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Hi all! A fun meeting it was, on this beautiful autumn Saturday at the YWCA in Asheville. Keep reading for -- ** We started by passing around
several books -- new polymer clay books by Barbara McGuire and
Sue Heaser, as well as a couple of books written in Dutch about
doll and figure making -- Renske brought these back from Holland.
Byrd brought her Polymer Clay Sue brought a huge array of candy molds and paper punches, both of which have interesting possibilities with polymer clay. Edie brought snacks, for which we were all grateful. :) We discussed a lot of things, as usual, and each new topic brought more subjects to mind. We discussed the importance of baking at the appropriate temperature, why to not use the pasta machine without the scrapers in place, consignment, selling retail, and pricing. The results of the Translucent Liquid Sculpey experiments and discussions are at the end of this message. ** The treasurer reported the grand sum of $24.00 in the guild treasury. ** It was agreed there would be no meeting in December, as almost everyone seems to be pretty busy with the approaching holidays. The next meeting will be Saturday, January 8, 2000. ** The demo coordinator, Sara Jane, will check with Heather about coming from Nashville, TN, for the January meeting to demonstrate her very professionally finished pens. Let's all keep our fingers crossed for that! Other demos in the guild's future include small lamps/nightlights, and painting with polymer clay. **If you have something you would like to demonstrate to the guild, please contact Sara Jane at sjwhyte@email.unc.edu. We have a lot of varied talents in this guild -- let's all learn from each other! ** The Polymer Clay 2000 calendar
is available at a reduced price through this guild. This lovely
calendar is usually $24.95, but we are able to make a one-time
purchase of them for $14.95 each. The calendar is 14" x
14" (large), and it's jam-packed with ** Edie has volunteered to organize
a bead swap within the guild. Here's the scoop: ** Speaking of beads, Irene introduced this idea, which she'd heard about from the Houston Polymer Clay Guild -- we could raffle off a Big Jar O' Beads. The purpose of this is to raise money for our guild, should we want to hire a Big Name for a class, or buy materials for the guild library, etc. The Houston PC Guild works it like this -- anyone who wants to can make a polymer clay bead and add it to the jar. When they add their bead, they also pay $1, and get a raffle ticket. The money goes to the guild via our trusty and faithful guild treasurer. When the jar is full, a ticket is chosen and that person wins The Entire Jar of Beads! (You need not be present to win.) Sounds great, doesn't it? Of course, the more you contribute, the better your chances. A big jar would make this really thrilling, but would also take a looooong time to fill, so the actual jar has not yet been decided on. We can start this immediately, so get working on your beads and bring them and your dollars to the January meeting! Email Irene at fatbak@pobox.com with any questions. (Note to those present at today's meeting, Irene is willing to coordinate this, since she brought it up!:) That's about it, folks. Hope everyone's holidays are peaceful, and we'll see each other Next Year! ** Several people brought the results of Translucent Liquid Sculpey experiments. Sara Jane showed thin sheets of TLS with swirled oil paints, as well as another sheet with textured fabric paint -- the latter stuck to the waxed paper it was baked on. Her samples that were baked on, then removed from, waxed paper, had a nice soft matte finish on the waxed paper side. Sara Jane also brought a set of wings for a dragon sculpture. She used a sheet of baked TLS for the wing, then added "ribs" of Sculpey Flex. When the two were bent and then baked together (second baking for the sheet of TLS), the sheet of TLS cracked along the bend line. No one had ever tried something similar, so we had no definite answers about what went wrong. Her last contribution was a very handsome Santa head. He was sculpted from Premo clay, baked, and then Delta Ceramcoat Soft Tint paint was used on his cheeks, lips, and eyes. Then a light coat of TLS thinned with Sculpey diluent was brushed over the entire face and rebaked. This acheived several things -- protection of the paints as well as a lovely "bisque" finish that did not perceptibly alter the colors on his face. Byrd brought a photocopy transfer onto TLS -- the image was her mother's high school graduation picture. The photocopy of a black and white photo transferred beautifully onto a fairly thick layer of TLS. Byrd baked hers on aluminum foil, which resulted in that side being very glossy. Pat brought a small cross pendant that she had strengthened by painting the back with TLS. She also used TLS as a "glue" to attach a polymer clay pendant bail for the cord. Irene had also done some photocopy
transfer experiments. She brought some pieces that were transferred
onto plain clay, and some that were transferred onto clay brushed
with TLS, assuming there would be a drastic difference for comparison
purposes. Although she's never had much luck with transfers before,
the non-TLS transfers actually turned out crisper and clearer
than those with it, so that hypothesis went out the window. Sara
Jane wondered if line drawings, as opposed to drawings with large
filled-in areas, would have produced different results. The only
instance in which the TLS made for a better transfer was one
set of samples using a 3-year-old photocopy. Irene also transferred We discussed the baking temperature
of Translucent Liquid Sculpey (275, bumped to 300 for extra hardness
and translucency), as well as what can be used for tinting it
(Pearl-Ex powders, oil paints). A few of us agreed it's easier
to have a dedicated brush than to try to thoroughly clean it
after each use. Another mutual discovery was the difficulty of
removing baked TLS by sanding. |
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