I was Down But Not Out

Hi again.  I don't know where the time has gone these past 6 months but I will give you a quick update before I get into the new stuff:

As I have shared before, back in January 2020 my dad sadly passed away.  When Covid hit very shortly after, I brought my mom out to Chase, BC to stay with me.  We decided to make it permanent and so the two of us moved together in a new condo in Kelowna.  My plan was to take care of her until the end and avoid her having to go to a care home.  She had 2 leaking heart valves and one valve occluded (due to the pressure caused from the leak) so her heart was only functioning at 25%.

So mom's mind was very good and I enjoyed our time together including our talks about family history, etc.  Sadly, on May 29th, my mom passed away and she will be missed so much.  Our family had a beautiful memorial service for her in Alberta and her ashes along with dad's ashes were buried together.

While in Alberta, I stayed a bit for my nephew's wedding and visiting family and friends whom I hadn't seen in awhile.  Between all of this I have been learning to deal with my new "normal" -- Fibromyalgia.  I didn't realize how many of my health problems were all related to this one diagnosis.  Fortunately I have several wonderful doctors (family GP, Neurologist, Gastroenterologist and doctors at the Pain Clinic) who are working with me to improve my situation as much as possible.  I have to say there has been quite a bit of improvement in the past few months -- and as long as I can pace myself and not push too hard, it should be a bit more manageable.

So to add more misery to my life (any many others who are affected), the wonderful orange guy from south of the border has inflicted our country, along with the rest of the world, tariffs on anything shipped to the US.  The tariffs are 35% on top of what is purchased.  We also have to pay an extra 10% to the company that would be collecting the tariffs plus an extra charge of  $2/package to Canada post.  I refuse to pay these extremely high taxes/charges and I cannot see anyone wanting to pay that as an extra fee to their order so, sadly I have decided to suspend any orders shipped to the United States.

Then to beat us up even more . . . the Canadian Postal Workers decided to go on strike .. Again!  Yes this is the same strike that disrupted our deliveries for last Christmas.  It was suspended but not resolved and so here we go again!

In the meantime, my tutorial/lessons do not require physical shipping as they are PDF files that are sent directly to your e-mail address that is provided when purchased.  And right now I have a 30% off sale which will run until Tuesday, September 30th. 

So I have been able to do a bit of claying over this time to fill some store orders.  I will share some of that in my next post.  While working on an order for Kelowna Yarn & Needlecrafts (here in Kelowna), I managed to mix up the Pantone colors for this Fall/Winter using the Kato Clay so I am planning on sharing those here if any of you are still interested.

These recipes will be posted in a few days later in the week.  They are built on my "Clay Color System" so if you are looking for a unique way to mix colors and even a way to organize your clay and recipes, you might want to buy it now while it is on sale.

Introducing the new Revised Edition and Sale

I am happy to announce I finally finished the revised edition to my Clay Color System tutorial.  My original tutorial was first published 12 years ago (2011).  It is my own concept that I had been using for several years before that.

My original Color System tutorial was first based on Kato clay.  At that time, it was the only brand that was made in the true artist colors.  Previous to that, Premo (Sculpey brand) also had the true artist colors, but made the huge mistake of discontinuing them.  This created quite an uproar within the polymer clay artist community, so Sculpey decided to put back some of the colors into circulation -- but only the three primary colors -- Red, Yellow and Blue.  When the Sculpey company did this, a lot of clay artists jumped ship and switched to Kato clay.

While I personally like working with Kato clay, many artists find it difficult to condition (it is very hard/firm) and many have issues with the smell.  For me, it had become more difficult to obtain here in Canada as the shipping charges and extra import fees are horrendous.  And in the last few years, other clay brands that are made in the true artist colors have become more widely available, like Cernit (Number One series) and Fimo Professional (Not Fimo soft). 

I have tried Fimo Professional and find it quite nice to work with, however it does have it's issues.  For instance I like to make impressions in my clay which requires a mold release.  I generally prefer to use water instead of cornstarch.  Fimo clay reacts to water and becomes sticky and gummy.  If you would like to apply any type of powders to your textured clay, after using cornstarch as a mold release, any colored powders will not stick.

Since a year ago, I started experimenting with the Cernit brand clay and discovered how much I like it.  Not only are the colors true (Number One series) and vibrant, it is soft enough to work with without being too soft or sticky.  I also have all the colors in the Metallic, Pearl and Translucent.  Other than the Number One series, I love the Metallic the most.  The colors are just so scrumptious!  I am also intrigued with the Translucent as I have seen some amazing faux glass pieces created by other artists.

So in my last blog post, I announced that the Pantone color recipes would be the last I would be sharing with you here as I will be no longer using Kato clay.  You might be wondering about what will be next.  Any future recipes will be available in my online store and I will be sharing here inspiration on using those new colors.

The new Revised Edition of my Clay Color System was revamped to work with other brand clays besides Kato.  It does not have all the extra color recipes provided in my Original Clay Color System that uses Kato clay but these recipes can be purchased separately or as an extra bonus.  Many of these recipes are used as base colors to create the Pantone color recipes provided on this blog (see the link at the top of this page).  This means you can still create the older color recipes provided here using other clay brands besides Kato, but the end results might not be the same.

