#Polymer Clay conferences

[ornamentodeux]

Highlights from Polymer Claycation 2024 in Lancaster

I’ve just returned from Polymer Claycation. The four-day polymer event, formerly known as Clayathon, was reincarnated as Polymer Claycation. It has a new board, a new logo and a new location in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. For those of you who were not familiar with Clayathon, it started as a small gathering of polymer artists in South Jersey in 2004. It grew into the largest retreat in the U.S. The…

[the-overthinkery]

ii

a/s/l?: early thirties, he/they, southern US.

vague example of things to expect here [aka, my interests, or some slice of them]: - pokemon, less the gameplay itself and more the phenomenon and universe. more specifically, collecting, and the history of "pokemania". everything about the first two generations, their development, all sorts of random ephemera

[the collection is about archival, for me, not investment, though i am selling off the hoard of cards i've been handed by people over time - people do the same thing with knitting supplies, sweats nervously while a pile of yarn spiked with needles threatens to topple over my shoulder] - the y2k moment in pop culture, in culture generally, that particular slice of history. everything about it, leading up to it, immediately afterwards.

- animals. all of them. in an extremely nerdy tone of voice. everything about them. i'm especially longwinded and curious about animal behavior, though, so probably a lot of that. beyond just animals tho, im just interested in the living organic body in any form, so there might be some anatomy going on around here. just so u know ahead of time. inside and out. the biological machine is a favorite subject of mine in my body [lol] of work. sometimes it's more of an exploded diagram. so just, heads up ahead of time :P

- psychology? probably? in some form or another? god knows i have the usual litany of Issue Problem Disorder[s], living w/ that for multiple decades kinda confers a certain investment in the field maybe. im also just interested in the nature of the mind & the patterns we can draw between it and behavior

- uhhhh probably furry stuff. it's fucked up to think that i've been a furry longer than some of y'all reading this now have been alive. like my fursona is literally older than you. what the hell. that wasn't supposed 2 happen. anyway my fursona is a human. a fucked up GMO one that doesn't resemble a human that closely anymore, specifically, but like. that's what i'd have to put under species LOL. also i transed my gender along the way, but she did not. guy with a female sona. delightful and weird sort of full circle all the way back to the days when so many prominent early furries were men in voluptuous fem fursuits.

- various art media and disciplines. like. a lot. i hop between them and cycle them every so often. drawing/illustration/painting, polymer clay, linocut/stamp making, fiber arts of every shape and size, flow arts, writing, worldbuilding, music, sometimes photography or cinema... i have fingers in many pies. realizing that drawing was my first, but didn't have to be my only, creative outlet, was extremely freeing. highly recommend.

- and a bunch of other stuff

[heljar-heimur]

ADHD and depending on opportunity they come and go.

fibre crafts are my go to hyper fixation that rotates, currently I’m obsessively cross stitching, before that it was crochet these also now semi coexist but large cross stitch has preference but I’ll crochet small stuff if I’m in class or at a conference or something. (keeping hands busy) 

I have also though a long list of crafts to learn or that I have tried and then quit. I had a polymer clay phase, I occasionally do stuff with it now if its apart of larger projects but otherwise its forgotten in crafting cabinet. I used to do a type of beading, its on a to be returned to list as a adult craft and not kids. I’m going to learn to make bobbin lace. I recently took a course in hat making, definitely something I’ll be doing more of when time but rn not doable. I taught myself needle tatting but decided I might like shuttle tatting better so that's also on hold. Sometimes when I’m meant to be doing something else I’ll grab that stuff and be like ooh I’ll do this now but usually that's procrastination.   

Other rotating ones are also often something related to something else, like randomly researching history and some specific lineage or event etc. This often comes back with me seeing some video or reading a novel that is set in that era. So I’d call them thematic ones. 

What usually does not return for me is fandom hyper fixations. I take periods where I obsessively read every fic tagged with a specific ship or tag in some fandom. Once I finish those and if I’m still obsessed with it I’ll make my selection criteria wider and go again. This might then turn into me writing for that fandom or me then never touching it again. I only return to these and some very specific “comfort” fandoms I relate to my early teens when I’m feeling stressed. Such as procrastination during finals or something.  I’ll also take sporiatic periods of eating a specific food item then either never wanting to eat it again or want it again in a few months. 

Okay I have a question so often I hear that when it comes to people who have autism or adhd ( myself included) that hyperfixations or special interests once they’re GONE they never come back but are there ever instances where an old hyperfixation returns if a memory about it is triggered ? Or are they just gone forever and never return and that’s that?

