Skip to content

Crafty

July Meeting: Explosion Accordion Folded Album

Penni Jo's Accordion Album, Front
This month, at a new time & new location, Penni Jo Couch and Sue Kerr will be showing us how to make an Explosion Accordion Folded Album with a polymer clay cover.
Penni Jo and Sue were some of the very first members of the Central Oklahoma Polymer Clay Guild. Penni Jo creates beautiful designs — with works ranging from her molded designs for Sweetbrier Studio to her fantastic jewelry at her new Etsy shop. Sue has expertise in a variety of mediums — like quilting and rubber stamping — and uses that background to do very creative things with polymer clay.
Here are the meeting details:
* When: NEW TIME! Saturday, July 14, 2007, 2:00 – 5:00 p.m.
* Where: NEW PLACE! The new Hobby Lobby in Norman, 2417 W. Main, Norman, OK. (The classroom is up front, near the check stands. Go right after entering & it’s the first door on the right.)
* What to Bring:
* Clay: Approx. 3 blocks for the 4” album
* Wax Paper
* Pattern paper: Can be regular paper or tracing paper
* Texture sheets (or other texture makers like lace, fabric, etc.)
* Tissue blade
* Sharp Kraft knife
* Pasta Machine or brayer
* Clear UTEE (Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel)
* Charm, tiny photo, or other item (to embed in UTEE)
* Baking surface: Two tiles or two pieces of cardstock large enough on which to bake each cover. For the large cover you will need two approx. 8” square tiles or cardstock. For smaller cover, you will need at least two 6” tiles or cardstock
* Ribbon or Cord: Matching Ribbon for ties: Small Album – 24” of 1/2” ribbon. Large album – 28” to 30”
* Glue: Glue stick or PVA glue to glue the cardstock pages together; E-6000 or Weldbond glue for polymer clay
* Album Pages: Three square sheets of double sided cardstock. Can be printed or plain paper. Use 8.5 by 8.5 inch cardstock for small 4 1/4” pages. Use 12 by 12 inch cardstock for large 6” pages. You may use three colors of paper or three sheets of one color for the pages
Penni Jo mentioned she has a large bottle of UTEE she can share. She also pointed out that Hobby Lobby has a 40% off coupon on their website this week — so if you need any of these supplies, come early & get ’em at a discount.
Hope to see you there!
Update: Here’s instructions for the project — if you want to get started before-hand, Penni Jo suggests pre-conditioning your clay and/or doing the paper-folding: Explosion Album Instructions [PDF]

June Play Day

June has 5 Saturdays… so that means it’s time for a 5th Saturday Play Day! And since we’re holding this play day in a home instead of our usual classroom, we won’t be nearly as rushed as normal. This polymer clay play day might just turn into a polymer clay PARTY!
Our play days don’t have a particular project or teacher, so feel free to bring whatever you’re currently working on. Someone mentioned maybe figuring out how to clean pasta machines — so if you’re interested in doing that, feel free to bring along your dirty ol’ machine. Or just come & hang out!
Here’s the details:
* When: Saturday, June 30, 2007, 3:30 p.m. – ? (Stay as long as you want!)
* Where: Angela Mabray’s house (Yukon, OK). The address & directions are being sent to the group’s mailing list — feel free to use the contact form to request directions if you’re not on the mailing list.
* What to Bring:
* Clay, tools, etc.
* We’ll have some snacks & drinks available — if you’d like something special, feel free to bring it. You can also bring a couple of bucks if you’re interested in pitching in for pizza.
We look forward to seeing everyone there!

Group Member Wins Top 25 in Challenge

Our very own Jane Linn got an email from Amaco last week saying she’s a “member of the top 25 winners of the AMACO Bottles of Hope Designers Challenge.” The Bottles of Hope project provides small glass medicine bottles covered with clay to cancer patients as a symbol of hope. Amaco — who generously donated clay when our group made these bottles in March — sponsors this challenge to help create awareness of the Bottles of Hope project.
Congrats to Jane!

June 2007 Meeting Notes

Cassy's MagnetOur leaf cane demonstration went great — with various members “catching the caning bug.” Pictures are available on our Flickr! group — & thanks to our new group photographer, April, we even have pictures from during the meeting! Thanks to everyone who came, and thanks especially to Christie Wright of DragonflyLane for doing a great job teaching.
A few notes from the business portion of our meeting:
* Our next play day will be held June 30 — but it’s being held at a new time and place! Angela has offered to host the June Play Day at her house, starting at 5 p.m. and continuing as long as folks want to stay. We’ll plan to have some snacks & drinks available — if you have something special you’d like, please bring it. And bring a couple of bucks if you’re interested in pitching in for pizza. We thought we’d try having the play day at a home so our time isn’t as limited. Hope you’ll come join the polymer clay party!