So if you do not have my Clay Color System and would like to learn more about an easy way of mixing color, I have it on sale (30% off until the end of this week.  To celebrate finishing my work, I decided to put all my other tutorials on sale for 30% off as well (excluding my snap tutorial with the bonus Starter packs).  No coupon code is necessary.  The prices have already been reduced.  The sale will end on midnight next Saturday, October 28.

* Also my preprinted color recipe cards will be available soon - as soon as my materials arrive.  I will keep you up to date on this.

Big Sale on All of our Tutorials!

So here is our first surprise sale right now -- All of our tutorial lessons are 50% off both in our online store and in our Etsy shop.  To get your discount, simply enter the coupon code:  HALFOFF at the check-out in either store.  See the links below to shop our tutorials and save.

Our tutorials in our Etsy shop are instant download so if you are from Europe, you will be subject to pay the extra tax.  Any tutorials sold in our online store will be sent to the e-mail address you provide.  You may notice a price difference between the two shops and that is because our Etsy shop is in US dollars and our online store is in Canadian currency.

This offer is for three days only and ends midnight Thursday, (Pacific Standard Time).  You can purchase as many and often as you like until that time.

Polymer Clay Adventure Retreat - payment plan and gift purchases now available.

I am so excited to be a part of the 2016 Polymer Clay Adventure Retreat!  This is a fun way to improve your polymer clay skills, learn some new techniques and make some new friends!  It is more than just lessons but a community you can connect with.  You can ask the teachers questions and share what you have made from the classes with the others.  Here is a cool video put together showing all the teachers and the fun projects that are all included in this year long retreat that you can attend right from the comfort of your own home!

This whole all-inclusive retreat is all for only $99 (U.S.).  And if it is too much to pay for all at once, they are now offering a 3x payment plan!  And now with the holiday season, gift purchases are also available for that special person or loved one.

I am still offering my new tutorial, "From Scrap Clay to Art Deco" as a bonus gift to the first 50 who sign up (click here or on the above photo) for the Polymer Clay Retreat through me.  Even if you are not ready to purchase, click on the link to be sure you will be registered under me later.

I'm Teaching at the 2016 Polymer Clay Adventure Retreat!

I announced in my last post that I will be teaching at the 2016 Polymer Clay Adventure Retreat which I am quite excited about.  It is an all inclusive event and for only $99 (about $4 a lesson!) you will receive 25 tutorials throughout the whole year!  The lessons this year are quite exciting as there are 21 other fellow artists from around the world who will also be sharing their cool stuff.

The tickets do not go up for sale until October 11 but before then you have a chance to win it for free!  So go to my previous post here and click on the picture to enter the contest for a chance to win and follow the other steps for more entries to increase your chances of winning.

Click on the photo below if you would like to find out more about this upcoming retreat:

Ever since introducing my "Summer Magic" Kite Necklace several years ago I have had so many requests for a tutorial on how to make one as well as offers to purchase my piece.  I decided this was the perfect opportunity to finally share it with you in this upcoming retreat.

I am also excited about another surprise which I will reveal more to you soon.  It is a special bonus gift offer to a limited amount of people who sign up for the retreat through me!

Resolutions For a New Year

I am always looking forward to starting a new year.  There is something about out with the old and a fresh new start.  I generally do not make new year's resolutions but this year I decided to make three.

One:  Try new things --  Ever since I have discovered polymer clay I feel I am constantly trying something new and pushing my boundaries.  It is always exciting to discover some new technique or vibrant color combination.  I already got a jump-start on this one.  Ever since I saw Judy Belcher's Micro Knitting in polymer clay, I knew I really wanted to learn how to do that.  Rather than trying to figure it out on my own I decided it was worth going right to the expert and learning directly from her.  I have had a chance to go through the tutorial and now excited about giving it a try.

Two:  Improve on the old.  No matter what we create, I feel there is always room for improvement.  Sometimes that means taking a new course or tutorial.  We all have a different view point and experience and so we can always learn from each other.  One of my favorite polymer clay techniques is mokume gane.  I have been creating with it for several years now but recently discovered how Melanie Muir had really learned how to master it with such a unique style.  While I really wasn't interested in making "Rock Cuffs", I decided to take Melanie's class through Craftcast and see if I could pick up any tips.  I managed to learn a few new things and after trying her method I found my mokume did improve and I was satisfied with the results.

The veneer on this kite bead necklace was created in a mokume using the new Pantone Spring 2013 colors of Monaco Blue, African Violet and Tender Shoots.

These buttons were made using the Pantone Spring 2013 colors of Monaco Blue, Dusk Blue, Emerald and Grayed Jade.  Both the kite beads and these buttons remind me a lot of Batik dyed fabric.

Three:  Don't over do it.  This one will be more of a challenge but sometimes I want to do too much and do not allow myself time for the first and second resolution.  This past year we found ourselves almost too busy at times and after Dave and I discussing things, we both decided that somethings had to give to allow more time for what was really important.  Making these types of decisions should not only reduce some of our stress but allow more time to enjoy the whole process and not feel so overwhelmed.

Now I am off to relax in our new jacuzzi hot tub for a nice relaxing soak.  This was our new addition to our home this year to help with the tendinitis in my shoulder and combat that extra stress.   It will be a good way to relax and unwind before we see in the New Year!