What I do with my junk clay

Polymer clay artists all have something in common. We all have that box or container that is heaping full of "junk" clay. Whether we are working in millefiori, making ornaments, miniatures or sculpture, we all have bits and pieces of clay left over.

Since I tend to be a bit disorganized, my junk clay is tossed in a wire basket. Whenever I clean off my desk, I take all my left over clay and, instead of neatly pushing all the same colors together, I sweep them off the desk into the basket. Then, about once a month, I sort the clay into like colors and mix. I then try to use those colors before I open up a new package.

On a weekly basis though, I mix all of the junk colors together into a beautiful swirl of colors and make product. I try to mix colors that look good together. For instance, I'll mix yellow, orange and pink together, blue, green, teal and white together, and black, golds, yellows, and white
together.

When I mix them, I roll out each color into a tube, place the tubes together and twist. I do this for only a few minutes. Too much mixing will turn the colors into an ugly gray.

Once I've mixed my swirly colors, I can make colorful one of a kind creations. This little fatty fairy has yellow, green and
orange clays mixed together.


My favorite ornament to make is this little set of Mary, Joseph and Jesus. I swirled blue, white and pink together to make this sweet sculpture.










I make a lot of swirly dragons and fairies from junk clay. Little boys love these characters, especially if there's a long tongue and sharp teeth.


I just recently started to make swirly buttons. But I only use premo clay for the buttons, so I've started a separate junk box just for premo. Premo clay is much more durable, and for something as functional as a button, I want to use better clay.

I'd like to share one final idea. Sometimes junk clay can get a little dirty with specks of dust, hair, lint, etc. I wash my clay with tepid to light warm water and lay it out on paper towels to dry. (that's important, you don't want to bake wet clay, as it can leave little cracks in your project.)

Clay can be expensive, so take care of it. Tomorrow I'm going to give you some hints on how to soften hard, old clay that has never been baked.

Polymer Clay Community

I have been using polymer clay since 1982 and started teaching it in 1987. Polymer clay has been in my home since and I assume it'll be there when I die. I've joked with my kids that at my funeral I want everyone to take home a clay souvenir. (they don't think it's funny, but I'm serious about it)..

Through my experience and journey with clay I've never joined a clay group, a swap or taken a class. I just love it so much, I dove in and found it was something I was good at. I've never considered myself an elitist or part of the "art" community when it comes to clay. I do my thing, you do yours. I admire other people's work and am inspired by some. A lot of people know who I am because of all of the shows I've done and now, because of the Internet. I still have a day job though, cause I've never been quite able to only live on my clay alone. It supplements my income and satisfies my creative cravings.

So, it really amazes me at all of the negative postings I've read on some clay forums in regard to the Polyform/Donna Dewberry partnership. A lot of clay "divas" are mad that they weren't consulted or chosen to be a part of the decisions of the clay and some complain about the certification. Some didn't bother applying for it, so they have nothing to whine about. Others did, but were cynical and negative. I personally applied cause I didn't want to miss out on it and thought it would be fun. If something comes of it, cool. If not, I'm not going to be disappointed.

When I read the comments that people make on the boards, I wonder where their egos come from. Some of the complaints: that they weren't chosen to be a part of it, they weren't consulted about the new clay , they doubt the competence of the manufacturers , they make fun of the trainers and they even have made fun of the names of the clay colors. I've noticed an arrogance mixed in with a lot of ignorance and wrong assumptions.

I've not made any comments on my own on the boards. It's a waste of time to argue and try to justify what Polyform has done. My goodness, they've been in business for 30 plus years and they sell clay around the world. The polymer diva's who buy clay couldn't have kept them in business that long. Too bad these complainers couldn't have taken the factory tour with me. They'd soon realize that the thousands and thousands of bars of clay that were EVERYWHERE weren't being sold to just an elite few.

My opinion is that polymer clay is what it is to the person that is using it. If you make stunningly beautiful canes and it takes you hours to complete a piece then I can see how you would feel that your piece is valuable and an expression of art. Maybe it can go into the Smithsonian Museum. Or maybe you are like me and make cute little characters that make people smile. Finally, you might be a 6 year old cutting out a Christmas ornament and baking it for your mother. Each one of us feels our work is meaningful. It's not the median we use, but what we do with it.

