Tom opened the meeting with Show and Tell. Angela brought a pillow box with a reverse mold leaf gift tag made with alcohol inks and liquid polymer clay. Angel showed the faux malachite pendant and dichroic glass that she made at the class with Patty Barnes. Penni Jo showed the malachite necklace that she won at Fandango. Penni Jo also showed the new kitty mold that they have developed for the Beads of Courage. Lee Ann displayed the ovals and ideas that she tried out. Kathy made a covered Altoid tin with faux abalone and a votive candle holder. Karen displayed her Christi Friesen influenced heart necklace. Elizabeth showed her darling turkey. Nance presented a Hopi gourd mask, made from half of a gourd and decorated with feathers.

Penni Jo made the motion and Angel seconded that the minutes be approved.

Lee Ann announced the following programs:
December – annual display and Dirty Santa “exchange”
January – Angel will teach a cane
February – Tom will teach the Damascus ladder

February’s Affair of the Heart will be the same weekend as our monthly meeting. Cheryl made the motion and Lori seconded that we move the meeting to February 15th. Angela will check with the center to see if we can schedule the room for that date.

Angela gave the treasurer’s report. We currently have 25 members.

Nance said we now have an unlimited source for bottles for the Bottles of Hope program. She asked that we take home bottles to decorate for donation to the oncology center.

Jane shared that the Polymer Café challenge is “Youthful Textures”. To enter, you only need to submit a picture of your project and the entry form from the magazine. She also reviewed the Absolute Beginner’s Guide to Polymer Clay. Jane said there were lots of great ideas and an extruder guide.

It was decided that we would not have the raffle at the December meeting. Those who want can also bring snacks to the meeting.

In New Business, Penni Jo announced that our original polymer clay artist will not be able to attend. We voted to try to have Christi Friesen come again. We agreed to see if Lisa Pavelka would be available for April, 2015. If so, we will set the date and secure the location for that time.

The meeting was adjourned. Our next meeting will be December 14 at 1:30 pm at the fair ground OKC Contemporary Art Center.

Tom opened the October meeting by greeting our guests. We had a family visiting who had spoken to us during the guild’s demo at the State Fair, and whose 9-year-old showed some very nice clay pieces. We also got to meet our newest member, Karen, who recently moved to Oklahoma from California. We had 17 attendees, including 4 visitors.

In addition to our regular Show & Tell, several members brought their prize-winning state fair entries for us to admire. Great work, everyone!

Nance Ross taught the October lesson, a jack-o-lantern pin with glow-in-the-dark elements. She also demonstrated how to make a leaf cane. Her lesson was enjoyable, her handout was excellent, and everyone seemed to have fun make their own “Spooky Jacks.”

During the business portion of the meeting, Tom made a motion that the August meeting minutes be accepted. Penni Jo seconded.

Lee Ann announced the following meeting topics:

• November: Penni Jo and Lisa – Gourds and Polymer Clay Together. Penni Jo piqued our interest by showing a beautiful gourd she taught in a gourd class recently.
• December: Annual Christmas Exchange
• January: Angel – Cane (or something wonderful)
• February: Tom – Damascus Ladder

Angela gave the treasurer’s report. The guild now has 25 members.

Nance had bottles available to cover for Bottles of Hope. She said she likes to save up 30-35 completed bottles before taking them someplace, and spoke of the warm reception she’d gotten from her last Bottles of Hope recipients.

Jane talked about the newest additions to the library, including Polymer Clay Global Perspectives and the latest issue of two magazines. She informed us that the next Polymer Cafe challenge theme is “Texture,” for those who are looking for an opportunity to have their work published. We drew for a new library book, and selected The Absolute Beginners Guide: Working with Polymer Clay.

Patty Barnes will be teaching an all-day class on Faux Dichroic Glass and Faux Malachite in Norman on Saturday, October 19th. Cost for members is $60 ($75 for non-members). Please contact Jane if you wish to register for one of the remaining spaces. Participants may bring approximately $10 if they wish to order from Jersey Mike’s for lunch.

Penni Jo reported that she confirmed with Memorial Presbyterian Church in Norman that we are on their calendar for next year’s retreat. Lisa Pavelka will be our teacher, and Penni Jo will be contacting her for more info on class projects.

Penni Jo and Lisa announced two current calls for entries:

• Steampunk 4 (deadline November 5th): Submit a photo of a steampunk piece for possible publication.
• IPCA’s 2014 International Polymer Clay Awards (deadline January 20, 2014): Submit up to 3 pieces in the following categories:
  • jewelry (functional as well as art to wear)
  • functional containers (also includes vessels, receptacles, reliquaries and purses)
  • non functional sculpture and figurines
  • 2 dimensional hanging art

   

Penni Jo, Connie, and Tom brought wonderful raffle prizes, and we also raffled off one of the extra goody bags from the retreat. The winners were Tom, Karen, Connie, and Penni Jo. They will be responsible for bringing the prizes for our next raffle in a couple of months.

The theme for our inchie swap in November will be water.

The meeting adjourned. Our next meeting will be November 9th from 1:30 to 4:30 at the OKC Contemporary Arts Center on the state fairgrounds.

Tom opened the meeting with Show and Tell. Myra showed a metallic mosaic vase. Lisa displayed her experiment with Viva paints, one using translucent clay and paint in a jelly roll cane. She also showed her completed faux mother of pearl piece we did at last month’s meeting. Jane shared her extruded bracelet from Betina Welker’s new bracelet book. She also showed her two Bottles of Hope. One was covered in the leaf and alcohol ink process that Lisa taught. The other was carved and then back filled with clay. They were very pretty. Penni Jo presented their new mold, Caboshapes III – Triangles. She displayed a necklace she made using the triangular shapes with the embroidery technique she taught several months ago.

LeeAnn taught Texture Encrusted Whatzits. Proof of the fun was the uncharacteristic quiet as everyone worked away covering our items. Lots of exciting ideas and fun uses for molds abounded.

The July minutes were approved with a motion by Tom and a second by Jane.

We decided to not have a Saturday meeting in September. Our meeting would have been the day before our demonstration at the fair. Because we have to find another location for the meeting and because of the proximity of the date, we felt it would be best to just do the fair demonstration as our meeting.

LeeAnn announced the upcoming programs:

October – Nance will teach; be prepared for spooks!

November – Penni Jo and Lisa will teach polymer clay on gourds

December – our annual exchange

January – Angel will teach a cane

Angela gave the treasurer’s report. The guild has 24 members.

Nance gave several Bottles of Hope to the Mercy Oncology Center. She said it is the first time that we have received an expression of appreciation. She was told that one woman was moved to tears with the gift. She asked everyone to please work on creating bottles because they are asking for more.

Penni Jo reported that Patty Barnes will be coming Oct 19 to teach a Saturday class on faux malachite and faux dichroic glass. The class will be from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm. We will meet at the Canadian Shores Mobile Home Park’s club house in Norman. The cost is $60 for members and $75 for non-members. Jane is collecting monies for the class.

We discussed covering the cost of transportation and housing for the class teacher. A motion was made by Cheryl to use our treasury funds to cover these costs. Lisa seconded it. It was approved by all.
Penni Jo mentioned that we need to have someone who will take on the responsibility of corresponding with teachers and taking care of registration for future classes.

We discussed next year’s retreat. Penni Jo said that because their business is growing so fast, she will need to have someone else be responsible for requesting donations for the retreat raffle and goody bags. Penni Jo will continue to try and make contact with the artist who said she would love to come to teach at the annual retreat. If she is not successful in reaching her, Penni Jo will send out a call for a teacher.

Angela reported that our demonstration at the fair will be Sunday, September 15 from 2:00 pm to 6:00 pm. Because of the limited space, if we have enough volunteers, we will split into two shifts. The deadline for entry into the fair’s polymer clay competition is August 15th. More information is available on the State Fair website.

We agreed to order the new book, Polymer Clay Global Perspectives by Cynthia Tinapple.

We did the inchie exchange. In October, Alex, Tom and Cheryl will bring prizes for the raffle. The November inchie theme will be water.

The meeting adjourned. Our next meeting will be October 12th from 1:30 to 4:30 at the OKC Contemporary Arts Center on the state fairgrounds.