Celebrations, Preparations and Featured in Polymer Arts Blog

I was pleasantly surprised to see one of our "Ebbtide" Necklaces featured on The Polymer Arts Blog this morning (yesterday).  The blog is by Sage Bray who is also the creator and editor of The Polymer Arts Magazine.  This is a great new magazine which is also available in digital format.

I hadn't thought about this necklace for awhile until I saw it on Sage's blog.  It brought back memories of some our past work and how it keeps changing and evolving over the years.

This fall and winter has been a busy season for Dave and I and so felt good to take some time out to finally rest, relax and catch our breaths.  We also took a little time to celebrate 26 great years together (26 on the 26th) and now it is time to start thinking and planning our work for the new year.  We generally like to discuss what we have made and sold in the past and what we want to work towards in the future.  It helps us to stay focused and head in the direction we want to go.

Having someone to work together and discuss things with has been a real blessing for me.  It is so easy to get caught up in my clay and with two people working together as a team helps keep things a little more in balance.

Right now our focus is on my first ever gallery showing that is coming up in February.  It is an all polymer show in Vancouver called "The Chameleon Clay" in which I am thrilled to be one of six featured artists.  Other members of the local polymer clay guilds will be submitting items for the juried part of the show as well.

There is a lot of finishing details yet to prepare such as how to display some of the pieces I will be showing and a few special items that are still not quite complete.  You can read more about this show here and follow the blog that has been set up about it here.  My Container/Vase will be one of the pieces included in the gallery show.  It is made completely from polymer clay and the lid fits in just the right position so the opening is completely hidden when it is closed.

Wholesale vs. Retail

I received the first edition of a new clay magazine, The Polymer Arts, in my e-mail inbox the other day.  When I discovered you could purchase a digital version, as opposed to a hard copy by snail mail, I decided to give it a try.

I found the Controlled Crackling technique to be quite interesting and something I might want to play around with some day.  The article "Transitioning into Wholesale" was very timely for us since that is basically the stage where we are at.

We started out last March with our first quilting store purchasing our buttons.  That has grown to several more stores selling our shawl pins and now beads as well.  Our wholesale end seems to be taking over and we are at a crossroads as how to divide our time.

We are still booked in for several shows over the next six months and by the end of that time we should be closer to making a more informed decision.