My blog got a nice mention in the latest International Polymer Clay Association Newsletter.  The Studio Snapshot feature got a special attention.  I’ll try to post a new one later this week.  I’ve been interested to see a proliferation of special magazines focusing on artists’ studios.  I’ve been wishing for a long time that there were more resources for seeing how other artists set up their creative spaces.  I’d love to see a magazine like Art Jewelry do a regular feature on artists’ studios.

©2009 Libzoid Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Location: Augusta, Maine

Blog: Constance Pelkey Designs

Other websites: Etsy Shop and  Artfire Shop

Do you have a dedicated studio/artistic space? Yes

Where is it located? The small front room on the second floor of our home is the main studio where I work in PC, PMC, sewing, bead stringing and wire wrapping. My kiln, buffer, tumbler, and convection oven live in a small area of the basement, and a small photo studio is set up in the 3rd floor attic space. I crochet and bead weave in the living room while watching TV in the evening, and in the summer I often bring a small set up of whatever I am working on outside to the back deck.

Is it a large or small space? The main space is small, very small.

What medium(s) do you work in? Polymer Clay, Precious Metal Clay, Beads, Wire, free style sewing and crochet.

Do you have a separate area for each? Yes, I try to

What one word would you use to describe your studio? Small

What do you think is the best feature of your studio? It’s mine! I don’t share this room with any other household function!

What would you change if you could? It’s size and the carpeting on the floor!

Can you share an organizational tip? Everything NEEDS a home and when you are done with it, put it away! (yeah, right! !)

Describe the usual state of your work table? In progress. I ALWAYS have something I’m working on, on it!

Does your work table face out into the room or toward the wall? The main place I sit (PC station) faces out into the room and a window is on my right. The PMC station is on the opposite side of the table and I sit facing the wall with the window on my left. The sewing and stringing stations are on the opposite side of the room.

What’s one drawback of your studio/artistic space? Having a space so small I need to split up the finishing (basement) and photo studio areas. I’d LOVE to have a larger room with space for everything in it. I am happy with what I have for now.

Do you have any studio mascots (pets, mannequin whatever)? Yes, I have a Betta fish and my dog Nero is ever present wherever I am.

Do you have an idea wall or inspiration board? Yeah, there’s a bulletin board above my head as I sit at the sewing station… I see it clearly from my main PC station.

Do you listen to music in your studio? Yep! What kind? Eclectic.

Do you display your own work in your studio? Yeah, there’s pieces around the room.

Other artists’ work? A few.

What’s one quirk or unusual feature of your studio? There’s a door with no actual door on hinges that leads into our bedroom. I’ve placed a cabinet right in the doorway and my wire wrap station is in the cabinet as well as some storage, there’s a small TV on top of the cabinet which can be spun around so we can watch TV in bed if we like… more often than not though the TV is on HGTV as I work. i LOVE that network!

©2009 Libzoid Blog. All Rights Reserved.

The workshop will be “Dancing with the Rainbow”.

Here is Lindly’s description of the workshop (from her blog):

Dancing with the Rainbow- two day Workshop

Learn how to create blazing, simmering or evocative color schemes. This multi-sensory approach makes learning about color fun! Define your color preferences, learn how to recipe/replicate colors and increase your color confidence. This workshop is ideal for anyone desiring to enhance the color impact in their work- whether you work with watercolors, colored pencils, collage, fibers or polymer clay.

Understanding how to utilize the three properties of color: hue, value and saturation, to your advantage add cohesion and impact to your work. Learn why the “rules” as they are outlined in many color reference books, rarely provide satisfactory results. We will begin with exploring your color likes and dislikes and de-mystifying the vocabulary of color design. During the afternoon session we will explore custom mixing pigment primaries using polymer clay and how to mix to match colors. The second day will include exercises to explore color harmonies and how proportion and simultaneity can magically change the look of your color schemes as you construct a series of colorful polymer clay fabrics to be fashioned into a “crazy-quilt” mirror frame. Come with an open heart and mind and prepare to be amazed.

Date:  October 24 & 25, 2009

Location:  St Paul’s Church, Wallingford, CT

Workshop fee:  $150 ($140 for SCPCG or NYPCG members)

Supply fee: $25 /person includes frame, color handout and polymer clay

Note:  This workshop centers around developing a personalized palette and is best suited for experienced polymer clay artists- as the emphasis is on “seeing” color rather than learning new polymer clay techniques.

I took this workshop in the fall of 2007 and loved it.  The pair of photos above show the collage and mirror I made.  I’m looking forward to doing it again.  Although I am a bit more confidant in mixing custom color palettes for myself these days, I still struggle with combining colors.  The workshop will be a great opportunity to immerse myself in color.

Please contact me (you can use the Contact button at the top of my blog) if you are interested in coming to the workshop.

Space is limited.

©2009 Libzoid Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Suffice it to say, the exhibit is well worth a visit.  The museum is a gem in and of itself.  (It’s bigger than I expected) The exhibit is wonderful, and more varied than it first appears when you glance down the relatively small gallery space it occupies.  With sculptural pieces, furniture with polymer clay veneers, jewelry, teapots, wall art and more, the exhibit really showcases the versatility of the medium.

Jeff Dever’s “Edensong Reverie” is an amazing piece.  I couldn’t get a good picture of it, but click the link for a very cool video of the installation.

Along with the opening reception, the museum hosted a panel discussion with several of the contributing artists.  There’s an excellent article about the discussion on Polymer Art Archive.  Listening to the artists, I was especially struck with the impressive progress Elise Winters has made in getting important polymer pieces placed at museums around the country.

