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Greetings fellow BRPCG members!
Thanks to all for a wonderful meeting this past Saturday. A long
meeting report follows. To those of you who are on the polymerclayinterest
email list, you'll have already seen this, since I posted there
by mistake. Oops.
Was it a record attendance for
our September meeting? A few left early and a few others came
late, and the total number of people was 17. We had a lot of
show and tell, including (but not limited to!) eggs from Penny,
eggs and candleholders from Byrd, pendants from Nancy, and from
Maggie, a couple of items she made using the wire-wrapping technique
we learned in Linda Goff's class.
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Pat collected and redistributed our beads for the mokume gane
bead swap -- hurrah! All are lovely and it's so much fun to see
how many different interpretations of this technique people come
up with.
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In the bead mood, many people contributed their extra mokume
gane bead to the guild bead strand. And finally, the two lonely
beads in the bead jar have some company! Sixteen contributions
were made -- thank you all! Remember, every time you put in a
bead and a dollar, and you get a chance to win the entire jar
when it's full.
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Approximately a dozen back issues of the NPCG newsletter were
added to our guild library. Contact guild librarian Gail at g-tjolley@juno.com for lending
info.
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Penny told us she had taken the initiative and contacted HGTV,
and as a result, notice of our guild meetings will be included
in the Carol Duval show calendar. Thanks Penny! Hey, we're big
time!
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A rough draft of a guild "business card" was passed
around. It includes a little about our guild -- meeting time
and location, dues, email list, and contact info. This will be
something for any of us to be able to hand to people interested
in our guild. I hope to have these ready by the October meeting
for anyone to take if they want.
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We're growing and new members are joining us all the time, and
remembering everyone's names has become more and more of a challenge,
especially for those newer members who suddenly have to learn
many names. So we're making nametags to wear to future meetings.
Ho-hum, you might say, but there is a twist. We each drew a name
and we're making someone else's nametag. And we won't know who's
making whose until we give them to their owners at the November
meeting! It was suggested that each nametag be no larger than
a business card, approximately 3.5 x 2 inches. Attach a pin back
to the back. Sara Jane generously offered to bring some brass
tubing and tubing cutter so that we can convert the pins to pendants
if we want.
If you were not at the meeting
at the time of the drawing, you can still play. Email me, Irene,
at fatbak@pobox.com and
I will send you the name of someone who needs a nametag and I'll
send your name to someone else. In order for me to do all the
shuffling of names, be sure to email me by Friday Sept 29 --
no later! I'll shuffle the names and hand them out the next day,
Sept. 30. They're not due 'til the November meeting, so you'll
have plenty of time.
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The subject of a guild logo came up once again. Gail bravely
volunteered to coordinate the creation of the logo. She'll post
more info when she has gathered her thoughts on how to proceed
with this.
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Following a question Byrd posed to the guild, it was generally
agreed that it would be appropriate for her to charge a nominal
fee for guild members to take her preliminary class. This would
be more than a demo, perhaps an all-day class, and it would be
an opportunity for Byrd to have a practice class with us guinea
pigs. :) We're just waiting for Byrd to let us know when.
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Byrd requested that when we create something using the info we've
learned in a guild demo, that we bring it to the next meeting
to show the guild what we've done with the ideas and techniques
we've learned.
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And speaking of demos, Penny shared with us how to do brick-stitch
beading. Her samples were beautiful glass jars with the bottom
portion covered with polymer clay, and the neck covered with
coordinating beads woven into a pattern. She included a handout
with her demo, and passed around what looked to be an excellent
book for learning beadweaving. I think it was called Creative
Beadweaving and I think the author was Carol Wilcox Wells.
Beads and polymer clay seem to naturally go together, but this
was a slightly different way of combining them. Thanks, Penny,
for a brief but intriguing demo.
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On tap for the next few months:
In October, new member Rebecca will demonstrate creating a double
wedding ring quilt cane. It's a beauty, and she said it's easier
than one would think. She'll post the required clay and other
materials if you want to clay along with her demo.
In November, I will lead us all
in creating a harmonious color palette. I will post what you
need to bring at the end of October or so.
In December.... well, it's very
possible that there won't be a meeting in December; there wasn't
last year. Many people are busy with the approaching holidays.
If anyone does want to meet, please post to the list. We need
to cancel our reservation at the YWCA if no one or not enough
people plan to attend.
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It was good to see everyone on Saturday! Next meeting, October
14.
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submitted by Irene Semanchuk
Dean, September 10, 2000 |