My personal Mike B crusade

A few months back I get a message asking if I could help someone find copies of Mike Buesseler’s old polymer VHS videos. They haven’t been in production for MANY years and have become impossible to find. I have felt for a long time that it was a crime to just let all Mike’s amazing talent and teaching ability fade into the past. The new generation of polymer clay users would never know what they were missing !!!

I sort of took it upon myself to find out who holds the copyright to the videos now. After much Googling and asking around the polymer clay community, it turned out that person was Tory Hughes. 😀 After some emails back and forth, it was decided to take the old videos and create digital copies that could easily be distributed.  Next was trying to find a place to host the videos. I tried a couple file sharing websites, but that was not working. Luckily the IPCA (International Polymer Clay Association) stepped up and was able to use their verified YouTube account to upload the huge video files. They videos are FREE for everyone to enjoy. They will always be free of charge.

Landscape Canes

 

All Polymer Metallic Clay

 

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Fiona Abel-Smith: Friday Featured Artist (on Saturday)

Sorry I am a day late with this post. The orders for the Helen Breil Silk Screens overwhelmed me just a bit. 🙂 I am going to be very bust this weekend.

This weeks artist makes the most amazing boxes I have ever seen ! Her name is Fiona Abel-Smith and I am in awe. They are entirely polymer clay ! !

Look at the details involved. Stunning ! Absolutely stunning !

Even the inside is finished with mokume gane. WOW!

Here is a picture of just the lid to one of her boxes. I can not even imagine how many hours of work this took to complete just the lid.

Oh, and Fiona makes dragons and jewelry too. 🙂

You can see more of Fiona’s work in her Flickr Gallery.

Why Attend a Workshop? For results like these !

I am so jealous of all the people who are in a position to attend a workshop with one of the soooo many wonderful polymer clay teachers that are out there. I see pictures and I can not help but drool. If I’m drooling (and dreaming) then I choose to have you doing the same thing. LOL

Look at the student photos from this Kathleen Dustin Workshop that just happened on May 19 & 22, 2011 in Schaan. That’s in Germany I think.

This next photo is of the cuff bracelets students made during a class with Bettina Welker in Linz Austria.

And another of Bettina’s classes making Etched Pendants.

These pendants and mosaic boxes were created in classes taught by Anke Humpert

Tiles bracelets stamped with chalk taught by Jana Lehmann

Canes made in Leigh Ross’ Millennium Garden workshop

And what they made with the canes 🙂

A Kaleidoscope Cane workshop with Kerstin Ruprecht

Canework from a Sandra McCaw intricate caning class.

Lovely beads made in a Donna Kato class

Student’s mokume gane projects from a Julie Picarello classes.

I seriously need a clay time fix now. How about you ?
Happy Claying !!!

Freely Sharing Ideas

A list of recent free tutorials from the blogs I read. Lot’s of great ideas here. 🙂

Carolyn shows us how to turn a large tube bead into a Fan Pull And her tips on texture for those tube beads. Carolyn also has a good idea for making your own texture plates.

Marie Segal did a series of cane tutorials on how to make African Trade Beads out of polymer clay.

Here are the following parts 🙂
http://mariesegal.blogspot.com/2011/03/african-trade-beads-part-2.html
http://mariesegal.blogspot.com/2011/03/african-trade-beads-part-3.html
http://mariesegal.blogspot.com/2011/03/african-trade-beads-part-4.html
http://mariesegal.blogspot.com/2011/03/african-trade-beads-part-5.html
There may be more parts, so keep your eye on Marie’s Blog. She actually has a lot of great free tutorials on her blog, so read all the back posts 🙂

Zuda Gay has a couple nice floral tutorials on her blog.
sculpting a little leaf
how to make a hibiscus flower

I used Google translator on this French blog, but you know how accurate that is LOL It a tutorial on how to a hollow bead make hollow beads using what I believe is a cotton ball bead covered with clay, baked, then drilled and de-cottoned. *G* Here is a picture of her finished bead used in a necklace.

Cristalline always has wonderful tutorials 🙂 This watermelon cane is no exception.

Here is a whole list of tutorial on her blog.

Another French blogger that always seems to have something fun to learn on her blog is Parole de Pate. This month it’s Extruded Whirlwinds, Imitation Mother of Pearl, and a Caged Bead

And yet another French blog with a fun Faux Knit design.

If you need to translate any of these links use Google Translator. Paste the web address into the box, choose the languages and click translate.

Having trouble getting that prefect wire wrapped loop? Tina can help 🙂 Try this free tutorial.

Incredible Canes !!!!

Wandering around Facebook I noticed one of my Friends had shared a link to one of their Friends. The link took me to a blog called Polymer Clay Shed. I couldn’t believe I hadn’t seen this blog yet, because I was definitely missing out.

The artists name is Carola Greiser and she goes by CraftsByCag. She’s a member of PCAGOE (Polymer Clay Artist Guild of Etsy). Carola has one Etsy shop for her jewelry , which has some amazing bead for sale and a second shop for her other items, like crochet hooks and pens. But what I really want to share with you all is Carola’s cane work. It is nothing short of stunning !!!! I sooooooo want the 2 purple background one in the first picture 🙂

That is just a tiny fraction of the cane work you can see in Carola’s Flickr Photo Gallery. Enjoy and try not to drool 😉

Dora’s Tutorial – Building a Kaleidoscope Cane

Follow this link over to Dora’s Explorations for a great tutorial on putting together Kaleidoscope Canes.

Where does the time go? And Facebook Friends Featured Artist: Noelia Contreras

I can’t believe it’s been 9 days since my last post. Seems like I was just here. It’s those *bleeping* Facebook games I tell you. They are addictive. LOL

It’s time to feature a Facebook Artist again. I haven’t done this in a while and need to get back to my weekly feature schedule.

This weeks artist is Noelia Contreras 🙂
Noelia is one talented and versatile clayer. Not only does she make the yummiest looking mini food

But she canes

and makes jewelry too

She also does some fabulous bead work, but you’ll have to wander on over to Noelia’s Flickr Gallery to see it and the rest of her incredible work. 🙂
She also has an Etsy Shop
and a blog you might like to follow.

Tips on Reducing a Square Cane

My pal Betty Jo shared a nice way to reduce square canes on her blog.
Check it out here.

Sarah Shriver’s New Web Site !!!!

Sarah just unveiled her new web site www.sarahshriver.com

The eye candy alone is worth the visit 🙂 You can also check on Sarah’s teaching calendar and the different classes available.

Contact Sarah to see if you can set up a class in your area.

Keila Hernandez’s Nativity Cane

Keila took on a huge task with this Nativity Cane. She carefully drew her design on paper to get the dimensions correct and started the long precess of building the cane.

The original drawing

Lots of Skinner Blend canes

That's a lot of detail !

Packing the background

Great way to create a starry sky

Take a look at the results. Beautiful work Keila !!!!!!!!!!!!

Ready To Be Reduced

You can click on any picture to see all the pictures of the process in Keila’s Flickr album