This month, Penni Jo Couch will be showing us how to make a **Faux Zebrawood Inro** using polymer clay.
* When: Saturday, May 10, 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 stands. Go right after entering & it’s the first door on the right.)
* What to Bring:
* Strong Polymer Clay: **Please** have your clay conditioned before class and use only a strong brand of clay for this project. The Faux Zebrawood inro pictured uses 1/2 block gold, 1/4 block of dark brown and 1/2 block of black. For the inside, metallic clay is nice as it is bright when the box is opened. Gold may be very soft, so you may want to mix it 50/50 with translucent for the inside.
* Paper, scotch tape, scissors
* Cord: like 1 mm or 2 mm rolled leather cord or other heavy cord
approx. 1/16” in diameter. The drill bit will need to be about the same diameter as your cord.
* Hand drill with 1/16” drill bit in a handle.
* Blades: Exacto knife with new, sharp blade. Rigid tissue blade or razor blade for straight cuts.
* Pasta machine or Acrylic roller and spacers
* Deli paper or wax paper: The deli or wax paper is needed to prevent the clay from sticking to your work surface.
* Poly-fill, small amount to stuff inside the inro.
* Liquid clay – Kato or TLS.
* Release Agent: Baby powder or cornstarch and a small brush for applying OR Kato Repel Gel.
* Brushes: Small brush dedicated to liquid polymer clay. (No need to clean it out. It can be stored in a baggie between uses.)
* Thin, stiff wire or needle to make holes in the beads.
* Baking Surface – Small (4” by 4” or 2” by 2”) tile or heavy cardboard. Remember, we share the ovens at guild so bring something just larger than your project so that many can be put into the oven at the same time.
* Varnish – Future or other polymer clay friendly varnish.
* Optional Items: Extruder to make the ropes that go around the box, under the lid and above the bottom. Closure if you wish for the necklace to separate in the back.
* Optional Embellishments: Canes – Assortment of canes, Pearl Ex or other mica powders, Mokume Gane slices, or other faux finishes.
As this is a fairly involved class with specialized supplies, Penni Jo has put together a kit that has some of the necessary items for $1.00 each. She needs to know in advance which members want the kits so she can have these prepared. **Please reserve a kit via our mailing list.** If you’re not on the mailing list, you can also use contact form.
**Inro Kit Contents** (available from Penni Jo for $1):
* 1 1/4” tall PVC pipe form with paper taped around it, bottom clipped and ready to use.
* 1/4” Paper strip for cut line
* Small piece of paper for patterns
* Tiny bag of baby powder for release agent
* Tiny bag of liquid Kato Medium®
* Two sheets of Deli Paper
* Small amount of Fiber-fil®
* Toothpicks, two cut in half, ready to use
* Full color lesson with pictures.
If you would like a sneak peak at what we’ll be doing, check out these PDFs from Penni Jo:
* InroMaterialsList.pdf
* InroClassInstructions.pdf
It’s going to be an exciting meeting — we hope to see you there!

Nance Ross will be showing us how to create an Articulated Teddy Bear. It is small, fits in your pocket, and yes, the arms and legs move. They are cute and fun to make. They are baked in pieces and then assembled.
**When: Saturday, April 12, 2008, 1:00 – 4:00 p.m.** (Do not forget about the new meeting time)
**Where: The new Hobby Lobby in Norman, 2417 W. Main, Norman, OK**. (The classroom is up front, near the check stands. Go right after entering & it’s the first door on the right.)
**What to Bring:**
***Supplies:***
– 1 package any color Premo you wish for a color for your bear….ecru, black, white, brown etc.
– Scraps in a good complimentary color for pads on paws, inside ears
– Scrap in pink or red for tongue, if you plan to have your bear’s mouth open!
– Two eye pins in silver or gold, whichever will look better on the color bear you make.
– Little black bead for a nose
– Little fiber optic or tigereye beads for eyes ~ She will have some extra with her, if you are not able to bring any.
– 1 toothpick
***Tools:***
– Needle tool
– Your favorite sculpting tool
– Wire cutter
– Needlenose pliers
***Optional:***
– Scrap colors to make a lei around the bear’s neck, if you wish
– canes to decorate bear’s body, if you wish
– Pearlex and brush, if you wish to glitter your creation up a bit
Nance is a new member to our guild, she has come to us from Orange County California, and was a two year member of the Orange County Polymer Clay Guild. She informed us that she has had the joy of knowing Dottie MacMillan, Trina Williams, Kathy Davis and so many more helpful mentors, and look forward to getting to know us and finding new ideas and people with whom we can all share. We are glad to have Nance as a part of our guild and very thankful for offering to teach us this lesson.

