Bears, Beads & Bonding: Fun at Guild
My local polymer clay guild met Saturday, and new member Nance Ross taught us. Not only did I learn how to make these cute little articulated teddy bears, but I also learned what that means! (Articulated means his little arms & legs are movable, in case the term is new to anyone else.)
After a fun day at the Oklahoma guild on Saturday, hubby & I decided to make a quick trip down the interstate on Sunday to visit the North Texas Polymer Clay Guild. (Well, technically, I visited the guild; he hung out at places offering free wi-fi.) I'd been meaning to visit for a while now. After all, when I helped found our local guild 1 1/2 years ago, I had no idea what was supposed to happen at a guild meeting. I figured it's high time I learned! Plus I'd heard Laura Griffin was teaching this meeting, and I've always admired her style, both in polymer clay and in rubber stamping/paper crafts.
Laura's lesson was great & I learned some handy tricks for creating a faux ceramic look with 3-D molded beads. But what I enjoyed most was that I felt very much at home with this group of people I'd never met before. I didn't use to think I was a group-joining type, but it's so easy to connect with other creatives who "speak your language." If I didn't already have a local guild, I seriously think it'd be worth the 3.5 hour drive to go to theirs.
Do you have a local guild? (Don't know? Check here.) Are you involved in it?
- If you have a local polymer clay guild, but have been nervous about checking it out, I'd really encourage you to. (And if you're in central Oklahoma, consider this a personal invitation!) Most guilds love sharing their polymer clay passion with everyone, regardless of skill level.
- If your closest guild is a bit of a drive, I'd encourage you to try it out at least once. You might find the benefits of hanging out with other creative people are worth the driving time -- at least once in a while.
- And if there's not a guild anywhere near you, I'd encourage you to look into starting one. It's not as hard as you might imagine! (This document has a lot of good info for getting started.) There's a fair chance that if you're looking for a guild, there are others nearby who would also be interested.
So a big thanks to the North Texas guild for letting me sit in on their meeting -- what a great group of folks! And a special thanks to my fellow Central Oklahoma guild members. I truly appreciate you.
Comments
Very cute bear Angela! Does it head turn too?
Posted by: Cindy Lietz | April 14, 2008 7:49 PM
Thanks, Cindy. Nope, only the arms & legs move.
Posted by: Angela | April 14, 2008 8:32 PM
Your beads are lovely! I went to Laura's blog thinking her blue necklaces were yours and left a comment there *blush* anyway, your beads are gorgeous too! Love the middle yellow ones, Krafty Lady has a mould just like that one :) (probably made from a button!!!).
Thanks for your blog :)
Posted by: France | April 15, 2008 7:59 AM
Yes, these were all made from buttons -- I believe Laura said she got hers from Hobby Lobby. (I borrowed her buttons to mold, so I can see why you confused my beads with hers!)
I'm afraid this project is going to contribute to my growing button obsession! :-)
Posted by: Angela | April 15, 2008 9:02 AM
Was great having you at the meeting, Angela! We'd love to have you join us again. :)
FYI - JoAnns also has a lot of the buttons that I've used...so they're a great resource as well. I was there tonight & was so tempted to buy a few more sets...but I'm holding off for a 50% sale. *LOL* Once you get started, you don't want to stop!
Posted by: Laura | April 15, 2008 10:27 PM
Thanks for letting me know about JoAnns, Laura. And another good place for buttons is eBay: you can get huge lots of metal buttons for relatively inexpensive. You don't always know exactly what you'll be getting -- which can lead to all sorts of serendipity. Course if you don't want to become a compulsive button-buyer, you may not even want to start down the eBay path! :-)
Posted by: Angela | April 16, 2008 6:44 AM