Minutes recorded by Angel.
We had 14 members and 1 visitor at the February 14, 2015 meeting.
Three members brought “Show & Tell” items. Jane brought a cookie cutter box that looked like it was made of chocolate. Tom brought two Bottles of Hope: a castle and a red encrusted design. Penni Jo brought samples of her experiments with coloring on polymer clay.
Angela was our instructor this month. She presented “Cookie Cutter Containers”. This is a project she taught 9 years ago. The original project comes from the book Polymer Clay: 20 Weekend Projects Using New and Exciting Techniques by Irene Semanchuk Dean entitled “Silver Heart Box”. The lesson was great! Angela was very through, with written directions for later reference. It was fun to learn a construction technique that will have many applications.
During the business meeting, we discussed the following:
Previous meeting minutes (1/10/2015) were discussed. Angela had a couple questions about the minutes:
- “Isn’t Lee Ann actually my teammate for Treasurer, not our teammate for Secretary? At least that’s what she did last year, handling petty cash, managing money for the raffle, plus accepting dues or other money stuff in my absence…?” After some discussion with the group it was confirmed that the minutes should state “Lee Ann also agreed to be co-treasurer with Angela” this was a misconception on my (Angel) part.
- “You said no decisions were made on the inchies, but I felt pretty certain we moved it to quarterly with themes based on the seasons…?” After some discussion with the group it was confirmed that a decision had not been made.
With the change listed above regarding Lee Ann the minutes from the last meeting were approved, Marsha motioned and Jane seconded the motion.
Vice President Connie gave an overview of the upcoming programs:
- March: Open work time with a focus on inchies
- April: Retreat – No Meeting
- May: Instructor Needed
- June: Instructor Needed
Raffle: In March we will have our raffle! The January winners bring the raffle prizes, those winners were: Shirley, Wendy, Laura, Angel and Connie.
Angela gave the treasurer’s report. We have 20 paid members. Angela asked if members had received the membership list emailed and if they would check that their information is correct and notify her if changes need to be made.
Nance our Bottles of Hope project coordinator was not able to attend. She did send an update with Angela, who reports that Nance is having a hard time finding someone to fill her shift at work. She asked if someone could meet her and bring the bottles we currently have. Angel volunteered to contact Nance and deliver the bottles.
Librarian Jane told us about two new books for the library, Fast Polymer Clay by Sue Hester and Polymer Clay: 20 Weekend Projects Using New and Exciting Techniques by Irene Semanchuk Dean. Tom donated the former, and Angela donated the latter. Jane also asked for suggestions which prompted a discussion about if we are still getting The Polymer Arts magazine. Jane will check on this and if we are not she will renew the subscription.
Web Master Myra reported that we have 29 registered for the retreat. 36 is the attendee limit so spaces are filling up fast! The classes with Lisa Pavelka are full and a waiting list has been started.
Old Business: A group discussion about inchies resulted in a decision to do them in July with a summer theme and November with a fall theme. This somewhat covers both quarterly and seasonal.
New Business: Penni Jo opened discussion about bringing in a teacher to do a one day class like we did last year with Patty Barnes. The group was open to this idea. PJ told the group about Randee Ketzel and her book Polymer Clay Gemstones: The Art of Deception she co-authored with Kim Schlinke. PJ has been in contact with Randee about the possibility of coming to Oklahoma and teaching a one day class in October. Randee was available in October and sent pictures with descriptions of classes she could teach. The cost for the class is $65.00 per person. Guild members were asked to look over the pictures and vote which one they liked best. Randee lives in Texas so she would drive to OK and stated a travel cost of $100.00. She also preferred a home stay instead of a hotel. Jane agreed to have Randee stay at her home. A suggestion was make to cover the workshop cost of Jane as a thank you for her and Bob generously opening their home to our guest. The group was agreeable to that idea. Angela stated that the guild could cover transportation costs for bringing in teachers. Discussion was opened for where the class could take place. Tom was checking on availability of the Arts Center, the location in Norman from the Patty Barnes class was also suggested. More information will be needed for a decision on location. PJ asked if there was a motion to bring Randee in for a one day class. Angela motioned and Jane seconded the motion. All in attendance were in favor. We asked for hands of interested parties, and had 9 – 10 interested. PJ will contact Randee with some questions.