It was a lovely afternoon.  In addition to the exhibit and panel discussion, I really enjoyed catching up with friends.  It was fun to introduce my husband to several friends he’s heard about over the years, but never had an opportunity to meet. And it’s always fun to spend time immersing myself in the colorful possibilities of polymer clay.

In the same vein, Lindly Haunani and Maggie Maggio’s new book Polymer Clay Color Inspirations just arrived on my doorstop.

I’ve been anxiously awaiting this book and it didn’t disappoint.  It’s a wonderful book.  The gallery sections, called “Artist Spotlights” are wonderful and showcase stunning polymer work you’ve haven’t necessarily seen in all the other books.  But it’s the real content of the book, the color approaches, the exercises and the projects that are the true value of the book.

I have taken classes from both Lindly and Maggie and I find the book feels like the perfect workbook.  I am really looking forward to playing around with it.

©2009 Libzoid Blog. All Rights Reserved.

The picture above shows how my name should look when I managed to get everything right.  The problem with individual letter stamps is that it can be tricky to get the spacing right.  Other things can go wrong too.  Common problems included incomplete stamping, incorrect letter orientation etc.

So recently I ordered a custom name stamp from Infinity Stamps.  While the version above looks fine, I have to say that I am thrilled with my new stamp.

It’s so clear and precise and now I only have one stamp to line up instead of four.

©2009 Libzoid Blog. All Rights Reserved.

The pendant came back to me for repair, which in this case meant replacing the inset polymer clay section.

I meant to take a picture of the cracked version, but I think I must have tossed it in the trash as soon as I got the new version made.  Luckily I had a tiny bit of the striped cane left.  I even had a smidgen of the cane end section to make Deana a pair of earrings to match.

(despite the photos, these really do match in real life.  Purple is strangely difficult to photograph.)

The Good: We had a Guild Clay Day last weekend and I had a lot of fun laughing and running massive quantities of clay through my pasta machine.  Since I have been on a real ikat cane kick lately, I thought I’d try my hand at some Susan Hyde style canes.

Instructions for this type of cane can be found in this book.  I didn’t follow the directions completely in that I didn’t include glitter and embossing powder.  I’m not much of a glitter girl and I’ve never had much luck with embossing powder.   It was especially fun to make these canes at the Clay Day because I handed off my scraps to a couple of friends who tweaked them and turned out a bunch of Bottles of Hope.  I think that’s the best use of scrap clay yet.

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Searching through my various jewelry boxes, trays and storage bins I was able to pull together a pretty big pile of necklaces, bracelets and earrings.  I hauled the lot over to my Mother-in-law’s condo and stood back while my sister-in-law, mother-in-law and two nieces oohed, aahhed and fought over everything.  I am truly sorry I didn’t take any pictures.  It was a lot of fun for every one involved.  About two thirds of the pile went off to happy new homes.  They even pulled out a few things for a couple of family members who weren’t present.

So much fun!

©2009 Libzoid Blog. All Rights Reserved.

It was a great weekend, very mellow.  The whole thing was incredibly well organized and a delight to attend.  There’s a special kind of buzz in the air when you fill a big room with more than 50 polymer clay artists at work.  It was great to see old friends and meet some new ones.  Watch some great demos, eat delicious food, shop and play with clay.  Surprisingly I even finished a fair number of things.  I made a few ikat canes and used them to cover the nifty silver bead cores from Metal Clay Findings.  This was the first time I covered the smaller 1/8 inch cores.  I’d only used the 1/4 inch cores previously. I really like the skinny little spacers interspersed with the larger beads.

Diane Villano spent the weekend working with the silver bead cores too.  She sat across from me and we both fielded a lot of questions about covering them with clay.  Diane’s beads have wonderful flowers on them.  We traded and I got this lovely bead:

I turned one ikat cane into a set of earrings and a pendant.    Then I gave them to a friend who had generously opened her home to me when I was in her area taking a polymer clay workshop last year.  She injured her shoulder this year and hasn’t been able to do anything creative for quite a while.  She showed up in a light blue t-shirt which matched the set I had just finished and I decided they needed to go home with her.

It was a really happy weekend all around.

©2009 Libzoid Blog. All Rights Reserved.

This torch is the first butane torch which seems to have been designed with jewelrymaking in mind.  It has a larger reservoir which claims to provide as much as 90 minutes of burn time.  The best part of this torch though is the ability to adjust the flame to a larger bushier flame.  I soldered 4 complete bezels yesterday and my new torch performed beautifully.

Once I finish filing and drilling holes, I can switch to some polymer clay work.  I love being able to switch between the two.

©2009 Libzoid Blog. All Rights Reserved.

I am really excited about the new ventilation system I put in at my soldering table.  One of the really nifty things about taking a Rio Grande Education In Motion class, like the Microfold Texture class I took at Bead & Button, is that you get to try out lots of exciting tools from the catalog.  The item that most intrigued me in the class was the ventilation system they had set up at the soldering stations.

(click to enlarge)

It’s a dual filter system designed for fume extraction at a soldering station.  It is fitted with a “Loc-line” hose which is flexible, but will stay where you aim it.  The shorter section at the front of the base unit is a noise dampener which works beautifully to bring the fan noise down to a reasonable level.  It’s a powerful unit and without the dampener, it sounds like an industrial fan.

My basement studio doesn’t have any windows and it was more than time for me to install some kind of ventilation system.  I don’t do tons of soldering here, but I do enough that I needed to address the issue.  What I like about this system is that it is portable.  If I rearrange the studio, I can move it to a new spot.  When we eventually move again, it goes with me.  It’s quite powerful and with the noise dampener, quiet enough that I can still hear my ipod playing (ok, blaring) in the background.  And I am pretty happy that installing it didn’t require cutting a hole in a wall.

©2009 Libzoid Blog. All Rights Reserved.