Clay is like crayons. Some people scribble and others make beautiful artwork.

Here are two links to show what can be done with crayons....

Jeffery Robert

The Crayon Artist


Now let's all stop arguing about the medium and start creating with it.:)

Ups Nightmare and Snowbabies in Ireland

Now I know why I only use USPS to ship. The reason; United Parcel Service is inept and rude.

Today I got the chance to "attempt" to pick up my big box from Polyform. It's been waiting at the UPS station in Detroit for about 5 days. The driver only left me a final attempt notice on Friday night,,failed to leave me the first and second attempt notice.

Anyway, I live about 8 or 9 miles from the UPS location in Detroit, and it's not the nicest of areas. It's funny, cause it's directly across the street from the neighborhood I grew up in back in 1960s. I could see my front yard as I turned into the UPS parking lot. The lot was busy with big UPS trucks and people with packages; however, those people with packages were finding out (as did I) that the office hours were 11:00 am to 7 pm.
It was 9:30 am..a wasted trip for me and three other customers.

I guess it wouldn't have been so bad if it hadn't taken me 26 minutes to drive 8 miles. I wasn't prepared for the road crew that had completely taken over the main route to UPS. Warren Avenue is undergoing major road repair and it was horrible driving. I drive a little metro and it was stop and go along the way with huge tractors and machinery turning, backing up, stopping. There was a slight drop off to the right of the road that I was trying like heck to avoid. Someone has an accident and there were cops everywhere, glass, ambulances. Construction workers were measuring out lengths of the road and were standing in the middle of traffic. I actually was relieved when I crossed from Dearborn (where all this construction was) to Detroit. The graffiti scribbled on burned out buildings was looking pretty good compared to the nightmarish traffic I had just endured. So, when I discovered that I had just wasted gas and 30 minutes of my time because UPS was closed, I started to get upset. I think I may have been swearing to myself as I pulled out of the congested driveway and headed back home (avoiding Warren Avenue)..

I called UPS and complained about the driver's inefficiency and was tossed around to different departments. Finally, someone from the Detroit station called me back and told me that I had to be home to sign for the package. When I informed her that I had to be at work, she told me that most people don't have packages sent to their home if they weren't going to be there.
An argument ensued and before I knew it, she had hung up on me.

By then, I had started to feel my chest tighten up and I called customer service. I'm usually an easy going person, but UPS's unwillingness to help me out and inability to proclaim it's fault in this matter, made me mad.

Thank God, the customer service woman did her best and suggested that the package be sent to my job. I liked this idea, and from now on, all packages sent to me will be delivered to my work address. After I receive my package, I'll take pictures of some of the projects and all that wonderful clay and post it here...


Ok, for some happier news...

My Snowman cake topper arrived in Ireland safe and sound.

The couple who ordered the topper sent me a check in Euros and my bank wouldn't cash it. I was supposed to send it back to my customer so they could send me another form of payment. I hadn't mailed the topper, and time went by, so I sent the check and the topper to Ireland. Shipping was around $15.00 and it arrived in 5 days. I sent the buyers an invoice through paypal and even though they didn't have an account, by evening they had signed up and paid me in full.
Leap of faith on my part to send something across the ocean without payment. I am not the sharpest business person, so luckily it worked out.

I've shipped clay pieces to Australia, the North Pole, England, Germany, and South America, and, now, Ireland. My clay babies have traveled more than I have.

Step by step picture tutorial

Here's a quick and easy way to make a turkey. You can adjust the size by adding more quantities of clay. I've included a penny in the pictures to give you an idea of size.

First you roll a ball of brown clay about the size of a walnut...



Then roll smaller ball of yellow, one of red, one of orange and one of brown...






Roll the smaller balls into snakes....


Then, twist all the colors together,,kind of like a candy cane...





Smooth the candy cane and break into 7 equal pieces (we will call these feathers)






Roll out each feather smoothly in your hand and bring to a point. Flatten slightly. Place one on top, one on each side, then fill in the back with the remaining feathers. Put slight pressure to attach to back.

