Myra

Meeting announcements: Due to the State Fair, we will be meeting this month from 1:30-4:30 p.m. at the Covenant Life Church, 3106 N. Utah Avenue, OKC, instead of our usual meeting place. Utah Avenue is about halfway between Meridian and Portland – here’s a map to help you find your way. This is also inchie month, with a theme of “back to school”, so bring some inchies to swap!

Chris Crossland will be our teacher this month, along with her friend Karen. Here’s her intro and supply list:

Hello, fellow clay addicts! Here is the supply list for the September 13th guild meeting. We are going to feature clay creations for fall and Halloween which incorporate glass pebbles, and we are totally excited about it! We will feature a snaggle-toothed green witch hovering over her crystal ball.

However, if you are just not “into” witchy things, you can make a beautiful fall leaf and acorn pendant instead. Karen and I will be providing the glass pebbles and everything you will need other than clay tools and the supplies listed below for each project. It would save a lot of time if you can have your colors mixed ahead of time. I have given the exact proportions below for the witch color mixes and they are based on the standard 2 oz blocks. Since such small amounts of wart-brown and snaggle-tooth ivory are needed, we will provide them for everyone. If you have any questions, just email me or ask in the forum.

Per special request (and you know who you are), we are also going to demonstrate and provide a handout for a black cat holding a pumpkin…we think you are gonna love this little guy!

Witch Pendant

• Usual clay tools
• Extruder with the disk that has about 18 holes (for witchy hair)
• Texture mat – anything simple and swirly works fine, it’s for the back only
• 3/4” and 1 1/2” circle cutters
• Sculpey large ball stylus (the one that comes in that set of 3 tools with stylus on one end)
• Mica powders: spring green and silver
• AB glitter flakes
• Green clay mix: Premo 1/2 block bright green pearl; 1/8 block Spanish olive; 1/8 block 18K Gold
• Black clay mix: Premo 1/2 block black; 1/8 block pearl
• 1/8 block Premo purple

Fall Leaf Pendant

• Usual clay tools
• PJ’s Oak Arbor mold (PJ 020). We will use molded leaves and acorns as a starting point and come up with a whole new look from this very versatile mold. We will also discuss free-hand cut leaves.
• Mix 3 fall leaf colors (or more!)…use your favorite fall shades. Some suggestions are a golden green, a mid-tone green, and a red or russet. Premo Copper makes a great fall leaf color. If you plan to make the leaf pendant and are not sure of colors, email me and I will provide you with recipes that we have used and which work well together. We will also be providing a handout to everyone at the meeting which will include our favorite fall color recipes.
• Medium brown mixture (for tendrils and acorns). Total of about 1/4 block of mixed color
• Fall berry colors: 1/8 block each of Pomegranite and Alizarin Crimson
• Mica powders: red russet; super copper; Aztec gold; mink; misty lavender (If you are like we are, you never go ANYWHERE without your mica powders, so if ya got ‘em, bring ‘em! We will, of course, bring all of ours to share.)

Our next meeting will be on August 9, 2014, from 1:30 to 4:30 at the Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center at the fairgrounds. This is our raffle month, so if you won something in the last raffle, bring some goodies for this one!

At this meeting, Angel Mance will explore Swellegant, a metal coating system brought to us by Christi Friesen. The process is achieved in multiple layers of the metal coating and patinas. Due to the nature of the product (drying time & time-sensitive patina application), Angel will provide each participant with a prepped polymer piece to try out the process. You will have a choice of either a heart pendant or a leaf. She has prepared samples showing the effect of the three patinas on all five of the metal coatings. Angel says she has had a ball with this stuff!!! The Swellegant products are being provided by Angel, but if you have Swellegant in your stash and want to bring it, that would be great.

Supplies:

• Work surface
• Paper towels
• Wet wipes
• Plastic gloves
• Small box (to take your piece home in)

Optional Supplies:

• Small fan & extension cord (only if you already have one)

NOTE: Construction is still likely on May Avenue next to the fairgrounds. Enter through Gate 5 further south on May, across from Forest Lumber. See this map for reference.

Our next meeting will be on July 12, 2014, from 1:30 to 4:30 at the Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center at the fairgrounds. This is also inchie month, with the theme of Red, White & Blue.

Supplies:

• Choose 4-8 colors clay, 1 (one) ounce each making sure that you’ve included sufficient light, dark and medium values. The value (lightness or darkness of color) is needed to achieve a satisfying result. If at all possible, please condition all of your clay (in advance) to same condition and bring in sheets rolled out on thickest setting on your pasta machine.
  NOTE: you may use more than one ounce of clay to test the design. As little as ½ ounce (one fourths of a block) will work fine. The most important color you will need is the color that will cover the extruded clay. The cover color shown on the knife project was silver.
• Choice of project that is simple enough to complete in a short time (bring needed materials for it): Bottle of Hope (small glass bottle under 4 inches), light switch cover ( bring a switch plate), tool like the knife shown or X-acto knife, etc. (bring desired tool), pendant or beads (bail, bezel, wire, eye pin, or bead wire)
• Extruder (Hobby Lobby, and Michael’s carry Makin’s and/or Walnut Hollow). If you don’t have one and not sure you want one, members that have more than one have offered to bring them to loan.
• 2 tooth picks
• Ruler
• Pasta machine
• Acrylic roller
• Thin blade
• Craft knife or X-acto
• Work surface
• Tile
• Any of your favorite tools – you never know……

Optional:

• 3/4“ round cutter
• If you have one of the nice mokume gane slicers (Simple Slicer), please bring it!