[conversci]

People Conducting Research - Brooke Farrugia

There was no doubt that Brooke Farrugia would become an engineer. She loves physics and maths, and while she wanted to help patients, she couldn’t see herself becoming a doctor. So, she became a different type of doctor. She studied biomedical engineering to develop treatments and medical devices that would help patients around the world.

Brooke’s high school science teacher, “Dr B” was so enthusiastic about science that it was difficult not to be inspired as a student. He had a PhD in lasers and shared his passion with his students. Some rubbed off on Brooke, who then undertook a five-year degree at the University of New South Wales, completing a Bachelor of Chemical Engineering and a Masters in Biomedical Engineering. During her degree, she always enjoyed the practical classes in the laboratory, and realised that she did not want a desk job. Being ever inquisitive and wanting to know why things happen, Brooke tested out the waters of research, taking on a project around making polymer microparticles for drug delivery.

Brooke then dived in, moving to the Graduate School of Biomedical Engineering at UNSW to complete her PhD. She asked a lecturer if they had a project on offer at the end of class, and a few weeks later, Brooke received an email from the lecturer, offering a project and supervision. During her doctoral studies, Brooke designed polymer nanocomposites and investigated biocompatible materials to use them in blood contacting applications. She added a type of clay to polymers so that they would maintain their surface properties and flexibility but be stronger.

After completing her PhD, Brooke moved to Queensland University of Technology’s Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation. She joined a group of 20-30 people, mostly cell biologists. Her supervisor was a polymer chemist and she was the token engineer. This gave her the chance to learn a lot about biology, especially the intricacies of the skin as the group formed part of the Wound Management Innovation Cooperative Research Centre.

The tissue repair and regeneration group that Brooke was a part of studied the skin healing process. Skin is complex in nature, comprised of numerous layers of cells and the extracellular matrix (the space between cells) making it difficult to replicate in the lab. Brooke designed and build 3D-printed scaffolds for making in vitro (lab-grown) skin models.

Brooke moved back to UNSW for her second postdoctoral position, joining a different research group in the same department. What started out as a postdoc morphed into an informal lecturing position as she began teaching more and more. Brooke’s research predominantly focused on proteoglycans, protein attached to “glycosaminoglycan” (GAG) sugar chains, that are abundant in the extracellular matrix. She developed biomimetic materials that mimic GAGs to protect growth factors and facilitate growth factor signalling, allowing wounds to close and heal faster.

Following a serendipitous discovery, Brooke also studies mast cells, which are immune cells that produce histamine during inflammation and allergy. When she prepared histology tissue slides to observe under the microscope, she used an antibody that required the tissues to be pre-treated with an enzyme before it would work. In all of the negative control slides (i.e. without treatment), there was still positive staining, meaning that some cells produced the same enzyme used to treat the sample. It was mast cells that produced an enzyme that cleaves GAGs, and it took six months for Brooke to convince others that this was a real result. Now Brooke studies what role this enzyme made by mast cells has in remodelling the skin following damage and/or inflammation. She is also developing biomimetics for anti-inflammatory strategies.

Proteoglycans and GAGs also have a role in cancer metastasis and tissue repair. The spread of tumour cells to new sites is regulated by multiple factors, including proteoglycans in the extracellular matrix. There have been recent advances in cancer therapies that target these and their modifying enzymes. Brooke is also interested in harnessing proteoglycans in cell scaffolds to direct cells to aid in tissue repair.

After six years, Brooke decided to spread her wings as an independent researcher. She moved to The University of Melbourne in 2019, where she researches and teaches as a Senior Lecturer in the School of Biomedical Engineering. She has mostly been continuing with the projects she started at UNSW, with her former lab members as important collaborators, and as she begins to supervise PhD students herself, her projects are starting to branch out more too.

‘Research is a small world,’ Brooke says. While academia is a stressful, competitive environment at times, Brooke would ‘rather collaborate than compete’. Knowing that she will never be an expert in everything, she reaches out to people with the expertise she doesn’t have. She is heavily involved in a number of scientific societies, including being the President of Australasian Wound and Tissue Regeneration Society; Secretary of the Matrix Biology Society of Australia and New Zealand; and a highly engaged member of Australasian Society of Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering, which she has been a member of since the beginning of her PhD. Being involved with these societies and attending domestic and overseas research conferences provides Brooke the chance to expand her networks and meet new collaborators – a vital part of research and discovery as we move into more interdisciplinary science.

