With our first meeting of 2022, we were delighted to welcome not only two new members, but also a new group leader.  Enid Winder, our group leader  for almost 10 years, was very warmly thanked for all the work she has put in including keeping us going with inspiration and Zoom calls through Covid.  We will miss her strong leadership but thankfully we can still rely on her advice and support as she is staying on as a member.  Our new leader, Anne Smith, has been in the group working alongside Enid for about the same length of time so we know we are in very competent hands. 

Anne showed us a technique in making a patchwork veneer using extruded strands of black polymer clay strings. 

Our talented members had a go and produced these beautiful works

​In the afternoon, both Anne and Enid showed some ideas for using pastels and mica powders with textures, stencils and stamps to create some interesting effects.  Did you know we can change colour of polymer clay using shaved pastels too? 

​We also brought in the miniatures we had made following Sue Heaser’s visit last time.   The raffle prize for this was a goodie bag of the new Cernit clays and it went to Pam.  For next time, the challenge is to make something in Monochrome. Black and white pieces are always popular. 

We had our usual ‘trash to treasure’ table, our regular raffle and a table of new clay to purchase. Besides all these activities, we all had a great time chatting to each other and getting to know our new members. We also had the usual 'Show & Tell' table so members can display their latest works. 

Hope you can join us next time for another day of claying fun!

We begin 2022 with a flying start as in our first demonstration of the year Shelly will be showing us these super cute fairies. Our second demo is polymer patchwork led by Anne.
For the fairies you need 2 colours of polymer clay plus flesh colour and black and white. Usual tools plus scissors, card, and if you have them, extruder, glitter glue and ‘etch n pearl’ tool.
For the patchwork you need 3 or more colours, plus black or a dark colour. Usual tools plus baking paper
Please remember to bring your completed ‘miniatures’, and a prize for the raffle if you can. There will be clay for sale and all of our usual tables (Trash to treasure, show & tell)

Please email apcg@live.co.uk to RSVP your spot. 

Can't wait to see everyone again!

​Members of the guild enjoyed our first face to face meeting since March 2020. We were all so pleased to be able to meet again and we had lots of catching up to do!
It is very pleasing that our membership numbers have remained steady, in spite of the pandemic.  I know many Groups have ceased to operate in the last eighteen months. 
A big thank you must go to Enid who has valiantly kept the guild going through difficult times by arranging zoom meetings and suggesting topics for pieces to be made by members, to be entered into a draw for a prize.
 
On Sunday David was downsizing his supplies so we made donations for items, to send the money to PSP (Progressive Supranuclear Palsy) a charity very close to his heart. £170.00 was raised.

​In the morning David showed us how to make skinny tube beads and in the afternoon Anne showed us how she makes large hollow beads with striped stacks of translucent clay.

​We had our usual sales tables and raffle as well as some lovely pieces to show, which had been made by our members.

​Shelly is standing down as part of the organising team. Many thanks to her for all her hard work and time she has given. Thank you to those members who very willingly stepped up to cover her duties. 

• Georgie will manage the Tools Library
• Sue Butler has taken on running our Facebook page
• Alison will be the new Membership Secretary. 

You will also be aware that, while not standing down completely yet Enid would like to spread the load of being Leader of the Guild. 
Anne has agreed to take on some of this role, and Sue Butler has also offered to help. So, in future, they will be more of the “Face” of the Guild.
 
At the ClayDay, we decided that we would continue with our Two-monthly Draw.  The difference being, now that we are able to meet again, is that instead of sending photos of your pieces to enter, you will bring them to the next ClayDay on 7th November.  The subject, this time, is Translucent.  Any piece that has a significant amount of translucency will be fine.  Bring your piece to the next ClayDay.  Your name will go into the Draw, and a winner picked at random.  So, this is not a competition, only a Draw.  The prize will be an online or pdf tutorial, yet to be selected.

Our next meeting will be at Wortham, near Diss on Sunday 7th November 2021 starting at 10.30am.

Next Sunday 19th September will be our first face-to-face meeting for 18 months.  In the morning, David will be showing us how to make very slim cylinder beads.  He will also be bringing some materials, which he is giving to Guild members, for a donation to charity.  In the afternoon, Anne will demonstrate making round hollow beads.  We will, as usual,  have polymer clay for sale, items in the library to borrow and a raffle.  If you are already a member of the Guild, you will receive further details by email.  If you are not a member, and would like to join us, the annual membership fee is £30.