Our March Play Day will be this Saturday at Angela’s house, and we’ll be discussing Bottles of Hope. Local breast cancer survivor **Cindy Matteson** will join us to talk about her experiences with the Bottle of Hope program, and to share her own bottle, which she received from a polymer clay artist via a Kansas event. Cindy has very generously provided our group with lots of small glass medicine bottles to cover.
She has also offered to help us make connections with local cancer patients to distribute finished Bottles of Hope, either on a one-on-one basis or as part of an organized event.
In addition to our Bottles of Hope discussion, we’ll also be doing “normal” Play Day meeting stuff… which is anything you want! Our play day meetings don’t have a specific teacher or lesson — they’re intended to be more laid-back. You can bring along whatever project you’re working on, or you can just come and chat. And if you forget something, Angela’s craft room is right down the hall.
– **When: Saturday, March 29, 2008, 1:00 p.m. (Stay as long as you want!)**
– **Where: Angela Mabray’s house (Yukon, OK)**. The address & directions are being sent to the [group’s mailing list](http://lists.okpolyclay.com/mailman/listinfo/okpolyclay) — feel free to use our [contact form](https://okpolyclay.com/contact.php) to request directions if you’re not on the mailing list.
– **What to Bring:** Angela will have bottles on hand if you want to cover them to make Bottles of Hope. (*These bottles are available at every meeting, actually. If you don’t see them sitting out, just ask Angela*.) Feel free to bring your clay, tools, and any other project you’d like to work on.
We’ll have some snacks & drinks available — if you’d like something special, feel free to bring it.

April Salcedo will be showing us how to create four different extruder canes, her method to mapping extruder canes, how she wraps and preserves her canes. You can visit her [Flickr Site](http://flickr.com/photos/kreativekarma/) if you would like to view more of her extruder canes and other polymer clay items.
**When:** Saturday, March 8, 2008, 1:00 – 4:00 p.m. (Do not forget about the new meeting time)
**Where:** The new Hobby Lobby in Norman, [2417 W. Main, Norman, OK](http://www.google.com/maps?q=2417+W+Main+St,+Norman,+OK+73069,+USA&sa=X&oi=map&ct=title). (The classroom is up front, near the check stands. Go right after entering & it’s the first door on the right.)
**What to Bring:**
– **Already conditioned clay** (amounts for each cane are listed beneath their pictures. All in all you should bring about 5 packages of clay) April recommends Fimo Classic, or maybe Premo, or Kato (if you can get it good and conditioned) for the canes. The firmer the clay the tougher it is to extrude, however, the less distorted and better the cane will be. *April strongly suggests conditioning your clay ahead of time, as we will be pressed for time to complete the 4 different canes in 3 hours…. mostly due to having to extrude the pieces*
– **Pasta Machine**
– **Tissue Blade**
– **Ceramic tile or other hard, flat, smooth surface for reducing**.
– **Clay extruder and the small square and small triangle dies**. (If you have the Makin’s Extruder they come with this extruder) – If you don’t have these dies, I’m sure we can share.
– **Circle cutter** (close to the size of the barrel of your extruder) *optional*
– **2-3 Quart size Baggies, scotch tape and scissors** (April can share if needed) *optional*
**A simple Jelly Roll Cane** She made these beads with this technique:

*Clay amount:
1/2 pkg of Color A and 1/2 pkg of Color B*
**A Checker Board Cane:**

*Clay amount:
1/2 pkg of Color A and 1/2 pkg of Color B*
**A simple Quilt Pattern Cane:**

*Clay amount:
1/2 pkg of Color A and 1/2 pkg of Color B*
**A “Retro” cane:**

*Clay amount:
1/2 pkg of Color A and 1/2 pkg of Color B and 1/2 pkg of Color C*
***April regrets that we won’t have the time to make any actual projects with our canes, but we will have 4 wonderful canes to take home with us!***