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May 2011 Meeting: Kaleidoscope Canes with Sue

We are very lucky to have been able to reschedule our February meeting with Sue McCarrell. She will be teaching the group her take on making kaleidoscope canes (or “Kali” canes for short) at this month’s meeting of the Central Oklahoma Polymer Clay Guild.
The meeting will be held Saturday, May 14, 2011, from 1:30-4:30, at the Hobby Lobby on I-35 and South 19th in Moore (2650 Service Road, Moore, OK 73160).
**Supplies needed:**
* **Pre-made canes**. Sue will demonstrate how to make some basic canes for newbies or for folks who need a refresher. But if you already have a few prepared canes, such as bullseye canes or Skinner blend jelly roll canes, bring them to use as the basis for your kaleidoscope canes. (If you’re new to clay, keep in mind that firmer brands of clay work better for cane-making.)
* **Clay** in nice contrasting colors to your canes.
* **Pasta machine**
* **Clay blade or knife**
As with all of our meetings, beginners are welcome, and we’re happy to share any supplies you don’t currently have.
This month we’ll hold a raffle, with March’s winners (Sue, Connie & Myra) supplying the prizes. Be sure to bring your $$ for a chance to win some goodies!

April Happenings: Library Display & Retreat

April was an exciting month for the Central Oklahoma Polymer Clay Guild. We were able to share some of our work in our first-ever library display, plus we held our first (hopefully first of many!) polymer clay retreat.
* Check out these posts from new member Myra Cleveland for photos of our display at the Midwest City Library.
* And don’t miss Myra’a and (gracious hostess) Penni Jo’s write-ups about the oh-so-fun retreat.
Exciting times for our group!

April 2011 Polymer Clay Retreat

The Central Oklahoma Polymer Clay Guild will be having our first Free Style Claying One-Day Retreat on April 9th. Penni Jo Couch has graciously offered to host the retreat in her home. We’ll have some demonstrations and spend time together, claying and learning from 9am to 9pm.
There is no charge for the retreat, but space is very limited. If you wish to reserve a spot in the retreat, get in touch. It’s first come, first served, so don’t wait too long!
The retreat will be in place of our normal April meeting. If you can’t make it to the retreat, we hope to see you back at our normal Hobby Lobby classroom on May 14th.

Minutes for Business Meeting: March 2011

Eight members and one guest were in attendance at our March meeting. Shirley welcomed Myra, our newest member, and Connie, our guest. She began the meeting with Show and Tell and members shared some fabulous clay projects they had made.
**PROGRAM**
Angela brought us a program on making Mosaics. For inspiration she showed us 2 clocks, pendants, a vase, and a small box she had used a mosaic technique and some reference books in our library, including the mosaic section in her book, Polymer Clay 101. From her instructions, we each made at least one mosaic pendant. She also explained and demonstrated some alternate mosaic methods.
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*(Follow this link for more of Ruth’s excellent photos of the March lesson.)*
**BUSINESS MEETING**
The minutes were not read because they had been emailed earlier to members. Nance moved the February 2011 business meeting minutes be approved. Sue seconded the motion. The minutes were approved.
**OLD BUSINESS**
* **Penni Jo’s Play-Day Retreat**: In Penni Jo’s absence, Jane reported that . because Penni Jo desires for each of us to experience the joy and fun of having an undisturbed, unstructured day of playing with clay and fellow ‘clayers’, even though facilities have fallen through, she remains undaunted. Penni Jo plans to have the retreat at her house in Moore. The date was discussed and agreed that April 6, our usual meeting date, would work best. The time is scheduled from 9:00 a.m.-9:00 p.m. There is no fee. Lunch will be provided. Everyone is encouraged to bring a snack to share and for dinner, pizza will probably be ordered. A map and any other information will be communicated through email. A head count is needed because of limited space.
* **Midwest City Library Display:** The library set up time is scheduled for 1:00, Sunday, April 3, with the majority being available to set up. (However, later in the month, by consensus, the time was changed to 1:30).
* Shirley passed out forms to be filled out listing individual pieces for the display in order to make signage.
* The three display cases required the need for background covering. Using information that Shirley had gathered for us, April made the motion to purchase crushed velvet for up to $50, and if cost is significantly more for the yardage needed, to buy the black felt. Angela seconded the motion.
* Shirley asked Angela and Jane, with husband Bob’s help, to be in charge of the display’s signage. Information for each piece-your name, name of your piece, if any, and technique used, is needed to be written out at this meeting or sent to Angela by Saturday, March 19.
* Shirley will notify us of the time and date to dismantle the display.
* Everyone set out their entries and displays to get an idea of sizes and what we had to work with.
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*(Look for more photos of the display items here.)*
**NEW BUSINESS**
Because of the need to spend the remaining time of our guild on preparation and final organization for the Midwest City Library Display, the regular reports on future meetings, treasurers report ($741.92; 9 members), Bottles of Hope, and library book review were sent by email prior to meeting.
Two free used VHS from International Polymer Clay Guild, while supplies last, are available to guilds for the asking. Angela offered to send, via email, the titles so members could chose and the ones with the most votes she can submit as our choices. She explained this had to be done in a timely manner, so immediate response is important.
**RAFFLE**
Winners of the raffle were Sue, Connie, and Myra.
**LIBRARY DRAWING**
The group selected *Masters: Polymer Clay: Major Works by Leading Artists* as its choice for this month’s library book.

