BRPCG Minutes: March 2012

BRPCG Minutes – March 10, 2012
Dues are due! Note: Only members who have paid their dues may check out items from the library.

New in Library: The Polymer Arts Magazine. We have re-ordered the Lindly Haunani / Maggie Maggio book for the library to replace the one that was lost.

Thanks to Amy for doing the wonderful poetic minutes. However, do not expect that your regular secretary to be so creative.

Next Month: Clay Day 9am till – 5pm and the Guild Anniversary – Which one? Anyone know? (editor note: 13th!)

Bring things to donate for silent auction.
Bring $$ to buy stuff
Let Sharon know what you would like to demo.
Bring food. Sharon brings muffins & scones.
Kay will do a demo.
Maggie's doing a demo.
Julie will do a Swellegant demo.
Sharon will do a mystery demo.
A list of supplies should be sent before clay day.
Come for a day, come for an hour!
The day is a free for all – Play, demo, chat, or whatever.

Kay has been using rocks as forms to make hollow pieces. She has repurposed glass from her old carriage lights as baking tiles – upside down makes it easy to pick up from the oven. Brought inks to try today. True Blue's supply of Piñata inks is very low. Kay also brought testure sheets she made from a placemat.

Bridget attended Karen Woods' silkscreen class in Buford at Creative Journeys studios – a really amazing, must-see place. She's going back for more to Carol Simmons' class next month in Dahlonega, GA.

Pat ordered Dan Cormier's e-book and has been working from it. She will be ordering the wide peeler. If anyone wants to order one, let Pat know. She will also check out the Williams Sonoma version to see if she can save on postage.

Cathy attended the last Queen City Meeting, as did Maggie. Maggie created a terrific teacup faerie. They practiced Sutton Slices at QCC.

Teresa has been busy at school and survived her economics and statistics classes. She wants her life back.

Barbara played all month. Tried making a squishy, swirly can from an on-line demo, and found that she liked her own adaptation better. She also made faux rocks.

Janet is back after a long absence.

Debbie is here from Maggie Valley.

Sharon is here, but people were talking so I couldn't hear what she said.

Cheryl has been working on Sutton Slice & has done some very nice work.

Julie has new pieces – a really great Little Red Riding Hood one. She will demo the technique she has been adapting from Maggie Maggio's watercolor method.

Judy used JB Weld to adhere two sides of a knife handle to cover the knife her husband made . She is wearing a beautiful cabochon necklace made entirely from techniques she learned from Kay.

Cheryl from Hendersonville has done a new cane. She wants to join the news group, but is having technical difficulties. Anyone who wants to join – give Teresa your e-mail address and she will invite you and get you all set up. Oops. Before I could even get this sent out Teresa had it all taken care of.

Jackie from Saluda is semi-retired nurse, adjunct instructor at Blue Ridge, introduced to PC by Cheryl, and has fallen in love with it. She's here to learn, so we'd better get on with the demos.

Next month we'll have a special announcement from Kay about a class she would like to teach for us.

See you all at Clay Day for a full day of fun from 9am to 5pm. Whoopee!!
-Bridget, BRPCG Secretary

BRPCG Minutes: January 2012

BRPCG Minutes January 14, 2012
Welcome old and new faces! Happy New Year!
Web site: We decided to create updated static web site that would only need changing once a year. Teresa has friend who can create.

It will include links to:

Yahoo Group

Facebook Page

Blog

The main web site will contain basic BRPCG info – Library rules, directions, etc.

Dues are now being collected by Barb D. $25 per year.

Barb is communicating personally with people who asked for addresses for sending in dues.

We asked Kay to do a class on silkscreening on polymer clay. Sounds like a must-see!

Other ideas for instructors or classes are welcome. Who would we like to present a workshop this year?

Maggie is doing her Mermaid demo today.

Amy has photos to create our t-shirts and plans to have a mock-up by next meeting.

Sharon would like ideas for what demos we would like to see this year. Some suggestions were:

• Canes – leaves and flowers.
• Butterfly cane: – Maggie, Sharon or Tonya.
• Lathe turning.
• Pardo translucent – sea glass - Julie.
• Metal clay class from Marilyn.
• Your ideas – (yes YOU!!) Tell us what you want to learn or teach.

Maybe if we get a good list going, Sharon can give us a calendar of what to expect each month so we can all be bursting with enthusiasm?