NOTE: Construction is still likely on May Avenue next to the fairgrounds. Enter through Gate 5 further south on May, across from Forest Lumber. See this map for reference.

Our next meeting will be on June 14, 2014, from 1:30 – 4:30 at the Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center at the fairgrounds.

For this meeting, Penni Jo will be demonstrating her fabulous tool kit, as well as doing a demo making earrings using her tools. So if you have a set of Penni Jo’s Clay Tools, bring them with you to use for her demo!

Everyone is encouraged to bring their own favorite tools and tell the group about what makes them so useful.

This is our raffle month, so if you won something in the last raffle, bring some goodies for this one!

Supplies for Penni Jo’s demo (she will bring clay, enough for everyone to have some with which to play):

• PJ’s Clay Tools (she has some to share)
• Wire tools – cutter and round nose pliers
• Flower color clay
• Sepal color clay
• 2 ear wires
• 2 head pins
• 8 seed beads
• Four 4mm beads for stamen and stopper bead
• 2 tube beads

NOTE: Construction is still likely on May Avenue next to the fairgrounds. Enter through Gate 5 further south on May, across from Forest Lumber. See this map for reference.

Meeting announcements: Our May guild meeting will be on Saturday, May 10 from 1:30 to 4:30 at the Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center at the State Fair Park (3000 General Pershing Blvd.). We’re doing inchies this month, and there is no set theme – bring as many as you would like to trade. We will have a raffle next month, so if you won an item in the item last time, bring something next time!

Nance will be presenting our lesson (or lessons) this month – fossils and faux opals! Following is the supply list:

Clay

• For fossils: Reptile colors….quarter of a package in each of three or four colors of your choice, plus a small piece of black or brown clay.
• For faux opals: Half a package of silver, half a package of pearl white….and a little piece of black or brown.

Products

• Donna Kato Transparent Liquid Clay OR Mod Podge, or  Crystal Accent (made by Ranger and available at Hobby Lobby)
• Mica powder to match colors you chose in clay
• Alcohol ink in yellow
• Good box to bring home your projects safely

Tools

• Regular slicers, sculpting tools etc. No need for pasta machines.

Other 

• You may want a leaf texture stamp, if you have one.

We will be making a decoration to apply to a trinket box in the future….no need to get one for the project, just one to put the project safely inside for the drive home, in case it is still not fully cured!

NOTE: Construction is still likely on May Avenue next to the fairgrounds. Enter through Gate 5 further south on May, across from Forest Lumber. See this map for reference.

Connie Farrell will present our demo this month on decorating serving utensils. The list of materials, tools and tips are below. March is raffle month – those who won last time, please bring your raffle items this time!

Materials

• 2 oz. block of clay in color of your choice

Tools

• Pasta machine
• Etch ‘n’ Pearl tool
• Blade/X-acto knife
• Rubber stamp of your choice (see tips below)
• Large serving utensils with plain handles
• Spray bottle with water
• Paper towels
• Acrylic paint for antiquing
• Small paintbrush
• Circle cutters (see tips below)

Tips from Connie:

• The stamp used in the sample was ordered from Rubber Stamp Plantation (Mayan sun tile), $7.50 plus shipping If you don’t want to order this stamp, you can share mine or use a different one.
• I used circle cutters ranging from 1/2″ to 1-3/4″.
• Colors used in the sample: Sculpey III Renaissance brown metallic clay with black antiquing.
• My utensils came from Dollar Tree.

The link to the handout from JoAnn’s is here.

NOTE: Construction is still likely on May Avenue next to the fairgrounds. Enter through Gate 5 further south on May, across from Forest Lumber. See this map for reference.

Meeting announcements: Our February guild meeting will be on Saturday, February 15, one week later than normal. We’re doing inchies this month, and there is no set theme – so anything goes!

Update: Tom reminded me to mention the invitation from the Mustang Library to include some of our items in their display case celebrating National Craft Month. The items will be on display throughout the month of March, and Angela has generously volunteered to take the items to the library. If you want to participate, please bring your items to this month’s guild meeting, bring them to the library, or contact Angela.

Tom Gibson will be teaching us how to make a Damascus Ladder cane:

Materials:

• Choose four to seven colors of cane worthy clay the color selection can be anything that appeals to you, but make sure there is good contrast between adjacent layers. Metallic or pearl clays can produce extremely good effects.
• Bring 1/2 to 3/4 block EACH COLOR of conditioned clay. You will need enough to have 7 or 8 strips 1″ x 6″ at the #1 (thickest) setting on the Atlas Pasta machine or 2 layers at the #3 setting. You will probably use more of the lighter color strips than contrasting darker colors.

Optional inclusions:

• Gold leaf
• Mica powder
• Glitter

Tools:

• Tissue blade (the stiffer ones work best for this cane)
• Brayer or roller
• Work surface
• It is also helpful to have a piece of Lucite or other flat surface to provide an even distribution of pressure while rolling the stack of clay.

NOTE: Construction is still likely on May Avenue next to the fairgrounds. Enter through Gate 5 further south on May, across from Forest Lumber. See this map for reference.