In 2018, Brooke was awarded the Bob Fraser New Investigator Award by the Matrix Biology Society of Australia and New Zealand. The award recognises an emerging researcher who demonstrates outstanding research contributions and potential leadership. Brooke’s list of scientific accomplishments and dedication to the scientific community leaves no doubt that she will achieve great research outputs and have an impact on many people’s lives in the future.

Catriona Nguyen-Robertson | Science Communication Officer 

[c-actxs-blog]

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[glynntree]

Building a Puppet for the O’Neill

By Tree

This is Purple Pete. He is going with me to the O’Neill Puppetry Conference this June. As you can well imagine I am very excited to be going. This will be my first time attending the conference. For those of you who have never been to the O’Neil, a lot of preparation goes in to pulling it all together to attend. The application process is rigorous and thorough. Lots of writing. Applicants are pushed to think hard about puppetry and what it means to them as well as to get clear on intentions for going to the conference. Since I am going to be studying with Phillip Huber for the main strand, I need to bring along a puppet to work with while I’m there. I will be developing a three to three and a half minute, short strung, cabaret marionette piece. I decided I wanted to start fresh with a new puppet. To design and build it specifically for the piece I will be working on. It’s been quite a journey. The puppet has been rather involved so I thought I would share with the guild a bit about my build process for this puppet.

My intention was to create a sort of Comedia clown character since I will be using masks as part of this performance. I also really want a puppet that has a lot of possibilities for movement. The result is to create flexibility into his body construction to facilitate his physicality. Because of this I’ve probably spent the most time building this puppet to date. Wouldn’t surprise me to figure out that I may have put in around 200 hours into this little being. Having spent this much time building a puppet, I can say the results are definitely worthwhile.

The most frequent question I get asked is, what is your puppet made out of. For those of you who are curious here is the answer:

Purple Pete consists of head shoulders, arms, hands and feet made of super sculpey (polymer clay - the gray stuff ). I made as many pieces as I could with hollow parts to reduce weight.

The broken head pictured actually is a blessing in disguise since it offers a cut away view of the hollow head and how it attaches to the body. One thing I’m finding I like about this puppet building method, is that when puppet parts do break accidentally, the pieces don’t shatter into tiny bits. The breaks are pretty clean so a good dose of epoxy seems to do the trick. If he had broken before he was painted, he could have actually been repaired by adding and reinforcing with more polymer clay and re-baking the mended piece. On another puppet I accidentally dropped my Makita screw gun and broke the head and was able to repair it good as new using this method.

There are many types of polymer clays available these days and a variety of colors to choose from if you are so inclined. I usually like to paint my creations so for me the color of the clay usually doesn’t matter. Strength and durability are more important for me. I’m rather curious to try the German polymer clay Fimo Puppen. One website describes it as “extremely pliable and dimensionally stable”. It was created specifically for doll making. My understanding is that it retains a flexibility the regular polymer clays do not have after baking. Most polymer clays are pretty rigid once they are baked which is totally fine in sculptural applications but with puppets having some built-in flexibility to the material would be a plus. In my research on polymer clay, I’ve discovered different brands of polymer clay can be mixed together. The general wisdom seems to be that the clay is baked at the lower temperature setting for the two brands being mixed.

The other great thing about polymer clay is that you can bake in aluminum wire armature to fingers as pictured. This adds structure and strength. I also use aluminum sheeting cut into tongues that are drilled with a hole for the pivot point of the axle joint for fixed puppet joints like elbows. Knees, and ankles. Aluminum is considered

the best metal to use to bake into the clay since it doesn’t conduct excessive amounts of heat which could potentially cause the polymer clay to burn and potentially weaken the joint.

Now back to the rest of the puppet construction story. The torso is cane basket strips. The pelvis and butt under his little green shorts is carved balsa wood. His legs are bamboo grown and harvested from my back yard. He also has black onyx faceted beads for eyes. The facets are nice because it adds a twinkle to his eyes. I’ve also noticed it adds a bit to the illusion that perhaps he just blinked.

As I started to build him, I started to get a bit nervous about the weight after sculpting the head, shoulder, arms and hands out of the polymer clay. That is why I switched to lighter weight materials for other body parts. As it turns out I think my choices have ended up putting most of the weight in parts of a marionette where having weight is an advantage. I think he weighs in around 2.5 pounds which I don’t think is too bad for a 27.5 inch tall puppet.

So there you have it for this article on building of Purple Pete. If you have any questions or need of advice please feel free to contact me through the guild.