Congrats to Marilyn for her entry in progress and possibilities. She would be glad to teach a metal clay class and also recommends Heather Jacobson as a wealth of Metal clay resources.

Library: Reminder- If you can't return a library item, you must be responsible for mailing it back. To date we have not had to collect deposits for DVDs, but will need to if we continue to have problems.

We are looking for our copy of the Lindly Haunani/ Maggie Maggie color book. If you happen to have that at home, please return so others may enjoy?

Lots of folks participated in the mini food swap. The creations were so yummy we were tempted to bite into them.

We had a really big crowd for the first week of the year –over 20 people!!

Amy had nothing to show but herself, which was pretty great to see. She has recovered from her October car accident and has new mini van. We are so happy to see evidence of what a survivor she is.

Teresa got carried away with making a mini food cake, and never got around to making mini foods to swap. We can't wait to see the cake. Maybe next month?

Kay is working on embellishments for her pieces. She is incorporating ideas from Victorian tremblers.

Bridget brought mini corn on the cob and showed off the new hip she got herself for Christmas.

Kathy brought some of the beautiful bezels she has made with resin. She seems to have effortlessly mastered the technique.

Maggie has been working on dragons & faeries & things. She brought an entire display case of her finished work.

Tonya had a breakfast theme with her mini food. She also has a new sexy red Roma pasta machine from Kitchen and Company. She gave it very good reviews. We're all watching to see how it works out in the long run. It is an affordable option with a motor incorporated.

Marilyn has been doing hollow beads, alcohol inks, faux jade, pmc, fortune cookies and Lord knows what else?

Barb created an incredible steam punk shadow box. She finished up her chocolate chip cookie earrings and made a Stroppel can embellishment for a set of candlesticks. Her mini food was blueberry muffins.

Debbie is new to our guild - Welcome.

Sharon – did glass lampworking for holidays. Made bread, salads, tacos, pancakes, lots more mini food. Yes, Sharon, we know you are the master pastry chef. Now you have permanent samples to prove it.

Julie attended Clay Carnival in Vegas and brought back the incredible projects she made there. She also brought some pieces from her grandmother cane. And when do you paint it? She will teach her face cane class at Woman Creative in August and Columbus, OH in April. Just in case she didn't have enough going on, Julie took a silversmithing class. Carol Simmons is teaching week long intensive caning class in GA in April and needs an assistant. See Julie if interested.

We will be ordering the Polymer Arts magazine for our guild.

Aliceis new and does big work. She brought us some great samples. She has a history as furniture maker. We are the first polymer clay artists she has ever met. Alice would like to learn transfers. Those can be tricky, so if anyone has a tried and true method for making them both in color or black and white, see Sharon to be put on our demo schedule.

Julie bought copy of the RAM (Racine Art Museum) book for guild and will bring it in after it makes the round of the Charlotte Guild. This contains photos from opening of permanent polymer clay exhibit. Julie also brought chocolate. As if she didn't think we'd let her in without it?

Judy Carroll retired on Jan. 1 and lives in Fletcher. She is really enjoying having time for crafts. She has enjoyed metal clay, and is also a silversmith. HMM – maybe we have enough people who might like to learn silversmithing to pull together a class??

Cheryl, Judy's sister, has also been working with crafts since she was little. She makes stained glass as day job. Judy bought her a Donna Kato book for Christmas, so she is now officially hooked. Both Judy & Cheryl attended our 2-day Christi Freisen class, and we didn't scare them off. They actually came back for more!

Karen has nothing, but loves the enthusiasm about the recent swap. She remembers some of the community activities like Bottles of Hope we have done and would like to see us create finger puppets and larger multi-media puppets to give away to a charity as a guild activity. Thanks for the suggestion!

Pat, our wonderful Librarian, met a pen turner at Asheville gun show in Oct, hence the interest in turning. Please feel free to suggest books or magazines for the library. Her Mom has been crocheting. She brought samples of gorgeous neck pieces to give us all ideas.

Sandra LoCastro made snow cones. She had fun at Christi's workshop.

Sue and Krista are new to the guild. Kristina used to make beaded jewelry.

Christina made some mini cupcakes. She create bracelets from a new technique she found in a book. Christina's work just gets better all the time. She is amazing!