Email Enid on apcg@live.co.uk for more details.
​

Seven members joined our Virtual ClayDay, via Zoom, on 19th July.  We each chose between 3 YouTube earring tutorials, requiring different levels of skill, and range of materials and tools.  We met in the morning to talk through what we were going to make.  We met again in the afternoon to show what we had made, or were in the process of making.  Some of us tried more than one tutorial, and a few of us used the technique to make other pieces.  We all felt that we had learned useful new techniques and enjoyed the day.  Here are some of our completed pieces.   A comment on the necklace: The shape sits well on neck. Silver and gold foil and red glitter impressed with demerara sugar and ground salt. White/red lining just visible and adds interest on movement. Finished with one very thin coat of Fimo varnish on front only.

We will be having our second Virtual ClayDay on Sunday 19th July.
Participants will be sent links to some tutorials on YouTube and decide which they would like to make (3 tutorials for different skill levels).
You will also need to check that you have all the necessary tools and materials, or suitable alternatives.  You could make the pieces into something other that earrings, of course, so we should get a good variety of results.
 The Zoom link will be emailed to you on Friday or Saturday. We will try to start at 11.00am and the second session at about 4.00 pm or 5.00 pm (we can decide on the day). Each meeting will last for about 45 minutes. 

Looking forward to 'seeing' everyone again

 If you aren’t on the APCG mailing list, you can get further information about the Virtual ClayDay and the YouTube links by emailing apcg@live.co.uk

Hope to 'see' all of our members again this Sunday!

We are delighted with our most recent ClayDay which took part in the comfort of home. Around 10 members met up via Zoom and had a short meeting in the morning and again late afternoon. Most even had pieces to show at the end of the day. Here are some of their makes: 

Enid: "two sides have the canes assembled differently"

Georgie: "some pieces I have been playing with during the lockdown (including silkscreens)"
Georgie used Prado clay for her pendants

Sue: ​"They are in lagoon and iceberg soufflé so I haven’t polished them but left them as their natural suede finish"

Belinda: "  I used Fimo soft as I had run out of white Premo and could only get white Fimo and had some black Fimo left over."

Anne: "made using premo clay."

Remember to keep sending your lockdown polymer clay projects to Nadia and Shelley and we will have more virtual 'I made this' via the website and social media.

Let's stay safe and keep on clayin'

Since we are still in lockdown here in the UK, Enid will be hosting the upcoming ClayDay via Zoom which is a video conferencing app. She will be emailing invites around 10.30am and we will have a short virtual session making sure everyone is briefed on what we are supposed to do - Fiona Abel-Smith’s Black and White Hollow Pendant

Please have ready (at home): 
A cutting blade
A knitting needle about 4 cm thick
A craft knife
A clay roller
Some liquid polymer clay
2” and 1.5” round cutters
A small piece of baking paper to work on
A beading needle
A domed mould ( a used light bulb will do)
Sanding pads or paper, if you want to smooth you piece at the end
Half a pack of each black and white clay, although you may want to use other strongly contrasting colours instead.


Of course members who are joining are advised to watch the video beforehand just in case you have any questions. You can view the video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LaUVf4mnd4A

At 3.30pm we will meet up via Zoom again just to wrap things up and please send photos of your pendant to Nadia or Shelly to put on the blog and Facebook. 

Nadia: nadia.michaux@gmail.com
Shelly: michelledenise166@hotmail.com

All you need to do on 17th May is to make sure you can be present for the virtual meet up at home at 10.30am and 3.30pm. 

No sales table, guild library, cheap clay for sale this time but we hope to still give guild members a good experience despite the current situation. Everyone please keep washing your hands and take care so hopefully we can resume our usual ClayDay in the summer. Let's keep the guild going!

It was a ClayDay with social distancing put in place so we didn't have the usual tables arranged next to each other. Despite the awkward measures we still managed to have fun!

We put together pieces of the cane to make up a tiny owl earring! Members who would like their owls scaled up so they can turn them into brooches were told to reduce part of the cane for the owl and keep a bigger part for the brooch. As you can see we got various results and lots of tiny owls. From the brooches you can see the intricacy of each cane done by our members.

After lunch and a lot of squinting to put together tiny owls, Anne showed how to make simple 'printing' on clay using almost anything and everything.

The method is simple but the repeating pattern can create gorgeous results!

We had all of  our usual tables, cheap new packs of polymer clay for same and a great time with members (and we also had 1 new member!). 

Times are strange right now during the lockdown and we have no idea when ClayDay will resume again but we hope members are taking care of themselves at home. Just clay all day in isolation!