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January Meeting: Swirlies

I hope everyone has had a wonderful holiday season! The next meeting will be **January 10th, 2009, 1-4 p.m.,** at the new Hobby Lobby in Norman (2417 W. Main, Norman, OK). We are starting the year with a wonderful project from **Lee Ann Kelley**. She will be showing us how to make her “Swirlies.” She and I tried to come up with a word to describe her beautiful technique and I think she has hit upon the perfect word!
The supply list is below. Hope to see you all at the next meeting!
# Clay, any color, can be 2 shades of the same color or 2 different colors. Amount depends on size of item to be covered.
# Clay gun with the disk that has 1/8 inch round hole. Lee Ann will show an easy way to extrude if you have an old metal gun.
# Clay blade or X-acto knife.
# Ink cartridge from a Bic or Bic Stic
# Item to be covered can be anything oven proof. If covering a paper mache egg or ball, it’s important to drill a hole in the top and bottom to vent. Lee Ann will bring some glass Christmas ornaments.
# To save time, it might be a good idea to cover your project with a thin(#3 or #4) layer of clay before the meeting. If that’s done, a pasta machine isn’t necessary.
# A container and batting to take your unbaked project home.
Lee Ann says that this is easy but can be time consuming.
Meeting announcement written by April G.

December 2008 Meeting Notes

Member Nance Ross’s instruction made making leaf canes easy, as she led the five other members present in making a Christmas tree ornament. Thanks also to Nance for her excellent instructional handout. Some participants managed to go on to decorate their trees, while others will finish them at home.
**Business Meeting:**
Angela reviewed the schedule as it stands for our upcoming meetings:

**January 10:** Curly Strings with Lee Ann

**February 14:** open

**March 14:** Polymer Clay Bookmarks with Nance
**Reports:**

**Library:** Jane gave a quick review of our two most recent purchases, *Making Beautiful Beads,* by Suzanne Tourtillott and *Polymer Clay and Mixed Media Together At Last*, by Christie Friesen.

**Bottles of Hope:** Nance said that we have about 50 bottles completed. No firm plans have been made for how we will give them away.

**Treasurer:** Angela reported income from the November raffle was $20. We spent $5.23 to ship our swap items to the Tulsa guild and to send a Bottle of Hope to Cindy M., leaving a new balance of $393.04. We currently have 13 members.
**New Business:**
**Elections:** Angela reminded everyone that new officers will be elected in January. The current list of nominees, including those who volunteered at the meeting, is:

President: Jane L.

Vice-President: April G.

Secretary: Shirley C.

Treasurer & Webmaster: Angela M.

Librarian: Jane L.

Bottles of Hope Coordinator: Nance R.

Photographer: Nance R.
Angela asked that anyone else who would like to run for an office notify her by December 19th. She also thanked the current officers for their service this year.
**Membership Dues:** Angela reminded the group that our annual dues will be due in January. She will send out notices in the next couple of weeks with each member’s final amount due after discounts.
**Inclement Weather:** Members can watch the website and email list for meeting cancellation notices.
**Library Drawing:** Donna Kato’s new book, *The Art of Polymer Clay: Millefiori Techniques* was the winner and will be purchased for our library.
**Bi-monthly Swap:** No one brought items to swap this month. The theme for our next swap, to be held in February, is Birds. Next month’s raffle items will be brought by last month’s winners, Magi, Nance, Penni Jo, and Shirley.

December Meeting: Large Leaf Cane Christmas Tree

Christmas TreeHello clayers!
The next polymer clay guild meeting will be December 13th at 1:00p.m at the Norman Hobby Lobby store. Nance will be showing us how to make a beautiful Christmas tree ornament. We may not have time to complete the project so be prepared to transport it home for baking.
Nance provided us with this supplies list — check it out to see what you need to bring.
And don’t forget that December is a swap month. If you want to participate, bring one handmade item that fits this month’s theme: Angels. In exchange, you’ll receive one item from another swap participant.
Meeting announcement written by April G.