Rhonda made mini pizzas. Her wonderful husband is building her and Christina a workshop so they don't have to work at kitchen table any more. We all agreed that we wanted to be next on the list to borrow him.

Looking around, we had to declare this The most talented room in NC.

Info was requested on smaller craft shows to participate in, and lots of folks had suggestions – too many for me to keep up with .

The Demo started at 1:40 at Maggie's table. Not only did she show us some great sculpting techniques and wow us with her skills, her technique for easily making scales on the mermaid's tail had us all oohing and aahing. Lots of possibilities for using in other work.

All in all, a really great meeting. What else could you expect from the most talented room in NC?

-Bridget, BRPCG Secretary

BRPCG Minutes: November 2011

BRPCG Minutes 11-12-11
We're just about set for the Christi Friesen Workshop. We plan to have dinner at Morning Glory Café in Black Mountain on Saturday night. Meals have been planned, goody bags in progress, plenty of folks signed up. We're good to go. Now if we could just get Christi to send those supply lists! Actually, even that isn't a problem. She never wants us to bring anything weird unless she's bringing plenty to share. Just plan on bringing your regular clay kit.
 
New member lists!Happy 40th anniversary Barb. Surprise dinner!
New Facebook page – type in Blue Ridge Polymer Clay Guild. Sandra to send out e-mail to members.
February Plans:
Maggie will do a mermaid demo.
•Food swap (polymer, not real!)

Sharon did 4 different demos! Christmas ribbon and peppermint candy, fall leaf pendant, wire wrapping.
As you can see, it was a quiet meeting. We did have 2 new guests who will be attending Christi's workshop.
Have a wonderful holiday and a happy new year!

BRPCG Minutes: October 2011

(I know these are old but I wanna post them for consistency...)

BRPCG Meeting Minutes 10-8-2011
Lunch at 1pm
Auction at 2pm
Thanks for all the great auction items everyone brought. We had an especially bountiful harvest from Suzanne Ivester.

All 2nd Saturdays reserved for next year (Except December, when we have no meeting.)

2 new magazines have come into the Library.
2 New VCRs transferred to DVD with some existing background noise.

Check with Barb to make sure she has your current e-mail. Pat will be sending out reminders so folks will know if they have late library items.

A 12 X 12 tile up for auction, but Pat also brought extras for $11.
Sandra suggested a Facebook page for the group and we agreed.
Christi Friesen class registrations at group discount rate today only. They are now available for everyone.

Kay brought more texture sheets to share. Suzanne brought tins to share.

Kay did a demo on her twist on beads Dan Cormier taught in his Asheville class. We're all excited about Kay doing more demos for us in the future.

Julie demo'd Alice Stroppel's new cane technique. Lots of folks tried it with great results.

Thanks to all who put up with Bridget's motor running all day as she conditioned nearly 5 pounds of clay for the Carol Simmons class. I Promise NEVER to do that again! Whew!

We have 8 people signed up for the Christi Friesen classes in December. It's shaping up to be a fun event.
See you in November!

-Bridget, BRPCG Secretary

BRPCG Minutes: August 2011

BRPCG Meeting Minutes August 13, 2011

Sharon opened the meeting with difficulty. There was quite a ruckus going on.  You’d think we hadn’t seen each other in years. She brought some great tins to share.

2 new books: Laurie Mika, Creative Sparks

Bridget needs help finding a space for Dec 3 & 4. The place we had found in Riverview is too small.  We will check libraries community centers.

We need to annoy Sandra about next year’s classes. Start planning early, so we won’t have so much trouble finding a place. Let’s keep it to less popular times of the year, too.

Today’s demo: faux batik by heather Campbell.

Janet Johnson has been busy doing audio description, not clay.

Marilyn Davenport from TN brought a necklace made from metal clay & crystals & wild strawberries. It has 3 real wild strawberries that burned up in the firing process.

Suzanne Ivester from TN brought 3 necklaces made from her demo on IPCA. She and Marilyn made some pieces like today’s demo to show.  At Pete’s suggestion, they went to the bead bead show and brought some treasures to show us. They looked all over at the show, but never saw Pete. Marilyn has a leftover free coupon to share. Suzanne has some dollar-off coupons.

Pete from Bristol VA-TN has a new schedule and will be able to attend more meetings (if not bead shows).  Suzanne& Pete went to the IPCA retreat and had a blast.

