aMused at Etsy

I have re-opened my Etsy Shop! It isn't very big but it is nicely located and has a steady flow of traffic and I'm meeting some very nice people who are dropping by to say hello.The shelves have some new FiShyFuSion Bangles today and I plan to add some muses tomorrow!

An Outstanding Workshop at the Ranch Arts Centre in Snohomish

I just returned home from a workshop  at  The Ranch Centre for the Arts in  beautiful Snohomish Washington. I can't say enough about how much I learned at Shannon Weber's Kelp Pouches and Vessels class! The small group clicked and conversation was lively and enthusiastic.  Shannon is my favourite kind of instructor- she gives a firm foundation in the basics then encourages experimentation. The studio sink was packed with reams of gorgeous perfectly conditioned Oregonian kelp which has a feel that is similar to deerhide or chamois. It was glorious for stitching and I worked on the three projects shown- the rectangular vessel is not complete and I'll show it in a later post.

Randi and Shannon

Shannon will be teaching a second class at the Ranch in August- Adventures with the Woven Vessel- When Fibre Meets Wax. I've never ventured into encaustic and I'm looking forward to another trip to Snohomish. I highly recommend the Ranch. Randi has an astonishing selection of offerings scheduled!

I returned home to see a lot of unexpected activity in Flickr, Facebook and on my blog and was absolutely over the moon to discover that my Fishy FuSions were featured in Polymer Clay Daily! What a great feeling!

Fish Fetish FuSions

I've spent the last few weeks experimenting with clay and some of the lovely dyed reed I won in a raffle at the NW Basketweavers Conference. The experiments are ongoing and I don't have anything to publish here- the experiments are being unwoven and re-done. For some reason I've been especially fascinated with fish. There's been a spillover onto my FuSion Bangles which is especially fun because production work stays  interesting with a new approach here and there.

On the Subject of Reading...Check out Polymer Arts Spring 2013

I was doing way tooo much multi-tasking in March and forgot to mention that Suzanne Ivester and Alice Stroppel had a really lovely article about storytelling with Polymer Wall Art  in the Spring Issue of Polymer Arts. My work is featured along with Edgar Hernandez, Layl McDill, Marisol Ross and the ever inspiring Maureen Carlson.
I also love the article on personal symbolism....and if like me, you find pricing your art to be a kerplexing concept there's an article about that too!

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Well- THIS is exciting!

As many of you may know, Cynthia Tinapple has been writing a new book-

Polymer Clay Global Perspectives: Emerging Ideas and Techniques from 125 International Artists!

For me, the most exciting part of it all is that I was included as one of the polymer artists to be interviewed and to put together a tutorial on Clay on Canvas.

Cynthia just announced that the book will be released on July 30. It is available for presale on and you can  Pre-order on Amazon

I also expect to be receiving a copy (or two) to give away so check back- I'll be concocting some sort of fun challenge!
I  recall mentioning to Cynthia in a Skype interview that I am the world's worst Etsy seller... a dubious distinction that I am going to try to remedy asap!