This month, April Salcedo will be be introducing the guild to Christi Friesen‘s Sculpture series books. April received permission from Christi to share her work with you for our meeting. While she doesn’t have one particular project to show us, she plans to do a small demonstration on how to make a “starfish” and a “baby turtle.” These are quick & easy (should take about 15 minutes), and will allow us to become comfortable with the style of sculpting & a few other techniques before we tackle the bigger projects. April will also be bringing these books for us to look through and find project(s) to make on our own:
* Dragons – All about dragons
* Welcome to the Jungle – Jungle life and greenery
* Under the Sea – Sea life (April’s personal favorite)
* Cats Big and Small – Cats, cats, and more cats. The newest book – just released!
Here’s the meeting details:
* When: Saturday, August 11, 2007, 2:00 – 5:00 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:
* Clay: Approximately 2 blocks. April suggests using Premo clay for these projects as Sculpey III can be too soft and brittle to stand up to the projects. April also recommends blending/marbleizing two complimentary colors (e.g., gold and green, blue and white,ecru and white, orange and yellow, etc.) to bring more interest to your project. You might consider bringing more clay if you want to make multiple little project from the books.
* Tiles: To create your projects on and put directly in the toaster
ovens, so you don’t have to move your work.
* Various Beads: Seed beads or smaller type round beads work well. April also recommends the smaller shell beads. The beads will be cooked in your projects, so make sure they can withstand the cooking heat.
* Craft Wire: 28 gauge. This will be used to attach your beads to your project. April will also be bringing her wire, and there should be plenty for all to use, as it doesn’t take much.
* Wire Cutters, Chain Nose Pliers: April will have hers, if you don’t
want to buy any. Only used to prep the wire for the beads.
* Pasta Machine or Brayer
* Brown or Burnt Umber Acrylic Paint: For finishing and
bringing out the details.
* Glazes (optional): If you want to put on to seal your work. This is a
personal preference and you don’t have to do this.
* Sculpting Tools: Used for details and adding texture. This might be
wooden, toothpicks, straws, shells, whatever catches your fancy. No rules here!
* Paper Towels or Wipes: To clean up with — the paint/patina stage can
be quite messy!
* An open mind and your imagination!
April has a few of her completed turtles in the display case at the front of the Norman Hobby Lobby if you want to see some finished projects. She will have completed examples of her sculptures at the meeting. She highly suggests heading over and taking a look at Christi Friesen’s site before our meeting. It will give you a sense of who Christi Friesen is (if you don’t already know) and a better understanding of what to expect walking into our meeting. The site includes some of her own sculptures and focal beads. There are a few projects for download at a minimal price, info on her classes, and a list of shows and magazines she’s been published in. April will be passing out information at the meeting about a group special buy on her books that Christi has extended to our guild (see a list of books here.) She’ll also have a handout about Christi’s class information to consider if we would like for her to be a guest artist.
April and her daughter were two of our earliest guild members, and April now serves as our guild photographer. You can see some of April’s works on her Kreative Karma site, at her Etsy store, as well as on her Flickr photo page. April says:

“When I first got into Polymer Clay about a year ago, I did a search online and found Christi’s site. I was and still am very impressed by her art work, but more I really love her books. I like the humor, and the way she guides you through the creative process. I’m not one that has a ton of patience for meticulous work, and with these particular sculptures, you don’t have to be exact spot on, and you’re not 100% replicating a process. She gives tons of suggestions and encourages you to be your own creative self.”

Hope you’ll come be creative with us!

This month, at a new time & new location, Penni Jo Couch and Sue Kerr will be showing us how to make an Explosion Accordion Folded Album with a polymer clay cover.
Penni Jo and Sue were some of the very first members of the Central Oklahoma Polymer Clay Guild. Penni Jo creates beautiful designs — with works ranging from her molded designs for Sweetbrier Studio to her fantastic jewelry at her new Etsy shop. Sue has expertise in a variety of mediums — like quilting and rubber stamping — and uses that background to do very creative things with polymer clay.
Here are the meeting details:
* When: NEW TIME! Saturday, July 14, 2007, 2:00 – 5:00 p.m.
* Where: NEW PLACE! 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:
* Clay: Approx. 3 blocks for the 4” album
* Wax Paper
* Pattern paper: Can be regular paper or tracing paper
* Texture sheets (or other texture makers like lace, fabric, etc.)
* Tissue blade
* Sharp Kraft knife
* Pasta Machine or brayer
* Clear UTEE (Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel)
* Charm, tiny photo, or other item (to embed in UTEE)
* Baking surface: Two tiles or two pieces of cardstock large enough on which to bake each cover. For the large cover you will need two approx. 8” square tiles or cardstock. For smaller cover, you will need at least two 6” tiles or cardstock
* Ribbon or Cord: Matching Ribbon for ties: Small Album – 24” of 1/2” ribbon. Large album – 28” to 30”
* Glue: Glue stick or PVA glue to glue the cardstock pages together; E-6000 or Weldbond glue for polymer clay
* Album Pages: Three square sheets of double sided cardstock. Can be printed or plain paper. Use 8.5 by 8.5 inch cardstock for small 4 1/4” pages. Use 12 by 12 inch cardstock for large 6” pages. You may use three colors of paper or three sheets of one color for the pages
Penni Jo mentioned she has a large bottle of UTEE she can share. She also pointed out that Hobby Lobby has a 40% off coupon on their website this week — so if you need any of these supplies, come early & get ’em at a discount.
Hope to see you there!
Update: Here’s instructions for the project — if you want to get started before-hand, Penni Jo suggests pre-conditioning your clay and/or doing the paper-folding: Explosion Album Instructions [PDF]

June has 5 Saturdays… so that means it’s time for a 5th Saturday Play Day! And since we’re holding this play day in a home instead of our usual classroom, we won’t be nearly as rushed as normal. This polymer clay play day might just turn into a polymer clay PARTY!
Our play days don’t have a particular project or teacher, so feel free to bring whatever you’re currently working on. Someone mentioned maybe figuring out how to clean pasta machines — so if you’re interested in doing that, feel free to bring along your dirty ol’ machine. Or just come & hang out!
Here’s the details:
* When: Saturday, June 30, 2007, 3:30 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 — feel free to use the contact form to request directions if you’re not on the mailing list.
* What to Bring:
* Clay, tools, etc.
* We’ll have some snacks & drinks available — if you’d like something special, feel free to bring it. You can also bring a couple of bucks if you’re interested in pitching in for pizza.
We look forward to seeing everyone there!