Monday, July 29, 2013

Making New Friends

The past few weeks have been extra special for me as I have not only met some really cool people, I also made a new friend.  We received a call the other day from someone we had met at the Salmon Arm Quilt Show last June who had a friend visiting from the U.S. that wanted to meet us.  We always love it when people want to visit our (home) studio and see how and what we are working on.  This is how we met Nora who was on holidays and travelling all the way from Arizona.  Nora works with polymer clay and brought some pieces with her to show what her and her friends had made.  It is so neat to connect with other polymer clayers since we all feel we have such a common bond.


The other person we met recently is my new friend, Denyse Pyke, who is a fused glass artist.  She came across our work at Katja's Quilt Shoppe and contacted me right away.  She has had an interest in polymer clay for a while now and wanted to learn so asked if I could teach her.  We spent a fun day together where I gave her some basic instruction on working with clay such as conditioning, basic color mixing, baking, sanding, etc.  We made some skinner blends and then used them to create several jelly roll canes.


Denyse then covered a few tools and made some beads with those canes.  These are a few of the items she made and for someone who never even touched polymer clay before, I was quite impressed as to how quick she could pick it up.  I especially love the set of earring beads she made.  She is talented in other things such as quilting but also creates beautiful fused glass jewelry pieces.  She made the beads below in a color blend to add to a wind chime she was making with her fused glass.


When Denyse went home she showed her daughter, Shawna, what she had made and they played with the clay a little more.  The two of them came over a few days later and we all played with making some extruder canes which I forgot to photograph so will have to share them with you later.


I am so happy to not only make a new friend, but one that I can also enjoy claying with!

6 comments:

Unknown said...

It must be my turn to blog, again something I have never done. In Feb. this year I bought my very first sewing machine and decided I was going to learn how to quilt, I do stained glass, fused glass, and 30 years ago I did beading. So I saw this funky checker board set last year at a christmas craft fair and found out it was made of polymer clay. What? Polymer clay, what the heck is that? Themyoung girl told me it was clay you bake in an oven, well ok then, I have an oven, no clay no tools, back burner it went. After my first 2 quilts and a few lap quilts, a dog bed and really bad rug, my kids said, whats next mom? I told them polymer clay! But in 2 years when I have time. Then I trek into one of my go to quilting shops and lo an behold this stunning assortment of "things" are on the counter at the check out. 2goodclaymates it said, that was a sign! Time for clay. Skip the 2 years and giddyyap full throttle. The best part, I met Carolyn she lives only 15 minutes from me and her work just blows my mind! Her enthusiam gets my energy up and inreases my desire to create and learn.

2 Good Claymates said...

I am so glad you shared your version Denyse! And yes you need to start a blog or get a website to at least show off your fabulous work!

Tiger said...

What a wonderful thing to make a new friend and to have one to play with clay with. I love clay and wish I had you as a teacher. Your work had always amazed me. :)

Carla said...

How fun is that!? I recognize the lady in the last picture. She comes into Katja's. enjoy creating today!

2 Good Claymates said...

Thank-you Jennifer for your sweet comment. I hope my work does help to inspire you and even though we are not together in person, hopefully I can still teach you through my lessons and this blog.

2 Good Claymates said...

Yes Carla, that is Denyse in the 2nd photo with her daughter. You most likely have met her at Katja's as she does shop there. Thanks to us selling our work there, that is how we connected and is really fun to have a friend that likes to clay too! Thanks for stopping by!