- Can we send the PDF’s out to guild members?
- Does Randee have a minimum and or maximum for classes?
- How soon would she need to know which class we chose?
- Dates? First or fourth Saturday in October?
In addition to the regular business meeting the retreat committee met to discuss retreat business.
The retreat business minutes will follow the regular meeting minutes.
The meeting was adjourned. Our next meeting will be March 14th, 1:30 pm at the Contemporary Arts Center on the OKC Fairgrounds. Don’t forget to bring your inchies to work on!
OK Poly-Clay Twisters Retreat 2015 Meeting Minutes
Sponsors – We currently have 15 sponsors: Best Flexible Molds, AMACO – American Art Clay Co., Nunn Design, Tinker Federal Credit Union, The Polymer Arts Magazine, Poly Clay Play, Class Act Designs, CraftArtEdu, Munro Crafts, Shades Of Clay, Kalmbach Publishing Co., Van Island Jewels, Polyform Products, The Great Create, CraftCast, Polymer Clay Adventure, and Art Clay World.
Tom asked if anyone had heard back from any additional sponsors or received donations. Art Jewelry magazine donated a subscription. Marsha spoke with Hobby Lobby and they declined donating saying they only donate to schools.
Registration – Myra states we have 29 officially registered for the retreat as of 2/14/2015. That means only 7 spaces are left. Lisa Pavelka’s classes are full.
Programs, Website, Newsletter – If anyone has information for the retreat that needs to be in the program, on the website, or in the newsletter, submit to Myra. Penni Jo talked about a newsletter that she got samples of to use as a template for a newsletter for the retreat attendees. Everyone liked this idea. The newsletter would contain general info like time frames (ie start times, meal times), snacks, inchies, and what will be provided. We also talked about if a packing list is needed. All agreed that it would be helpful. Jane suggested that we have some sort of follow up comment sheet for retreat attendees. Maybe in their registration packet, so they can give comments and suggestions.
Printing & Artwork – We talked over the printing needs which are: program printing, name tags, and signage. Some of the signage from last year would be used, and the program would be printed at a print shop same as last year. We talked about lanyards, Angel donated some last year and we are going to locate those to see how many we have. Myra will make the name tags.
Thank You Notes – Marsha reported that she is working on Thank You cards and wanted to remind everyone to make sure to get return addresses for all donations. On this same subject Penni Jo spoke about Sandy Camp and that a self-addressed stamped envelope & thank you card were included to send to the auction donor. All agreed that this was a nice idea.
Goodie Bags – Stuffing date has been set for Saturday, March 28th – 1:30 pm at Jane’s house in Norman.
Publicity – Tom asked about how and what our guild did for publicity in past years. Penni Jo stated that Shirley had posted to forums in the past. Tom will speak to Shirley about doing it again this year. Shirley agreed to handle this detail.
Demos – Connie has 5 demos scheduled so far.
Meals – Jane spoke about meals. Her plans are about the same as last year, keeping things simple for a quick turn around and minimal prep/clean up. The group discussed vegetarian meals and needing advance notification should we have requests on the registration forms. Myra will look over the registration forms and get Jane that info. Jane opened discussion on what worked & what didn’t work with the menu last year. All present agreed that we had plenty of breakfast options to make everyone happy. Some of the options we talked about were yogurt, hard boiled eggs and waffles. These were all deemed easy to prepare and clean up. Lunch options would be the same as last year with pizza & salad and sandwiches & chips. Saturday lunch will be prepared by Chris Mance, and will be Italian Beef & Salad. The group was fine with these options, but wanted to make sure that salad or a vegetarian option would be available. Jane asked for a volunteer sign up sheet for help setting up and cleaning up meals.
Decorations – Tom asked for a volunteer to handle the task of decorating the entry table, snack table, serving table and watering hole. Angel volunteered.
Snack Monitor – Tom asked for a volunteer to organize and tidy up the snack table throughout the retreat. Marsha volunteered.
Location – Connie suggested that we look at the Gold Star Convention Center on SE Shields for a future retreat or meeting site.