Read More »June 2007 Meeting Notes

June Meeting: Leaf Canes

Blue, Purple Leaves by ChristieNever seen blue & purple leaves before? They’re just a sampling of the color combinations you can make with polymer clay! This month, Christie Wright will be teaching us how to make colorful leaf canes. It’s really 3 lessons in one — she’ll be teaching us about caning, about Skinner blends, and about reducing canes.
Christie sells beautiful hand-crafted polymer clay items through DragonflyLane and through her new Etsy shop. Christie’s a member of our group and a repeat teacher. You can check out her blue and purple leaf cane at her Flickr page — where you’ll also find more examples of her leaves and other work.
Here are the meeting details:
* When: Saturday, June 9, 2007, 3:30 – 5:30 p.m.
* Where: Hobby Lobby at I-40 and MacArthur, 6104 West Reno, Oklahoma City, OK. (The classroom is in the very back of the store.)
* What to Bring:
* Clay: Christie recommends using KATO, Premo, or FIMO brands for caning. (Avoid Sculpey III as it’s very soft and can be frustrating to reduce.) Bring 1/2 block each of 2-3 colors. Three colors will make a color-blended leaf: Colors A & B for the main color/skinner blend in the leaf; Color C for the veins and border. Two colors will make a solid color leaf: Color A for the solid leaf color and Color B for the veins and border.
* Tools: You’ll need a sharp clay slicing blade and your pasta machine.
Christie recommends looking at Studio Bijou’s gorgeous jewelry to get inspired. Who knew leaves could be so colorful?!

May 2007 Meeting Notes

Watercolor PenFor the May meeting, Angela Mabray (who sells crafts at CraftyGoat.com and blogs about crafts at CraftyGoat’s Notes) taught the group how to cover pens with polymer clay. The pens were a lot of fun, & we ended up with some very nice ones. Check out our Flickr pics for some examples.

Pen-covering Notes

Angela brought the following types of pens, all of which are oven-safe:
* Papermate FlexGrip Ultra (difficult to find) or Papermate Flexgrip Elite (available at Office Depot)
* Amazing Twist Pen from Boston Clayworks
* Keychain Pens from Penn State Industries
Some other potential oven-safe pen candidates are listed below — but you may want to check these in the oven without clay first, to make sure they hold up okay:
* Bic Round Stic (white, not clear)
* Bic Soft Feel Stic
* Pilot Bettergrip
* Rose Art’s Great Grips
* Zebra F-301 ball point pens
Angela showed the group how to cover the barrels and re-assemble the pens. She also pointed out a couple of interesting alternatives to standard pen-covering:
* Covering a copper tube with clay, then inserting a pen refill.
* Covering a bamboo skewer with clay, removing the bamboo skewer while still warm, then inserting a pen refill.
See more about these ideas, along with a full list of potential pens to try, at Glass Attic’s pen page.

Other Group Business

* Angela reminded the group that the Bottles of Hope Challenge deadline was extended til June 1st, so members still have a chance to submit their entries. She also mentioned the National Polymer Clay Guild’s request for Synergy presentation proposals.
* Penni Jo had forwarded information about Munro Crafts, an online craft store that gives a 50% off orders over $200. Angela told the group about it, saying she’d send out the link so folks could decide if they wanted to put together a group order.
We had a new record attendance at the May meeting with 12 people. We’re so glad y’all came out & hope to see you again soon!

May Meeting: Polymer Clay Pens

Since several people had asked about pens recently, May’s meeting will be about covering pens with polymer clay. Angela Mabray will show the group the basics of covering pens with clay and will share some ideas for creating your own. Angela will also demonstrate the mailbox pen she’s making as part of her upcoming taping for That’s Clever.
Here are the meeting details:
* When: Saturday, May 12, 2007, 3:30 – 5:30 p.m.
* Where: Hobby Lobby at I-40 and MacArthur, 6104 West Reno, Oklahoma City, OK. (The classroom is in the very back of the store.)
* What to Bring:
* Clay: If you would like to make a mailbox pen, then brown and silver work well. Otherwise, bring whatever you like! Angela will have some Ultralight Sculpey to share if you’re doing a big design.
* Oven-Safe Pens. Note: If you don’t have pens & don’t want to invest in a whole package, Angela will have these options available at cost: PaperMate FlexGrip Elite ($0.75), Penn State Industries Mini Keychain Pen Kit ($3.25), Boston ClayWorks Amazing Twist Pens ($3.25)
* Tools: Pasta Machine, a clay cutting tool, TLS, and anything else you think you might want
Pens are an addictively quick and fun project — we look forward to seeing you there for this great meeting!

Read More »May Meeting: Polymer Clay Pens