Happy puppet building!

-Tree

[goblinsworld]

Okay I'm still getting the hang of using my stylus on the touchscreen of my laptop but it's starting to get fun?? Also might order some polymer clay sometime this week and try to do that.

I have a conference to present at in March and I'll know if my abstract has been accepted by the end of the month so I'll have no time for fucking anything until the poster is done. So I guess I'd better start doing fun things now while I can.

[ornamentodeux]

Clayathon, 2023 and Beyond

Clayathon, an annual three-day get together for polymer clay artists and hobbyists, started because Arlene Groch, who had retired from the practice of law, brazenly decided to turn her conference room into polymer art studio. Polymer enthusiasts from the South Jersey area started to gather for all-day creativity sessions. They began to talk about about how wonderful it would be if they didn’t…

[sundaysandthorm-blog]

Top 20 Best Cyber Monday Deals on Amazon

By: WISEGUIDE STAFF

Looking for the best Cyber Monday deals on Amazon?

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The post Top 20 Best Cyber Monday Deals on Amazon appeared first on Mothering.

[thebonko]

I make and sell an awful lot of hop inspired jewelry and beer related accessories. Hops are what make beer taste like beer. My DH is a home brewer and we are entrenched in the craft beer scene in Vermont and Asheville, NC. What started as a lark to wear at beer festivals has become a serious piece of my business. So much so that I couldn’t keep up with the demand just using aspic cutters to make the beads.

My DH said that there had to be another way. And he was right…..as always. I started with the Cricut Cake Cutter. It was meant to cut fondant and that’s about the same consistency of raw polymer clay. And it worked for awhile. I switched to a MAC and they decided not to support that OS. I was able to cobble along with a half broken PC laptop while desperately looking for another option.

We searched around and found a professional cutter  – the Silver Bullet – that looked like it could handle the raw clay. And it does. It’s BIG and powerful and able to cut, etch, carve, and all kinds of wonderful things on all kinds of media. It was a huge investment.But something that we needed to do.

About the same time Alison Lee at Craftcast.com found out I was cutting raw polymer on a digital cutter. She asked if I could do a class using the Silhouette Cameo with polymer. She already had several classes using the Cameo to make projects from paper and metal clay. Her base had the machine and she wanted to give them something else to do with it.  I wasn’t sure if I could get it to work with polymer. I googled and didn’t find a lot going on with polymer. There were just a few instances and in all cases the clay had to be very, very, very thin.  

I had a friend come over who was using the Cameo with metal clay. We tried everything. We could get it to cut, but it left ‘smoosh’ marks all over the clay. The only way it would work was if the clay was really, really thin. I didn’t think that would be every useful. Then the DH poked his nose into the studio to see how it was going. Hair was being pulled out at this point and there was a lot of swearing. We recapped the problems and he looked it over. Then he very casually said -“why don’t you take the cap off the blade?” Yet again…. he was right. That was the secret. It was the cap that was causing the ‘smooshing’. With that gone we were now able to cut thicker pieces of clay that were more usable. But the Cameo still had a limit to the thickness it could cut. Mostly because of the layout of the machine that was meant to cut paper, card stock, and vinyl.

I was able to create a version of my Fantasy Flower Garden necklaces for the class. (The image at the top of the page is a bridal version of that collection). I even used the Silhouette Studio Software to design the flower shapes, colors, and layout of the piece.

I continued to experiment with the Cameo to create other projects. I made some ornaments and some what-not bowls.

  About a year later Silhouette announced a new machine  – the Curio. It was built to handle a variety of media in different thicknesses. It has adjustable platforms and a dual tool holder. By now I was on Silhouette’s radar and was able to score a machine early on for testing with clay. It worked great. I could cut much thicker clay and could even use special tools to carve the raw clay.

My next class on Craftcast took advantage of those properties. I taught my recipes for faux gemstones and ivory. Then we created a box using the faux ivory and the Curio to cut out spaces to inlay the faux gemstones and carve designs on the lid and sides of the box.

Last year I connected with Terri Johnson who organizes the All Things Silhouette conferences. I did presentations at two of the conferences last year and will be participating this year. The conferences are held outside Atlanta, GA  – June 10-11 and November 4-5. Terri puts on an A+++ event. Lots of great people sharing lots of tips and techniques. Since I never got these machines to use them for the purposes they were intended I learn quite a lot at these events. lol

I host a PC SILie Lovers group on Facebook. The ‘files’ section has lots of documents that cover the settings I use to cut different thicknesses of clay. There is a lot of useful information there. But the best way to learn the tips and tricks is by taking the Craftcast classes.

