Polymer Clay Classes are Back!

  Polymer clay has become a powerhouse of opportunities for people to express themselves.  It can behave as clay, fabric, paint, and more.  The scope of possibilities can be seen on any bookstore shelf that has more than 5 books on the shelf dedicated to it.  It is accessible to the home hobbyist and super-star artists whose work is found in museums.  Just like any art technique, it is best to start at the bottom and work your way up if you are starting from scratch.  Building a foundation of steps will afford you an arsenal of skills that you can have at your disposal when you decide to create something new.

  The year 1995 was the start of a 20+ year love affair with polymer clay. It became my sole expression of choice.  The clay satisfied any mood I felt or wanted to create in a piece of jewelry, set of unique buttons or small art pieces.  I created my company Ovenfried Beads, and my "claim to fame" was the Stacker Bead.  The volume of Stacker Beads that I made allowed a full and long-lasting line of jewelry that found popularity locally and around the world.  Mokume Gane, surface textures and stamps, and other experimental techniques that have no name are my favorite techniques.  Combining polymer clay pieces with bead embroidery, like here and here, is an extremely fun way to make your clay work pop. The multi-media possibilities are endless.  Just check out the book 400 Polymer Clay Designs and let your mind be blown~!

  Now I am again offering my popular private polymer clay classes for adolescents and adults in the Greater Cincinnati Tri-State area.  My classes are a LOT of fun, but I take them very seriously and want to offer the best instruction. 

Beads made from cane slices from class.

Basic Cane Building   -   Students will learn how to layer different colors of clay to create a cane or loaf, that when sliced, will reveal the same pattern per slice.  (Think of sushi.)  Four layering techniques will be taught, then if time allows, students will be able to experiment.  Use of pasta machine and long blade and piercing tool.  

Go crazy with color or monochromatic for a more subdued effect.

Mokume Gane   -   Mokume Gane is my favorite technique, achieved by layering several contrasting colors of clay into a brick, distorting with piercing tools, and slicing to reveal elegant wood-grain-like organic patterns.  Each slice is different.  Use of pasta machine, long blade, variety of piercing tools.

Extruder Cane Fun  -   Clay extruders provide a way to create small detailed canes.  When the right color combinations are used, eye-popping designs result.  This class will focus on the grid design you see here.  Use of clay extruder and sharp blade.

Commercial and hand-made stamps used in these leaves.

Texture with Pearl Surface   -   Choose commercial stamps, hand-carved stamps and textures from unexpected places.  Add some pearl powder to give a jewel-toned sheen and accentuate the surface shapes.  Use of pasta machine, long blade, stamps and texture tools, a variety of shaped cutters, pearl powder and polyurethane coating.

Stacker Beads   -   Stacker Beads look tough to make, but the technique is simple.  With practice you can make your own Stacker Beads and WOW your friends!  You will create both beads feature above.  All you need is your hands and a long blade. 

   Fine print:  There is no supply list to purchase, as the class fee covers the clay and use of my large selection of tools acquired over the years.  If a student has clay and tools they previously purchased, it is fine to incorporate them into the class, but the class fee remains the same.  You can come to my beautiful home on the West side of Cincinnati or I can come to you.  If I come to you, I will have some space and electric plug requirements, and I only teach in non-smoking environments.  Very young children and rowdy pets are distractions that will slow the process and diminish your experience, so plan accordingly.  Good dexterity is necessary in both hands.  Students keep all of their creations...including beads, buttons, pendants...whatever the student makes. Basic jewelry construction is not covered, but can be a separate class if desired.  I prefer to keep class sizes 1-4.  Cost:  $65 per 4 hour session or $75 per 5 hour session,  per student, ages 10 and up.  The class categories above cannot be combined in one class, but multiple sessions can be scheduled if one desires to learn more than one technique. 

To see more of my current work and stay tuned to what is happening, follow my AmyEclectic page on Facebook or AmyEclectic on Etsy.  Interested in scheduling a class?  Contact me here. 

Cabochons/Buttons/Pendants on Etsy.

And there's more to come!

I'm digging deep into the chasms of my polymer clay stash, coming up with some fun stuff that I just know I won't finish to completion (as in buttons, bead embroidery, jewelry, etc).  For a while before I retired from polymer jewelry earlier this year, I went on a cabochon-making bonanza.  They are finished as far as cabs can go, but I know that there are creative folks out there who can use them in fabulous fiber art, embellishments and jewelry.   They are all small batch.  Click on the pictures to go straight to the listing on Etsy.  In the listing you will find out more about the techniques used, how they are finished, dimensions, etc.  I will be adding many more over the coming days.

Follow me on Facebook for more frequent updates. 

Now THESE fiery things could end up in something really cool.

Three different designs from the same chunk of clay.

Like a circus.

Final Friday in Cincinnati

This is the main Annex building.  I'll be upstairs.