November 2008 Meeting Notes

There were ten participants at our November meeting, including two guests. We all had fun as Angela Mabray led us in making cute Christmas ornaments. Everyone seemed to have a slightly different take on the little mouse.
Member Sue M. gave everyone metal clay scrapers she had made. Thank you, Sue!
**Business Meeting:**
After introcuction of guests and members, Angela asked for reports.
**Reports:**
April G. announced our updated meeting schedule:

**November 29:** Play Day in our regular meeting room at Hobby Lobby

**December 13:** Christmas Trees with Nance

**January 10:** Filigree with Lee Ann

**February 14:** open

**March 14:** Polymer Clay Bookmarks with Nance
**Other reports:**

**Library:** Jane announced that the new issue of Polymer Cafe magazine had arrived and was ready to check out.

**Bottles of Hope:** Nance announced that she had more bottles in her car, if anyone wanted to take some to work on.

**Treasurer’s Report:** Angela announced our current balance at $386.42. Our membership currently stands at 14.
**New Business:**

**Workshop in Albuquerque:** Shirley announced that Kathleen Dustin is scheduled to conduct two workshops in Albuquerque, NM in 2009: The first will be on June 10-11 and the second June, 13-14. Two members of our guild have signed up, and there is still more space. Shirley will email the contact information to anyone who is interested.
**Announcements:**

**Craft in America Exhibit:** Shirley spoke about the current fine craft exhibit at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Center, which continues through January 18, 2009. The show is a traveling exhibit of work featured in the PBS documentary series, *Craft in America*. She urged members to see the exhibit and will e-mail members the dates of scheduled lectures.

Penni Jo and Jane announced that they are having their first show during the
craft show at Cleveland County Fairgrounds on Robinson in Norman, on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Everyone wishes them well!
For our **library drawing**, we selected *Polymer Clay and Mixed Media Together At Last*, by Christie Friesen, to be purchased for our library this month.
We held our bi-monthly **raffle**. Guest Magi, and members Nance, Penni Jo, and Shirley were winners. They will be responsible for bringing the items for our next raffle, which will be in January. **December will be a swap month**, and the theme is Angels..

November Meeting: Simple Christmas Ornaments

Large Elf OrnamentOur next meeting with be this Saturday November 8th. Angela will be showing us how to make two simple Christmas ornaments, perfect as quick crafty gifts for family and friends. The designs are from the Simply Ornaments CD by Maria Maestri, who has given Angela permission to teach a couple of projects to the guild.
* When: Saturday November 8, 2008, 1:00 – 4:00 p.m.
* Where: The new Hobby Lobby in Norman, 2417 W. Main, Norman, OK. (The classroom is up front, near the check out stands. Go right after entering & it’s the first door on the right.)
* What To Bring:
* Polymer clay in your desired colors. For the sample ornaments, Angela used about 1 package of red; 1/2 package each of green, white and beige/flesh; and a small amount of black.
* Your favorite clay tools, such as a clay blade and needle tool. While none of the projects requires a pasta machine, feel free to bring one if you want it for conditioning or just to have handy.
* Optional items (Angela will have these if you don’t): Metal paper clips (1 per ornament); wire cutters; rose-colored chalks or blush with an applicator (brush, finger, etc); white acrylic paint with paintbrush; black Prismacolor marker.
Mouse OrnamentAlso, we will be having our raffle this month. The winners of the last raffle should bring something for this months raffle. The winners were Lee Ann and Sue. So everyone bring something wonderful so we can purchase more books!
Meeting announcement written by April G.

October 2008 Meeting Notes

What an interesting technique Jane Linn presented at our October meeting! With her guidance, eight members and three guests tried the layering effect, using layers liquid polymer clay, inclusions, and stamping. Thanks to Jane for all of her research in preparation for the meeting! Thanks also to new member Sue M., who had made sets of triangle cutters and very generously gave them away to any of us who wanted them!
**Business Meeting:**
**Reports:**
April G. reviewed our meeting schedule:

**Nov. 8:** Christmas Ornaments with Angela

**Nov. 29:** 5th Saturday Play Day

**Dec. 13:** Christmas Trees with Nance

**Jan. 10:** (Open)

**Library Report:** Jane L. gave a very positive review of one of last month’s purchases, *Polymer Clay Techniques*, by Sue Heaser. It is available to check out.