Bridget camping

Laurie Prevette from Charlotte is trying to use up things she has made. She loves the figures in shadow boxes  Ann Klocko makes, complete with wonderful costumes. So far Laurie has the  head made for her own.

Maggie drove one of 2 carloads of people from Charlotte, serenaded all the way. She brought examples of her cane from Julie Eakes face can class, which is just gorgeous. Somehow during that class she was renamed Sister Mary Margaret. Maggie been making boxes from Christmas cards for her faeries thanks to Suzanne’s tutorial. She has developed new faerie wings.

Tonya McDonald came over from Fariview.  She left us some of her experiments on Pete’s crap table. Since last meeting she has been working on earrings & pendant.

Note:  Pete left her roving crap collection in a box for us. We can continue to add to and remove items from this box.

Barbara D from Fairview made some finished her mosaic. She did a great job with the silver leaf. It looks like metal. She has Turquoise blue hair today to match her top.

Sharon Solly brought face cane from Julie’s class. Also magnificent. Doing lampwork beads at home in the garage at night, once it cools down. Still learning & experimenting. Think the neighbors wonder about the odd glow?

Tamara hasn’t been to a meeting for a while.  She says it’s good to be back, and we’re glad to have her back.

Cathy from Charlotte cut 13.5 inches of hair off for Locks of Love. Thanks to Cheryl, she’s been working on bezels covered in resin for months now. Cathy joined today as member.

Cheryl from charlotte is hot.

Julie came from Charlotte in the singing car. She brought the examples that were recently featured in Polymer Clay Daily.

Linda from charlotte has lost 30 lbs since she last visited. She was one of the privileged few who attended Julie’s cane class. She’s been doing a second face cane at home. Linda plays bridge, so she’s been using playing cards & transfers in her work.  

Pat has been doing some serious scrapbooking  . She created an 11 lb book of her grandson from age 0 – 5. She had a deadline to finish it by Tuesday so she could give it to her houseguests instead of having to mail it. She’s now starting her next book.  Happy birthday a day late and a dollar short. Also - Happy Birthday to Sharon 10 days ago.  

Christina made photo frame from Sharon’s mosaic demo so she could frame a photo of her cat Tivo.

Rhonda has been canning beans, tomatoes, okra, etc.

Karen has enjoyed reading books all summer.

Somehow we made it through the demo, despite all the helpful comments from our membership. Special thanks to Cheryl for her consultations during the demo.

Sharon had limited success getting responses from the lively crowd on ideas for demos during 2012. She was trying to poll the troops on whether we would like to learn things other than polymer clay. She suggested chain maille and a few other items, but the noise level prevented any coherent responses. Maybe folks could chime in and let Sharon know what they’d like to learn next year?

Barbara reminds everyone that October is just around the corner. We need to be finishing pieces and making new ones for the auction.

-Bridget, BRPCG Secretary

BRPCG Minutes September 2011

BRPCG Minutes 9-10-11
Jim Peacock won a blue ribbon at the fair! On TV last nite – per Barb D.
Congratulations Jim – We miss you.

Amy missed last meeting but Suzanne has great demo. She did an intro to wearable vessels. Kay brought a really gorgeous book as inspiration.

October Clay Day Special Event
– Sharon will bring her light box. We will all bring nice pieces to photograph and put on our guild t-shirt. Anybody who wants to be part of this, please be sure to remember to bring a favorite piece.

Thanks to Suzanne for sending out the supply list early for the demo. That was very helpful.

Barb McGuire wants to remind us that Lindly Huanani is coming Nov 5 to Women Creative. Also Jana Roberts Benzon in December, but it that conflicts with our Christi Freisen Workshop.

Clay Day –Iimpromptu demo & auction. Bring something to work on. April's clay day will be more structured as we have done before. Sharon will bake goodies. Everyone else can bring whatever you food you want to prepare. If we end up with 12 desserts and one protein, nobody will complain.

New Art Jewelry magazine is in. Pat has AC Moore coupona. We'll wait and see what the new magazine looks like before ordering. Suzanne is pisssissised about the new magazine coming out with the online version before those who paid more for the print version got to see it.

Christi Freisen Workshop Dec 3 & 4 – We will bring in food rather than cooking ourselves. Jason's Deli is a suggestion. Members will have until the October meeting to sign up for the workshop. After that, we will open it up to the whole wide world.

