, Norman, OK.** (The classroom is up front, near the check out stands. Go right after entering & it’s the first door on the right.)
– **What to Bring:**
– Polymer Clay: Bring whatever polymer clay you would like to use in attempting to make polymer clay beads. Some clays will lend themselves better to certain techniques and others are better for other techniques. The main thing is to come, experiment and share and learn. *On a personal note, I’ve found that Sculpy III tends to be to soft of a clay for any beads that I try to make, so tend to stick to using Premo, Fimo and Kato clay’s.*
– Wax Paper or other clean working surface.
– A Bead Baking Tray if you have one – no need to go out and buy one just for this lesson, as there will be a couple available.
– Any Bead Rollers that you may have – no need to go out and buy them just for this lesson, there should be plenty to share.
– ***Optional:***
– Pasta Machine (for conditioning clay)
– Clay blade
– Any texture or detail type tools that you may want to experiment with
– Canes that you may want to apply to any beads
– Latex or non Latex, thin gloves (if you want to try to eliminate fingerprints)
If you have made any Polymer Clay Beads, we would love for you to bring them to the meeting and show what you have made. On the same note, if you have found any books/resources about polymer clay beads, we would love for you to either bring them or the names/locations to share.
**REMINDER** – We will be having a raffle this coming meeting. **The prizes this meeting are to be provided by Penni Jo and April S.** If anyone else would like to contribute to the prizes, feel free to. Members will purchase tickets and place their tickets in a container for the prizes they would like to win. The winners take home the prize and are to provide a prize the next time we have a raffle (every other month).
We hope to see you there!