Polymer Clay for Beginners

I've decided to start teaching a full-day workshop on the basics of polymer clay.  No prior experience will be required, and I will provide the clay and the use of all the tools in my home studio.  Students will learn about the different clays, how to properly condition and bake them, what tools are really needed, how to use texture sheets, mica powders, sealers, and how to make Skinner blends and what to do with them once you make them.  A 12-page handout full of information will be provided as well.

Because my orientation is toward jewelry, the first project will be a pendant and earrings made with texture and mica powders and the second project will be a convertible brooch/pendant using a Skinner Blend and inlay techniques.  As time allows and depending on student interest, we will look at mokume gane or some basic canes.

If you know of someone in the greater Toronto, Burlington or Hamilton areas interested in learning about this versatile medium, tell them to contact me at cynthiablantonstudio@gmail.com.  I'm located in Oakville convenient to the QEW and Third Line.

A Terrific Knitter's Frolic

I had a great show at the Toronto Knitter's Frolic and sold lots of my shawl pins, scarf clips and buttons. Despite the fact that the major freeway leading into Toronto was closed in both directions all day, the crowds were plentiful and definitely in a spending mood. It was probably my best show ever.

Toronto Knitter's Frolic

I'm busy getting my inventory of shawl pins, scarf clips and buttons ready for the Toronto Knitter's Frolic sponsored by the Downtown Knit Collective.   Here's the poster for the show:

Silk Screening on Polymer Clay Workshop

I'm really excited about a workshop I'm signed up for this summer.  It will be all about silkscreening on polymer clay which is a technique I've been interested in for a long time.  The teacher is Karen Woods and she is quite talented in a variety of media.  The information follows:

Karen Woods

So excited to be teaching silk screening on polymer clay this summer at theTouchstone Center for Crafts July 27-Aug.2! If you are within driving distance of southern Pennsylvania, (or fly into Pittsburgh!) come join us! Learn to design screens, make them, and use them in so many ways, not just on polymer!

Sign up by May 1 for a 25% earlybird discount!

Back in the studio

At long last I am back in the studio making inventory for my next show.  I will be at the Toronto Knitter's Frolic on April 26, so I am busy making shawl pins and scarf clips.  My latest designs are of scarf clips using a spring-type clip purchased from Shades of Clay.  A big thank you to Carolyn Good of 2GoodClaymates for her free tutorial on how to attach the clips to polymer clay.

It's been a long time

A lot has happened since I last posted.  My speech to the Kitchener-Waterloo Knitters' Guild went well but then two days later I got a call in the middle of the night telling me that my father had passed away.  He was 94 and in the hospital for a minor infection, but otherwise healthy, so it was quite a shock.  He outlived all his friends and family except for his kids, so there was no funeral or service of any kind.  I finished up a couple of craft shows in late October and early November and then drove down to Florida to wrap up his affairs.

Since then I have been taking a vacation from jewelry making and instead focussed, pun intended, on a couple of photography projects.  I edited and optimized my digital photos from trips to the Thelon region of the Northwest Territories of Canada and also from a trip to see the mountain gorillas of Rwanda and produced two hardbound books of my photos using a print-on-demand service called Blurb.  You lay out your book and then upload it to Blurb and they print and bind it and mail it to you.  Very cool.

You can actually look at my books online.  I had no intention of trying to sell them, but I discovered that Blurb automatically puts them online with the price to produce them, so I'm using it just as a feature to share the books with friends.  If you go to this link, click on the book and then click on the full screen icon (the little box with outward pointing arrows) and you can page through the book.

For the Rwanda book:  http://blur.by/1dWgVuA

For the Thelon book with photos of musk oxen: http://blur.by/1fuRCzE

Thanks for looking.

Exciting news

I've been asked to be the featured speaker at the Kitchener-Waterloo (two cities in Ontario) Knitters' Guild on October 8.  This is a huge guild with 180-200 members and as many as 140 people showing up for meetings.  Their theme for the year is Accessories and I will be talking about shawl pins and how to use them.  I've prepared a PowerPoint presentation on the history of shawl pins and then, using my mannequin, I will demonstrate a bunch of different ways to use shawl pins with various types of scarves and shawls.  This should be fun!  Not only are they going to pay me a speaker's fee, but they are going to let me sell my pins after the speech!  Some photos from the PDF I'm going to send folks who sign up for my mailing list: