More Clay Play Time & the Future

It has been really nice to have a new clay friend to spend some time with.  Denyse and her daughter Shaunna have been like sponges lately, wanting to absorb anything they can learn and I find that their enthusiasm is contagious and is such a joy to be around.  We played with our extruders the one day and I asked Denyse what she wanted to learn next and she told me she really wanted to learn how to make flowers and cane construction.

We started with a review on making another skinner blend for our flowers and then created two styles of flower canes using the same blend.  We then made a bulls-eye lace cane for our flower centers and then created a floral design.  We ran out of time so Denyse and Shaunna took their flowers home to be baked and we will make something from them the next time we clay together.  The two flowers on top were both made with Kato clay which Denyse has decided to use for future after playing with it as well as Premo.

Shaunna prefers to work with the Premo clay but even with air conditioning, the clay was so soft we had to put her canes in the fridge to chill as they were a little soft and mushy.  That is one of the reasons she found forming her flower a little more challenging so she might have to get use to leaching her clay as it will be easier to work with.

Denyse finished her fused glass wind chimes and sent me a photo of it so I could share it with you.  She incorporated some of her clay beads she made the first time we clayed together (you can see them here) and they just blend beautifully with her design.  They are towards the bottom of each dangle above the large glass pieces.  Isn't this piece really cool?

We also discovered something that I need to share with you all.  After 6+ years, our supply of Future Acrylic Floor finish was finally running low and we needed more.  Since Denyse needed some for herself as well, she managed to pick up a new bottle to share but we had noticed that not only the label has changed, so has the name -- again.  It use to be called Future Floor Finish then changed to Pledge with Future and now it is just called Pledge Floor Care.

The bottle on the left is my old original bottle and the one on the right is the new product.

There is no mention of Future anywhere on the bottle so we wanted to be sure it was the same product. Then Denyse pointed out the UPC codes which is exactly the same on both bottles.

This means they are the same but could really cause some confusion for anyone out there looking for this product.  I hope this helps and we can spread the work in case others are having a difficult time finding the right stuff.