Mile High Polymer Clay Guild

Creating with Polymer Clay

MHPCG MEMBER RETREAT WEEKEND

Friday October 21 - Sunday October 23, 2022
Green Mountain Presbyterian Church (see sidebar)


Treat yourself to a weekend full of Polymer Clay activities!

Weekend Challenge: Make a Pumpkin
(Or other Autumn/Halloween themed piece)!

Registration Required - this is a paid event

Note: this page will continue to be updated
so check back for new information



SCHEDULE:

All times are
Mountain Daylight Time

Subject to Change


  • Must be a Member of MHPCG
  • If not a member, you can join and register at the same time.
  • See Program descriptions below
  • Registration is $20.
  • Register Here

Click here for
MEMBERSHIP INFORMATION

This weekend is about devoting time to work on those polymer projects you've been wanting to start, projects you've wanted to finish, learn new techniques from other artists, or just spend some time with others who share your passion.

Friday, October 21 - In-person, Zoom
  • 3:00 pm Set-up at Church
  • 4:00 pm In-person attendees can start arriving & set up workstations
  • 6:00 - 8:00 pm Zoom session opens for socializing, weekend prep
  • 9:30 pm In-person attendees leave by this time or spend the night.
Saturday, October 22 - In-person, Zoom
  • 8:30 am Doors open for In-person attendees (who left last night)
  • 9:00 am Zoom session opens
    • 9:30 - 11:30 am Featured Artist: Shelley Atwood - Textures (Zoom)
    • 11:30 am Open Time & Lunch
    • 12:30 noon - 1:00 pm noon Tammi Williams - Bat Ornament (from Church Hall over Zoom)
    • 1:00 pm Break
    • 1:15 pm Sherilyn Dunn - Sculpture Tips, Faces (Zoom)
    • 2:15 pm Break
  • 2:30 pm Clean up church hall 
  • 3:30 pm Lock-up and leave church, Zoom session ends 
Sunday, October 23 - Zoom only
  • 11:00 am  Zoom session opens
    • 12:00 noon Diane Honegger - Color Wheel & Theory (Zoom)
    • 1:00 pm Show-N-Tell Pumpkins, other weekend work, freeform Q&A 
  • 4:00 pm Zoom session ends

In The Church Hall:
  • Each member will have their own work area that they can leave set up the entire time we are in the hall.
  • The Guild will provide ovens for curing
  • Refreshments: Since it is likely to be a small group in the hall, each attendee is responsible for their own meals and preferred refreshments. The Guild will provide water, coffee (Saturday morning), plates, utensils and cups. Food can be left in the kitchen refrigerator and heated in the microwave.
  • Members can stay in the hall Friday night. You must provide your own bedding (or camping vehicle in the parking lot.)
Zoom Sessions:
  • A link to the Zoom sessions will be provided to all registrants.
  • Zoom participants will have access to breakout rooms to discuss specific topics.
  • If you need tips on using Zoom we have reference page.

ARTIST PRESENTATIONS:
Please see descriptions and artist info below. (More information to come.)

Much of the Retreat will be recorded and available for at least a specified time to registrants.

Please note: though members will be able to work with clay during the presentations this is not a true workshop format. The presentations will proceed at a steady pace so if you want to follow along it will be at your own pace which could fall behind the presenter. There will be opportunities for questions.

Any information about supplies/tools is for reference during the presentation and convenience if you are interested in trying the technique right away. You are NOT required to have these items for the Retreat.

Shelley Atwood - USING TEXTURE TO CREATE UNIQUE JEWELRY
Saturday, 9:30 am

Mark making and textures enhance forms and shapes. They help define and draw attention to a focal point, creating a sense of flow and movement within a design. They can also create or enhance boundaries and edges. In my session for MHPCG’s retreat, I’ll show you my texture techniques including carving, mark making and making your own texture sheets. You can apply and adapt these skills to your own work to help you achieve your artistic vision.

