Nine members and two guests gathered in July for our informal program on making beads. April S. demonstrated tools she has found helpful, including several bead rollers. Several members brought beads they had made in the past and shared tips. Everyone enjoyed experimenting with bead-making techniques.
**Show and Tell:** Members brought some beautiful things to show. Penni Jo brought clay thunderbirds she had designed for a customer. Nance and April showed beads they had made. Jane and Angela brought Bottles of Hope.
During our business meeting, Vice President April S. reviewed the upcoming meeting schedule, which follows:
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**August 9:** Ink-Jet Image Transfers with Shirley
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**August 30:** Play Day
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**September 13:** Mokume Gane with Nance
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**October 11:** Translucent Layering with Jane
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**November 8:** Open
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**November 29:** Play Day
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**December 13:** Open
It was noted that the August play day falls on Labor Day Weekend. We will discuss this at our August meeting.
**Reports:**
**Library:** Librarian Jane L. announced that the June selection for our library, *The Human Figure in Clay*, had arrived. She commented that it has wonderful detail.
**Bottles of Hope:** Coordinator Nance R. announced that she now has accumulated lots of finished bottles for our project. She still has lots of empty ones for anyone else who wants to decorate them. The Norman Newcomers Club may do more bottles this summer, and we will include them in our publicity when the time comes. Angela commented that Cindy Matteson has inquired about our progress with the project.
**Treasurer’s Report::** Angela reported our balance as $405.44. Lisa became our newest member in June, bringing our membership to 13.
**New Business:**
**Liability for Minors:** Penni Jo voiced concern about the safety of children working with polymer clay tools at our meetings and the resulting liability issues for the guild. She suggested that we add wording to our “About ” page on our Web site, specifying an age (possibly 18) below which a person could not attend our meetings without a parent or supervising adult. There was general agreement that we should do this.
**Tulsa Guild:** Angela announced that the Tulsa group would like to get together for a play day. We discussed our scheduled play days as possible dates and churches or libraries as possible venues in the Oklahoma City area. Angela will call the guild to discuss possible dates.
Angela asked whether anyone would be interested in giving private lessons in jewelry making. We have received an inquiry through our Web site.
**Library Drawing:** The book selected for purchase this month is *Polymer Clay Beads: Techniques, Projects, Inspiration*, by Grant Diffendaffer.
**Raffle:** Penni Jo, April S. and Nance brought raffle items. Winners were Angela, Lee Ann, and Shirley. The winners will bring raffle items for our next raffle, which will be at our September meeting. We will have a swap at our August meeting.
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There were twelve people at the June meeting, nine members and three guests. Angela Mabray gave us an extensive handout detailing stamping techniques and various types of ink and their effects. She led us in making coasters using a stamping technique, with optional ink and various ways of coloring the clay. As always, there were lots of interesting and creative results among the members.
**Business meeting:**
The meeting schedule, as far as planned, will be:
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July 12: Beads (all members sharing tips about bead rollers, making beads, etc.)
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August 9: Ink-Jet Image Transfers with Shirley
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August 30: Play Day
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September 13: Mokume Gane with Nance
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October 11: Translucent Layering with Jane
**Treasurer’s Report and Membership:** Angela reported that we have a balance of $418.20. She withdrew $14.00 in petty cash to help make change on raffle days. One member has had to drop out, bringing our membership to 12.
**Library and Drawing:** Jane reported that May’s library choice, *Creative Canes: 30-plus Cane Techniques with Polymer Clay*, by Barbara McGuire, had been received. This month, the book selected for the library is *The Human Figure in Clay*, by Mark A. Dennis.
**Show and Tell:** In addition to several Bottles of Hope brought by members, Penni Jo, April S., and Nance brought things for show and tell. Penni Jo announced that she will be teaching a polymer clay class for Oklahoma City Parks and Recreation. She also showed more of her inro projects and announced that she will be hired as an artist to teach inro at the Orlando Clay Fandango in Florida next March. Nan reported that her Bottles of Hope lesson at the Norman Newcomers Club was a great success.
**Swap:** This month was our first swap, and items followed a floral theme. Nance, April S., April G., Lee Ann, Jane, Penni Jo, and Angela swapped some beautiful floral clay creations.