March 2011 Meeting: Mosaic Pendant

Mosaic PendantsAngela will be giving us a fast-paced lesson on mosaics at this month’s meeting of the Central Oklahoma Polymer Clay Guild. Maybe you’ve been wanting to try the mosaic clock project in her Polymer Clay 101 book, but were afraid it’d be too time-consuming. This month’s project covers all the essentials of polymer clay mosaic technique, but does so in a simplified (but oh-so-stylish) pendant design.
The meeting is scheduled for Saturday, March 12, 2011, from 1:30-4:30, at the Hobby Lobby on I-35 and South 19th in Moore (2650 Service Road, Moore, OK 73160).
**Supplies needed:**
* **Clay:**
* **Tiles**: Bring small amounts of a variety of colors of clay for the tiles. This might be a good opportunity to use the colors you identified from the color collage project in the Color Inspirations book. Your favorite brand of strong clay is fine (Premo, Fimo, Kato, etc.). Please condition this clay prior to meeting time since this project requires multiple bakes.
* **Background**: UltraLight (white) or Pluffy (black or a variety of other colors) are nice lightweight clays. If you don’t have those, bring white or black (or another preferred color) of your favorite brand of strong polymer clay.
* **Liquid polymer clay** (clear and/or opaque colors that coordinate with your mosaic)
* **Super glue**
* **Rubbing alcohol**
* **Pasta machine**
* **Clay blade or knife**
* **Needle or needle tool**
* **Chisel tip rubber tool** (such as from Sculpey’s 5-in-1 tool kit)
* **Thin knitting needle** (for creating pendant’s bail, optional)
* **Small square cookie cutters** (if you have them)
* **Paper towels** for cleaning (just a few)
* **Q-tips** for detail cleaning (just a few)
* **Scissors**
As with all of our meetings, beginners are welcome, and we’re happy to share any supplies you don’t currently have. *For this meeting in particular, Angela plans to have extra supplies. Neither visitors nor members should feel pressure to buy anything just for this project.*
This month we’ll hold a raffle, with January’s winners (Jane, Teresa, and Angela) supplying the prizes. Be sure to bring your $$ for a chance to win some goodies!
Shirley has also asked that everyone bring the items they plan to display at the Midwest City library in April, so we can get an idea of what we have and how we want to display it.

February 2011 Meeting: Kaleidoscope Canes

Sue has generously offered to teach the group how to make kaleidoscope canes (or “Kali” canes for short) at this month’s meeting of the Central Oklahoma Polymer Clay Guild. Check out this link for some inspiration photos of various clayer’s canes.
Our meeting will be held this Saturday, February 12, 2011, from 1:30-4:30, at the Hobby Lobby on I-35 and South 19th in Moore (2650 Service Road, Moore, OK 73160).
**Supplies needed:**
* **Canes in any color**: Sue will demonstrate how to make some basic canes for newbies or for folks who need a refresher. But she says it’s best if you bring a few already-prepared canes, such as bullseye canes, to use as the basis for your kaleidoscope canes.
* **Clay** in nice contrasting colors for wrapping canes
* **Pasta machine**
* **Clay blade or knife**
As with all of our meetings, beginners are welcome, and we’re happy to share any supplies you don’t currently have.
This month we’re also doing a swap with the theme “**Love is in the Air**.” Everyone who wishes to participate should bring one handmade item that fits with the theme.