Artist Bio/Statement
My first experience with polymer clay drew me in immediately. I loved the fact that I could make something colorful using ordinary tools that I had at home. Fast forward three decades and I have a studio full of dedicated polymer clay tools and equipment! However, I still find myself looking for ways that I can use what I have to do more with my clay. That has been my strategy with texture, my true love when it comes to creating with polymer clay.

My approach to texture comes from all things organic, earthy, and natural. I’m drawn to the smallest details which, when combined and multiplied, can create the most interesting patterns as part of a whole design. This is not to say that man-made textures and tools don’t intrigue me. They do. I use both in my work. In fact, I enjoy making my own mark making tools as well as using polymer tools, wood and metal working tools and other bits and bobs. Using these tools, I can impress designs, create reusable texture sheets, and carve into both raw and cured clay for a variety of effects.
Tammi Williams - BAT ORNAMENT
Saturday, 12:30 pm

Learn how to sculpt a Bat Ornament, just in time for Halloween!

BAT ORNAMENTS SUPPLY / TOOL LIST (For convenience, you are NOT required to have these items.
Tammi will have the glass ornament balls and sets of the dot cutters available for purchase for in-person retreat attendees.)

SUPPLIES
  • 1.375” glass ball ornament (or 35mm ball of foil and wire to create hanger)
  • 2oz black (or other color) clay
  • 4mm Black (or red) glass or stone beads for eyes
  • Dark Blue or Purple mica powder
TOOLS
  • Pasta Machine
  • Acrylic roller
  • Thin knitting needle
  • Texture tool
  • “Dot” OR similar round cutters Black (14mm), Blue (10mm) and Gray (5mm)
  • Teardrop shape cutter approx. 2” longest side

Artist Bio
I have been most inspired by Christi Friesen and Doreen Kassel. I discovered polymer clay approximately 12 years ago, when I came across a fun sculptural bead online, and learned it was made from polymer clay.  Been hooked ever since. I most enjoy creating various critters, in formats which serve a purpose (containers, vases, ornaments, zipper pulls, etc).

I regularly have pieces in the Brighton Eye-For-Art shows and have taught numerous classes at Barr Lake State Park, and the Anythink Library system. Upon retiring next year, I plan to begin publishing online tutorials, teaching more, and playing a LOT MORE in my studio.
Sherilyn Dunn - TIPS FOR SCULPTING FACES
Saturday, 1:15 pm

Why do human faces look the way they do? How do we go about sculpting faces so they look like people? This class will answer these questions and offer some ideas on why we see faces everywhere we look. Also, I will be sculpting a face on a spice bottle as we talk, so I will be offering tips as I go.

The tools I will be using include ball tools, needle tools, rubber tipped tools in various configurations, and whatever sculpting tools come to hand. I use Christi Friesen’s Wow It’s Awesome, Gotta Have It, and Can’t Live Without It tools a lot, if you happen to have them. I also use Sculpey’s Dual End Detail tools a lot.

Artist Bio

Diane Honegger - COLOR THEORY & COLOR WHEEL
Sunday, 12:00 pm

Unlock the mystery of color theory and the wheel to be in control of your color goals. This is not a measured-recipe technique, although you can turn these results into recipes which can then be used to duplicate your color creations. It’s a shoot-from-the-knowledgeable-hip technique used by fine artists. At the end of this demo, you will understand how color works and be able to make and match colors from which you can then create no-two-alike individual pieces and create gradated strip recipes to duplicate in future pieces.

Artist Bio
I am a life-long (60 years) oil landscape/still life/portrait painter turned polymer clay artist in 1991 under the influence of Nan Roche’s book The New Clay. Fimo was too difficult to work with, so I abandoned my attempts until several years later with the release of the much-easier Premo and the onslaught of books, videos, and live instruction available from major artists. Life interruptions and dramas confounded my free time, but I stayed in touch with it vicariously, playing whenever I could and taking live instruction when possible. In 2003, I discovered a polymer clay group that eventually became Clayville California in Northern California, to which I still belong today.