Cut it out! I make and sell an awful lot of hop inspired jewelry and beer related accessories. Hops are what make beer taste like beer.

[kyrabyrd]

I liked this enough to pin it to Polymer Clay Inspiration: Polymer Clay TV & Polymer Clay Productions: Synergy Conference: An international Gathering for Polymer Clay enthusiasts http://ift.tt/2jmiBVa

[ornamentodeux]

I attended  the Synergy4: A New Leaf » IPCA North American Conference this year, although other commitments limited me to  the opening reception and  first day’s programs. Fortunately for me,  the conference was in nearby King of Prussia and I was able to get a ride with a friend from Philadelphia who decided to commute to the conference. 

I attended  workshops  (how to unbox my creativity  with Anke Humpert and environment as inspiration with Beth Wegener),  drank lots of coffee, rekindled old polymer friendships and made new polymer friends.  The attendees were a very friendly and lively bunch!

The Monday sessions opened with Emily Squires Levine, Laura Tabakman and Julie Eakes talking about their global polymer installation, Into The Forest scheduled to open the weekend of November 10-11 at the Spinning Plate Gallery in Pittsburgh.

They brought a little bit of the forest with them as a preview:

Something new at Synergy this rear was Retreat Plus, an option that allowed people to have a polymer workspace and see polymer demos along with attending  some of the conference programs.

    Karen Woods and Alison Galant share screen printing techniques in the polymer workroom

No one ever gets out of the Synergy Gallery without spending something, but this year there were even better reasons to part with your cash.   I bought the beautiful  flower pin above to support Into The Forest.  And Ron Lehockey was there with a pile of hearts in support of his Heart Pin Project.  Who could resist temptation like that?  

New Leaves and Old Friends at Synergy 4 I attended  the Synergy4: A New Leaf » IPCA North American Conference this year, although other commitments limited me to  the opening reception and  first day's programs.

[ornamentodeux]

We are having a bit of polymer history this year at Clayathon.  I have donated the items received  in polymer clay swaps for Sherman Oberson to curate.   Some will be auctioned off.  Everybody will be able to see the collection of polymer pens, beads, canes, jewelry and more made in the late 1990’s.  Most of the work is primitive by todays standards and most of mine is downright ugly.   We were all learning then and many swappers included notes and cards with their stuff sharing what they did and how they did it.

  Polymer Clay didn’t  come into its own  as an art medium until the advent of the Internet.  Before then polymer artists found one another pretty much by serendipity.  A few of these artists founded the National Polymer Clay Guild.   The National Guild started holding conferences.   And the Internet was coming into its own as more and more people connected  and started surfing.  The most popular polymer site in those days was Polymer Clay Central.  This was back in the late 1990’s before Leigh and Stephen Ross took over the site from Arlene Thayer.   (I  was not able to find a screen shot on The Wayback Machine because it only started tracking the site in 2000.)

People flocked to Polymer Clay Central for information, news, and to participate in swaps.  What is a polymer clay swap?  Someone would volunteer to host a swap, decide on a theme and would post a call for participants in Polymer Clay Central.   People would sign up and make items according to the theme-one for every participant-and mail them to the host or Swap Meister along with a small amount of money to cover postage.  The Swap Meister would then send  each participants a box filled with everyone’s creations.

Leigh Ross recalled the excitement of receiving a swap box: “Swaps were sometimes the only way that we could actually see, in person, someone’s work besides our own! I remember the excitement of opening the “swap box” when it arrived in the mail, and the joy of seeing others who were as crazy about polymer clay as I was!”

Here are some of my favorite things from the swaps.  There will me more at Clayathon.

  You can see many more swap pictures on Polymer Clay Central here and here.

Experience the Golden Age of Swaps at Clayathon We are having a bit of polymer history this year at Clayathon.  I have donated the items received  in polymer clay swaps for…

[kyrabyrd]

I liked this enough to pin it to Polymer Clay Inspiration: Polymer Clay TV & Polymer Clay Productions: Synergy Conference: An international Gathering for Polymer Clay enthusiasts http://ift.tt/2ibDnsS

[kyrabyrd]

I liked this enough to pin it to Polymer Clay Inspiration: Polymer Clay TV & Polymer Clay Productions: Synergy Conference: An international Gathering for Polymer Clay enthusiasts http://ift.tt/2jmfnkD