Blair and I had a grand time at the Worthington Arts Festival. Read about us here and see a few more pictures of our exploits here.

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The International Polymer Clay Association met in Worthington for their first strategy meeting. The bottom picture shows the new executive director, Kathy Reynolds, and incoming president, Suzanne Ivester.

The beat goes on…

Taking a break from brainstorming, the group tried a little hand drumming that you can view here.

This time Blair accompanied me on one of my polymer clay jaunts. We went to Santa Fe for a weeklong color class, playing guinea pig for color divas Lindly Haunani and Maggie Maggio. Here are the links to all the pictures.

Blair hiked and visited Ann Wu and entertained himself while the polymer artists basked in the Santa Fe fall colors back at the compound. Take a look.

After a week in Seattle learning color and playing with fellow artists, I’ve jumped back into my polymer work at home. The picture at left shows me inlaying extruded polymer canes into a wide-lipped walnut bowl that Blair turned. This is the same pattern I used in a smaller walnut bowl. It’s a much more dynamic presentation in the wider 1 1/2" groove.

The other photo shows the beginning of a "quilted" inlay for a cherry bowl. I calculate the amount of surface area that will be covered by polymer and then make a sheet of pattern that will be sliced and inlaid. This particular bowl has 3 grooves (what were we thinking) and I’m not sure what I’ll put in each of the grooves.

I’m back from a lovely vacation in Portland and on Whidbey Island outside Seattle. The polymer clay community’s foremost experts on color, Maggie Maggio and Lindly Haunani, had our little group focused on Maggie’s new color theory and color mixing.

After a week, it all began to sink in. That’s Carol Simmon’s color study of Fimo …mine wasn’t nearly as neat.

We focused on food as well, inspired by Karen’s wonderful Baby Island Lodge kitchen and by Lindly’s culinary skills.

The ocean, the tidepools, a first trip to funky Portland, Powell’s bookstore, Maggie’s house and family, our cottage on the beach at Oceanside, late nights of girltalk…wonderful memories.

This "tetris" walnut bowl shows my recent fascination with extrusions. I’m planning to pursue this further. The first piece in this series sold quickly to a chemical engineer who liked it and kindly explained some principles of fluid dynamics to me. Armed with some knowledge of how the polymer clay is traveling down that cylinder, I’m anxious to experiment further.

Here’s an update on our music room addition. The floor is in, Blair’s building the black shelves, drawers and window seats that will be installed in the front of the room.

At present it has a distinct dance hall look. That should fade some as Blair adds the cabinetry and I start reinstalling the artwork, books and computer.

All in all a fun project that makes the house seem much larger and the space much more inviting.

In case you missed our last boast, here’s a picture of the redone "casbah" bathroom complete with polymer-inlaid walnut bowl sink and copper tub surround. We let our imaginations run wild in this little bathroom and it’s turned out to be a fabulous place to take a candlelit bath.

And here’s the link back to the beginning of the renovation.