This is almost as last-minute as you can get, but this Friday, March 29, from 6pm-9:30pm I will be exhibiting and selling my polymer clay jewelry at the Pendleton Art Center in Over-the-Rhine in Cincinnati.  It has been  a little while since I was there.  My friend Margie has a gorgeous studio in the Annex, the shorter building directly across the brick alley (aptly named Artist Alley, from what I recall) from the 8 story main building.  There is a neon sign in the second story window...formerly the studio of Frank Satogata....just take the steps to the second floor, and I'm in the first studio, #10.  Margie has work there, as well as wire/metal sculptures from Cincinnati artist John "Wire".  Since this is my "maiden" show in her studio, I will be bringing only my most awesome jewelry....loose beads and buttons may come at a later date.

Who knows....if you come and mention you saw this blog, I may just have a special goodie for you.  I accept cash and checks with photo i.d.

If you don't want to wait for or pay for valet parking, the new Horseshoe Casino a couple of blocks away has free parking after 6pm.

Hope to see you there. 

(Updated March 29..... Tonight I had a great time up in Margie's studio.  It's such a warm and comfortable room with such a neat variety of items inside.  I plan on being there again for Final Friday on April 26.  Thank you to all who visited and purchased some of my work!)

New 2013 Work and New Blog

Hello friends and fans!

   2013 started with a terrible creative slump.  The cold dark days and holiday recovery just really got the best of me.  I toyed with the idea of just scrapping Ovenfried Beads altogether.  Honestly, I didn't think that I'd ever really be moved by polymer clay again. 

   Then I installed some lights in my new basement studio.  This Thomas doubts no more that there has to be an endless spring of creativity that just ebbs and flows.  Sometimes it's a torrential rush that turns into compulsive creation....and sometimes it trickles so slow that it seems like adding something to mashed potatoes is a genius idea. 

   I've been digging out beads that were packed up for moving.  A trip to the craft store resulted in some new findings that I've been needing for a while.  Classical music on public radio, even during the winter fundraising, set the mood.

   SO, as I posted on my Facebook page this morning, my big liquidation sale ends Wednesday.  I have new work to post, so if you happen to read this before January 30, get your behind over to my Etsy store and save a boatload on everything you like there.  Don't forget to enter the promo code!  If you forget, you will pay full price.  I just really don't have time to cancel transactions, relist and have someone re-buy them so that they can get the sale price.

   Wednesday night I will be putting it all back to regular price so I can freshen it up with new work.  These photos are items that will be available for sale.  (After they're posted I plan on linking them to the actual ad. If I remember.)

OH, and by the way....just one more thing to tell you.  I have a new blog that has absolutely NOTHING to do with Ovenfried Beads or my handcrafted art.  Photography is another one of my hobbies, so if you like neat pictures of nature and urban stuff (lots of closeups), just hop on over to my new photo blog: A Very Pedestrian Snail.  It's pretty much just all photos.

30 turns into 40

Today I increased my whole-store sale discount to 40%, through May 18.  Coupon code is "MOM40".  This discount applies to everything in my store, including these amazing brand new earrings that I just made the other day.  (Regular price is $65...can be yours for $39!)
There is an Etsy shop event today protesting Etsy's allowance of mass-produced items being sold as handmade.  Although I completely agree that Etsy should maintain it's insistence that items be handmade by the shop owner (except, of course, in the instance of vintage and supplies), I need to be open.

More information about the protest and the reasons behind it can be read here.

Cover that naked wrist, wench!

This bracelet below is a stretchy bracelet I made a while back that I just put in my Clearance section in my Etsy shop.  The little bumpy red Czech glass beads between the thin polymer disks match the reddish-pink perfectly.  That's why I used them.

***********************

This fiery bracelet is made from some beads that I made while toying around with my Stacker bead technique.  I love to make cylindrical beads.  LOVE IT!  And I LOVE to use red, orange and yellow together.  I'd do it all the time if I could.

***********************

Sometimes scraps make beautiful stripes.  This bracelet's beads were made from a pile of scraps that, when rolled into a long cane, was then twisted to get these great beads.  If you don't know how to get your beads the same length without wasting hours with a ruler (like I used to do), consider a Marxit.  It's one of the most important tools for beadmakers who make sets of beads. 

***********************

Ok, this bracelet, even though it's not red, orange and yellow, just really sings to me. It's too bad I don't have a "look" with jewelry....honestly, I rarely wear it unless you can barely notice it....but if I did, this bracelet would be part of my grown-up, nearing
middle age "artist look".

                               


In any case, I could go on and on about stories about the bracelets I make.  I make a lot of them because more often than not, I only make enough beads in a set TO make a bracelet, and sometimes a pair of earrings to go with it.  This week I added 12 bracelets to my Polymer Clay Jewelry section on Etsy.  I'm also having a Mother's Day sale for all of us who want something nice but would like (or need) a deal.

My jewelry is already very affordable .... I don't have a big ego about my work and think that I need to charge a hundred dollars for something (Well, my Bead Embroidery work is another story.  But that stuff is on sale, too.)  ANYWAY, if you shop in my shop, and enter the promo coupon code "MOM30" at checkout where you're supposed to, you will get 30% off EVERYTHING you buy.  That includes my Stacker bead tutorials, which I can send to you via email as a PDF, or via "snail mail".  (If you get the snail mail version, I send two free Stacker Beads as an example to study.) I'm also extending the sale to May 18, because I know that there are folks like me who procrastinate.  We're all human.