Greetings Everyone,

Those of you who were unable to make the June meeting missed an incredible meeting. As announced, Pat Smith demonstrated how she makes her wonderful miniatures, but that was only the beginning. Her demo was full of tips applicable not only to small scale clay figures, but to larger figures, production work, and the business of selling your clay. Pat is a wonderful resource and we are lucky to have her in our guild. We also had a stimulating discussion on the ethics of copies vs inspiration, which is a hot topic in an art where sharing of information is the norm rather than the exception. Everyone present had something to share on the topic; I wish we could have heard the input from every guild member. As an unexpected bonus, Edie Siegel brought an ingenious home-crafted device for foot-powered clay extrusion. Add to that the show and tell of clay and tools, and impromptu demos we all felt it was an experience not to be missed.

Now, on to future gatherings! So you can plan your calendar to not miss future meetings, we have set the standard meeting time for Noon of the second Saturday of each month, and the usual meeting place will be the YWCA on S. French Broad Ave. in Asheville, N.C. Due to some scheduling conflicts we will be changing the meeting place for the next two meetings, but not the dates. So, on Saturday, July 10th, Gail Jolley has graciously (and bravely) volunteered her home to replace the YWCA, which was already booked. Irene has volunteered to demonstrate inclusions with polymer clay. This will be a work along type demo and I am including Irene's suggestions below.

From Irene: "Re the inclusions demo... I'll be using translucent clay and demonstrating how to incorporate glitter, embossing powders, colored sand, mylar, hmmm.... and whatever else occurs to me betwixt now and then. I'll show both mixing into translucent clay and applying as a surface embellishment. I'll demo or talk about using metal leaf if anyone needs me to. I have large (1 lb) bags of colored sand that I will be happy to share. If anyone has interesting glitters, embossing powders, etc. that they want to bring to swap with other guild members this could be fun. Of course everyone who wants to swap inclusions should bring tiny baggies and maybe a half teaspoon measure."

It sounds like fun, so don't forget your supplies so you can play.

And just to get you really excited about future events, we are planning a road trip to Byrd's hometown of Bristol, Virginia for her demonstration of several types of caning techniques for the August 14th meeting. I will include details in an email at least a month in advance so you can get your supplies together. This will also be a clay-along demo, where you bring clay and go home with one or more canes. Cool!! And in the future we will have Kathy Wu's exciting demo on "Setting Your Clay Jewelry." Irene has also volunteered to show us how to not only take your pasta machine apart to clean it, but how to re-assemble so it still works! As you can tell, I am enthusiastic about all the talent we have at our fingertips in this group. I'm sure you will be, too.

I hope to see everyone soon at a meeting.

This is my first mailing from a new list I set up, so if you are on this list by mistake, or receive this twice, please let me know. Still fine tuning. Also, don't forget to keep sending along your suggestions for what you want to see at meetings. This is YOUR guild, and we need your feedback.

submitted by Sara Jane Whyte, June 20, 1999