December 11, 2010 Meeting Minutes

1. **Introduce / welcome guests**: Our meeting began as usual with members visiting with each other while setting up for the meeting. Lots of holiday chatter filled the room with happiness. Sue brought two guests, Connie F. her sister and Denise W. Another guest Debbie joined our merry band of clayers. There was a quorum of voting members.
2. **Show and Tell**: This was especially exciting as Lee Ann brought some projects as ‘teasers’ for next month’s meeting, Big, hollow vessels. The samples were fabulous hollow vessels in many styles and colors. We were all blown away by them and are eager for next month’s lesson. She also answered lots of questions, how, cut where, what kind of forms needed. Etc.
3. **Program**: The program was brought by all of us. We each brought a project to show made using a technique we’d learned. Ruth brought an ornament embellished with poinsettias and leaves made from canes that she has learned to make. Sue brought a Christmas tree with tiny candy canes made using a lesson on leaf cane learned in guild. Lee Ann brought a snow scene with a tiny reindeer and tiny trees. Her design was inspired by an advertisment. Jane brought a gingerbread man recipe card holder with matching recipe cards made by her hubby. Penni Jo brought feather earrings. Each member described their project and, if they wanted to, went into a bit of detail as to how each piece was created, any special info about it, the inspiration of the design etc. All in all, there was a lot of eye candy and information.
4. **Minutes**: Last meeting’s minutes were posted online and sent to members:
* Sue moved they be approved.
* Lee Ann seconded.
Approved.
5. **Old Business**:
* Penni Jo reported on the possible retreat next April. We discussed if we would like
to have goodie bags (PJ reminded us that Makins had asked to know about guild events,
they will send stuff): Yes. Supporters: Yes. Vendors: Yes.
* Jane reminded us that our dues are due next month. We will get a notice of the
amount with any deductions earned from Angela.
6. **New Business**:
* We were reminded that Angela’s book was out. Ruth said she had seen it on Amazon. There is also a video and a writer review with her picture. We were all so very excited!!
* Jane gave us a handout of a proposed slate of officers for 2011. They are as follows:
** Shirley Conway, President
** Angela Mabray, Vice present, Treasurer, Webmaster
** Penni Jo Couch, Secretary
** BOH Coordinator Nance
** Librarian, Jane Linn
** Ruth has volunteered to be the photographer.
* It was discussed in the group that the last two offices in the list be changed from elected offices to appointed positions by the leader. Moved by Sue. Seconded by Ruth. Carried.
* Be thinking about the offices and let the group know if you are interested in a position. Voting will take place in January.
7. **V.P. Report** (upcoming lessons):
* Jan 8. Large hollow Vessels – Lee Ann
* Feb 11. April Kali Cane – Sue will back up if April can’t teach.
* March 8 Angela Mosaics (tenative)
* April 9. Penni Jo Retreat to be held over the retreat weekend?
* May 14 Open
8. **Treasurer’s Report** ~~ emailed by Angela:
* Balance – $481.53
* Members – 10
10. **Librarian Report** ~~ Jane: New library book will be reported on and shown next month.
11. **Drawing for a new book** ~~ Jane: Foundations in Polymer Clay Design by Barbara McGuire
12. **Swap**: Members played “Dirty Swap” with the projects that they had brought to show.
After the swap, Sue spent time demonstrating polymer clay techniques to our visitors. Thank you Sue!!
Angela (2), Sue and Ruth won a raffle in November. There will be a raffle in January.
Next meeting: Jan 8, 2011 At Hobby Lobby in Moore.
January has 5 Saturdays, will we have a play day?
*Meeting submitted by Secretary Penni Jo Couch.*