Angela reminded the group that next month we will return to the raffle. Prizes will be provided by Penni Jo and April S.
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Nine people attended the May meeting, including 8 members (2 of whom had to leave before the lesson) and 1 returning guest. Penni Jo demonstrated the faux zebra wood technique, then showed us all how to make inros from a PVC pipe mold she provided. As always, the resulting projects were diverse & wonderful. Thanks to Penni Jo for providing such an in-depth lesson!
If you missed the meeting (or just need a refresher on some of the steps), you can find the handouts here.
Our upcoming meetings are:
* May 31: 5th Saturday Play Day at Penni Jo’s home
* June 14: Rubber Stamp Techniques with Angela
* July 12: Beads (all members sharing tips about bead rollers, making beads, etc.)
* August 9: Ink-Jet Image Transfers with Shirley
* August 30: Play Day
* September 13: Mokume Gane with Nance
* October 11: Translucent Layering with Jane
During the business portion of the meeting, we discussed the following items:
* Swap Theme: Starting in June, we will be doing a swap every other month (alternating months with the raffle). Our June theme will be Florals. If you would like to take part, just bring 1 polymer clay item that fits that theme. Everyone who brings an item will swap with another member. The type of object you make is completely up to you, as long as it fits with the theme. Participation is completely optional.
* Membership: Lee Ann K. became our newest member, which brings our member count to 14. Our balance is $417.26.
* Bottles of Hope: Several members brought back finished Bottles of Hope. Penni Jo told the group about a possible lead for obtaining classroom space to teach Bottles of Hope workshops. April G. entered one of her Bottles in the Integris Hospital Celebration of Life & Art Exhibit.
* Show & Tell: We took a few minutes after the business portion of the meeting to do a quick Show & Tell. It was a lot of fun to see what members have been working on. Jane suggested members also bring their completed projects from the previous month to show.
* Drawings: Nance donated 2 prizes for this month’s raffle. Penni Jo and April were the winners. The new library book selection is Creative Canes by Barbara McGuire.

Ten people attended our April meeting, including three guests, two of whom became our newest members. Welcome, Carole and Sharon! We all had a lot of fun as Nance Ross taught us how to make an articulated teddy bear. She brought three delightful examples, as well as pictures. As expected, each participant’s bear developed its own unique personality. Some participants had time to bake their bears, and others will finish at home.
Our raffle featured four drawings with items donated by April S., Nance, Penni Jo, and April G. Cassy won one drawing. It is alleged that the other three drawings were won by Nance’s three teddy bears, but they’re not talking, and neither is Nance!
The book selected in the library drawing was ***400 Polymer Clay Designs***, published by Lark Books. It will be purchased for our guild library this month.
Our upcoming schedule is as follows:
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**May 10:**Inro Box with Penni Jo
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**May 31:** Play Day. Location TBA.
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**June 14:** Rubber Stamping Techniques with Angela
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**July 12:** TBA
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**August 9:** Ink Jet Transfers with Shirley
During the business portion of our meeting, we discussed the following:
Angela, our treasurer, reported that our checking account total is $357.24. We now have a total of 14 members.
Angela read an e-mail message thanking the guild for its donations to **Hearts for Heroes**.
Angela announced that she is making application to the IRS for 501(a) non-profit status for the guild and asked for help from anyone who had been through the process before.
Angela recapped our play day discussion with Cindy Matteson regarding the guild’s future involvement with the **Bottles of Hope** project. She voiced her hope that we would commit to it, perhaps doing a once-a-year event at which we would donate our bottles to cancer patients. Nance has volunteered to be coordinator of our effort. It was suggested that members find out whether their local church youth groups might be willing to participate. Nance volunteered to teach these groups how to work with clay. Some members took home more bottles to decorate. Angela suggested that if members know a current cancer patient, they could give their bottle directly, rather than saving it for our event.
April G. brought up the possibility of bringing in a nationally known polymer clay artist to present a workshop, as the North Texas Guild has done. It was noted that the cost would be prohibitive for our small group, but we may look at the possibility of partnering with other groups in the region at some future time.