Roll out a tube about 1/2 inch long, this is the neck and head. Attach to middle front of body.
Add a yellow beak, red wattle...
Back in oven for 20 minutes at 265 degrees..let cool.

You can use this as a decoration on your table, or make several and use for each person's place setting.

If you have any questions, email me at garritygal@yahoo.com.

Watching Horror Movies & Making Clay

Well, I've been home for a week now and haven't done much with regional trainer information. I'm supposed to contact Donna Dewberry and give her three training dates and start working on some sample boards. Being gone for a week set me back a week.

One thing that I absolutely have to do is finish a cake topper that is going to Ireland. That'll be done by tomorrow..maybe even shipped. The bride wants a snowman bride and groom cause she is getting married right around Christmas. As soon as I finish it, I'll post a picture.

One of the coolest things that happened when I went to Chicago was that I got to tour the Polyform factory. (did I mention that?) I have been buying clay from them since 1982 so it was fun to step inside the inner sanctum and see where they manufacture polymer clay. We were not allowed to take pictures inside the factory part of the building, but I did take some pictures of the office areas. There were a lot of samples in different offices and the waiting rooms. I even saw on of the samples they purchased from me.

Some of the Regional Trainers with Donna in the Polyform Board Room..



Samples of different projects from Polymer Clay

One of the many projects I did for Polyform..this was the last one they purchased from me.



One of the nicest things that polyform did for us was continually give us bars of clay as we trained. We were given 34 bars of the new clay in the beginning days of training, then an additional 10 to 20 bars. On the last day they surprised us by giving us an additional 34 bars of clay, a very generous gift. I'm patiently waiting for my box of clay to arrive, since it was too much to carry home on the train. I also received 34 bars of the new clay about 5 weeks ago. I'm considered one of their "designers" and we "designers" receive free samples periodically to try out new clays and give our feedback on them. We also received some awesome clay tools and a dozen beautiful texture sheets. These items will not be available to the public till December or January.
Posing with some of the trainers as we tried out the new clay and tools.

If you enjoy using polymer clay, you will really like the new clay, called Studio by Sculpey. It is soft, colors are great and it is VERY durable. One of the trainers stepped on a wooden frame that was decorated with clay leaves and nothing broke. The clay is a bit flexible and can be rolled out very thin. It is sure to be well received.

Horror Movies??

The title of this blog is "watching horror movies" and that's where I'm off to now. Nothing like watching a cheesy 60's horror flick on a Friday night. I might even pop some popcorn...

Adventures in Chicago-land..

When I first got the notice that Sculpey was starting a new education program, partnering with Donna Dewberry, I quickly scanned over the email, thought about it for a moment or two, then put it out of my mind. It wasn't till I received another email that the deadline had been extended that I started to give it some serious thought. Procrastinator that I am, I waited till two days before the deadline, filled out my application and tossed it in the mail. I don't even think it got there in time, but a few months later I received a phone call from Donna Dewberry.

Donna's website.

She wanted to interview me. This was not the first time I had spoken to her. I had met her several years ago at a convention in Chicago and as we talked we found out we had something in common; we both started out in salt dough, then moved on to clay. The big difference between us,,she developed the One-stroke painting method and became very wealthy. I continued in clay and DIDN"T become wealthy. (no biggie,,I am not that driven :)

To make a long story short, she loved my enthusiasm and I was chosen to be an alternate for the new education program that she and sculpey developed. However, one of the original 12 backed out of the program,giving me the opportunity to be the final regional trainer.

The program in a nutshell is this...I and 11 others were "certified" last week in Chicago by Donna Dewberry and Sculpey.

Sculpey website

Our function is to certify other teachers who will in turn teach others polymer clay. It's an "i can do this" program. A lot of people look at polymer clay and fear it. These classes make it very easy for a beginner to do a project from start to finish and feel a sense of accomplishment.

Time will tell how well this program will work. I'm excited about it as I've always been a big fan of polymer clay and have taught classes on and off for years. If anyone is interested in knowing more about the program, please email me. I will be talking about it on this blog also.