2 mos ago Amy & daughters left early and found a dog walking too close to the road. They rescued Scruffy, a male Shizu, who is now a happy member of the family. Like any well-behaved dog, he spins for food and gets along well with their golden retriever.

Kay's foundling cat found a home at her house. He is so happy with his new home that he brought them a gift squirrel.

Present today were Pat, Sharon, Kay, Barb D, Suzanne, Karen, Maggie, Linda, Amy and Bridget.

If you missed the meeting, you missed lots of fun found pet stories! Also updates on other groups in the area devoted to food, mushrooms, pets and more.

Suzanne just found out that Polymer Café will be featuring a column starring Suzanne as the Polymer Chef. Way to go, Suzanne.

Pat is putting together a Munro order. She has posted the info on the Yahoo group.

Clay Day Reminders: Bring something to auction – doesn't have to be an item you made. Anything up to and including the kitchen sink can be auctioned. Don't forget the junk box. Trade in things you don't have a use for and pick up
an item you might use. Bring $$ cash to bid on auction items. If you have a technique or trick or tool you'd like to share with the group, come prepared to do a short demo.
Food.
Fun.
9am – 5pm

Does anybody have the guild's copy of Ancient Modern by Ronna Sarvas Weltman? We can't find it in the library, and it hasn't been checked out.

Mark your calendars for December 3rd and 4th. Christi Freisen will be doing a 2-day workshop for us. It will be at the Carver Center in the Swannanoa - Black Mountain area. The first day's theme will be Winter Wonderland and the second Steampunk.

Happy Birthday Teresa!

June 11 Minutes 2011

New Book: Patterns in Polymer by Julie Picarello. Pat is also looking for Dayle Doroshow's Creative Sparks book for us.

Our Christi Friesen Workshop is scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, December 3rd and 4th, 2011. The first day will be Winter Wonderland and the second Steampunk. One itty bitty problem. We will most likely fill her maximum class size of 24 and don't have a place to hold the workshop. Any ideas??? PLEASE let us know soon, as spaces fill quickly that time of year.

Lindly Haunani is available to teach on March 24 & 25 2012. She will also be doing a workshop at Barbara McGuire's new space, Woman Creative, on November 5 & 6. We'll need to decide quickly if we want to squeeze into Lindly's calendar.

Barb D passed out new membership lists. Much appreciated! Barb brought in the flip-flops she's made over the last month - she works fast. Looks like a year's worth of work. She also brought in some new perfect pearls colors she picked up at the newly stocked Michaels.

Maggie brought in a herd? pride? gaggle? - anyway, a bunch of dragons to work on. She's got the details down to the toenails. She's got a jade translucent color to them that is eerily realistic.

Bridget brought her dog pins to work on. After many experiments with different transfer papers, turns out the water slide types work best, especially if you have access to an old HP toner copier.

Tonya is back in Buncombe, working on finishes. Like most of us, she's not too crazy about Sculpey gloss. Our generous, sharing group gave her a few tips on things to try to get a less shiny look.

Christy got some good advice on baking on a wooden box, including bake the box first, then bake on SOBO glue or liquid polymer.

Pat & Christina are doing wonderful things using reassembled mosaic canes and a technique from the new Polymer Pizzaz II. Today they're working on the Foiled Again technique.

Pam's attending  a flea market and looking for a sun canopy to use or purchase affordably. She got some help looking on Freecycle and Craig's List.

Christina made a beautiful pair of earrings for Sandra.

Sandra's been cleaning her workshop. Doesn't that sound all too familiar? She mixed her fabric arts and clay arts to produce a covered seam ripper. By the way, Sandra looked absolutely stunning in a red and white polka dot ensemble, featuring the latest Christina created earrings.

Everyone seemed to enjoy a day to work on our projects. We had an idea for days without a demo scheduled. We could work together to do a project from a book. Bring your ideas for something you think would be a good project to work on to the next meeting.

and - proving once again that minutes should be typed immediately after each meeting, not 2 weeks later, is our mystery phrase:  Teresa Seed  Pee Shied People. There has to be a prize for anyone who can translate that mumbo jumbo. I'd promise to do better at getting the minutes out more promptly, but you'd all know I'd by lying.

Thanks, Bridget