Plenty of polymer fun at Polydays 2013!
I was lucky enough to attend Polydays a brilliant 3 days of polymer clay workshops in the beautiful Cotswolds organised by Alison Gallant just over a week ago. It was a wonderful weekend full of polymer clay, good food and good company. The teachers were all fantastic and taught us a wide range of skills. We were lucky to have polymer clay provided by both Polyform and Decoman for the workshops – thank you both!
On the first day we had a Rainbow Ikat Leaves workshop with Lindley Haunani. Polyform provided a rainbow of Premo for the project. I didn’t really like the colours I used for my first leaf but had time to make more using different colours that I really liked. It’s a great technique and Lindley also taught us a lot about colour too! Here’s the ones I do like
On the second day we did a morning workshop with Eva Haskova using Kato clay provided by Decoman to make a Metal Effect Pendant. We used a variety of techniques to make an interesting metallic pendant. The Kato works very well for the mica shift effect. The pendant on the top left is completely finished. The one ones on the right just need a back adding. I had a crazy tentacle moment on the top right one and also used up some of my ikat pattern from Lindley’s workshop on the same piece. The bottom left piece is still a work in progress and I have not quite decided how to finish it.
In the afternoon we had a Silver Framed Pendant workshop with Alison Gallant. The pendant has a hole through it along the top so a cord or wire can be threaded through. We had a whole bunch of different Premo Accents clays to play with. It’s funny how things change; a few years ago before I became completely addicted to creating with polymer clay this would of seemed like a fairly large pendant for me but now it seems tiny. So all those people out there who say they can’t wear big jewellery – you can – you just need to get used to the idea! I have been doing a little silver soldering recently so I might have a go at making my own frames…
The have to say I was worried about my eyes going crazy on the last day for Jana Roberts Benzon’s New Age Bargello workshop. I had seen the other groups coming up with their amazing creations but the pattern looks like an optical illusion that might hurt your eyes if you stare at it too long . Well I was pleased to say that although I was rather tired (from staying up late chatting!) my eyes coped fine and it was an excellent workshop. Thank you Jana and thank you to Decoman for the Kato Polyclay. Here’s what I made
New Age Bargello pieces by Cara Jane
I really do appreciate the time spent learning new skills as well as catching up with old friends and meeting new ones! A huge thank you to my husband, family and friends for their help and support which enables me to go away knowing my children will also be having a fab time.
There are lots of exciting events happening next year, I know I won’t be able to go to them all but I am very excited knowing that I will be able to go to some events and am really looking forward to seeing lots of my lovely polymer friends from all over the world!
I am rather busy at the moment with lots of different things so excuse me if the posts here are a bit infrequent. Hopefully I will find time to post again before too long. I do keep my facebook page a little more up to date if you find you are missing me 😉