**Bottles of Hope Report:** BOH coordinator Nance R. announced that we may have about 50 bottles. Telemundo aired a story on our BOH project on September 19 at 5 and 10 p.m. It included interviews with Angela M. and Nance R. Angela said she had sent members a link where they could view the broadcast. Angela also reported that she has taken initial steps to set up a BOH donation event for our guild at Mercy’s Cancer Resource Center and was expecting a call back to set up a time to show them the bottles and discuss details.

**Treasurer’s Report:** Angela reported a balance of $386.42 in our treasury. She had spent $11.74 to purchase more group clay at Hobby Lobby’s last sale. (Group clay is kept available for the use of first-time visitors.) Our membership currently stands at 14.
**New Business:**

**Guild Website:** Angela has set up a section where members can set up individual pages listing their specialties, linking to their websites, etc. She has sent an email with instructions and asked whether anyone had questions.

**Elections:** New officers will be elected in January. Angela reported that members may look at the list of officers and their responsibilities at [http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ddcr7zzx_31ct2grp]. As officers are limited to serving two years, Angela will be stepping down as president.
**Library Drawing:** There were no suggestions for a new title to purchase this month.
**Bi-Monthly Swap:** Four members brought items to swap. Next month we will be a raffle month. Winners of last month’s raffle, Lee Ann and Sue, will bring raffle items.
Swap themes for upcoming months are: **December:** Angels; **February:** Birds; **April:** Blue; **June:** Fruit.
Our meeting ended with a show of beautiful items made by members, including some wonderful necklaces and very creative Bottles of Hope.

October Meeting: Multi-layer Pendent/Pin

10070010.jpgThe Saturday October 11th meeting is going to be another great one! Jane Linn will be showing us translucent layering techniques similar to those of Kathleen Dustin, the amazing polymer clay artist. Jane has included some gorgeous examples of her work using these techniques. Come one and all and participate in this exciting meeting!
* When: Saturday, October 11, 2008, 1:00 – 4:00 p.m.
* Where: The new Hobby Lobby in Norman, 2417 W. Main, Norman, OK. (The classroom is up front, near the check out stands. Go right after entering & it’s the first door on the right.)
* What To Bring:
* Clear Liquid polymer clay
* Clay for background-approx. 1/2 block (1 oz.) each-your choice of colors. Jane encourages everyone to chose 2 colors-maybe a light and dark
* Pearl powders and/or Acrylic paints-your choice of colors
* Metal leaf/glitter-optional
* Canes-optional-(it looks like Kathleen Dustin used a number of canes using transparent clay and one color on her work, if your’e going for that look)
* Wire for bail -optional, if making pendent and prefer a bail to a cut hole
* 2 clean ceramic tiles
* Small stamps and stamp pads Penni Jo will be bringing some small face stamps that we can purchase (they are wonderful!). Except for the very smallest size, the stamps are not mounted so they easily stamp a curve (bead,etc.) *
* Heat gun — I think there will be enough people who already have one who are willing to share. However, Hobby Lobby has the heat gun on sale this week for $10, if you do want one *
* Flat brush-approx to inch optional, if rather use your finger to spread
* Sharpie pen-any size, any color. If you don’t have one we can share *
* Scissors
* Work surface
* Brayer *
* Exacto knife
* Pasta machine *
* Paper towels and/or wet wipes for clean up
* Wire cutter-optional-if using a wire bail in pendant
* Note: If you do not have the starred items, do not feel you have to buy them for this meeting. The guild and members have them and are happy to share.
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Reminder: Our swap theme this month is Harvest. To participate, bring one item. In exchange, you’ll receive one item from another swap participant.