Polymania UK 2015

Polymania UK 2015 is a 3 day polymer clay workshop weekend  13-15th March 2015 in Bristol, UK.
The tutors are Donna Kato, Bettina Welker and Cara Jane Hayman (me :) )  For more details see the page on my new website - www.carajane.co.uk/polymania2015

I have a new website and blog now which is why there haven't been any posts here recently - you can find the new blog here - www.carajane.co.uk/blog

Latest workshop dates and Thing a Day starts!

I have several introduction to polymer clay workshops in Bristol throughout Feb- April. You will find details on my diary page and also in my facebook page events. There will also be a few intermediate level workshops - if you are interested in those please get in touch!  I also have couple of instore demonstrations at Hobbycraft Bristol, there you can see me make some polymer clay canes and I will have a small selection of my work available to buy. It's a great chance to come and ask me any questions you have about polymer clay work too! If you want to keep up to date with what I'm doing and you haven't already you can sign up to my mailing list here. I promise I won't burden you with hundreds of emails - just one every couple of months or so and you can easily unsubscribe anytime you want.

Today being the first of February marks the start of the Thing a Day challenge on Polymer Clay Central Forum (an excellent place for polymer clay support!). I really enjoyed this last year - you can see all my makes here in this flickr set or on my pinterest board. I shall share my makes this year with you of course - perhaps not every day as I will be busy making ;) It's likely they will be posted on my facebook page more frequently - hopefully every day. It'll be interesting to compare them with what I made last year.

Here's my thing(s) for today! Love creatures - with valentine's day coming up! They are heading off to the lovely Tenderfoot gift shop in Bristol and are hoping that someone lovely will brighten someone's day by giving them as a gift ;)

Lovely Owls

Lovely Pigs

Lots of lovely creatures - each one is different of course!

I haven't done much clay work this month as I have been busy learning to take amazing photos of my work with Brit Hammer. It's been hard work but an extremely valuable experience - I have learnt so  much! Hopefully you will notice a difference (perhaps not with these quickly grabbed shots)!

Pop Up Shop, Workshops and a Ring bowl

If you are in the Bristol area I am taking part in the Making Things Club Pop Up Shop and Making Emporium in the city centre so do pop in and say Hi! I will be in the shop 10-4pm on Thursday 13th, Saturday 15th and Friday 21st December. Some of my jewellery and little creatures including my Christmas ornaments will be available in the shop all the time until Christmas Eve.

I am also running a Christmas Presents Workshop in the Making Emporium side of the shop on Sunday 16th.  I will show you how to make a polymer clay retro cane and then how to use that to cover objects to make unique and useful gifts. Please get in touch if you would like more details or to book a place.

Here's one of my latest creations - a birthday present of a ring bowl for my sister. It matches her wedding jewellery which you may remember if you've been following my blog for a while. If you are new here or need a reminder you can find the blog post about it here.

I hope all your preparations for the festive season are going well

Cara

Workshops in September and October 2012

I am pleased to announce my workshop dates for September and October 2012. All these workshops will take place in Bristol, UK. If you want more information please do get in touch - carajaneuk(at)gmail.com

There will be more workshops in November and December which will have a festive theme - we will be making Christmas decorations and presents. More details will follow. If you want to be one of the first to know you can sign up to my email list here

Workshops Dates September/October 2012

Workshops take place in a small group in a comfortable home environment in Fishponds, Bristol unless stated otherwise. All  materials, use of tools and workshop handouts are included. To book your place please contact Cara - carajaneuk(at)gmail.com. A £10 deposit is required to reserve your place. Payment may be made by cheque, bank transfer or PayPal.

An introduction to polymer clay.

You will learn how to work with polymer clay and to make some simple canes. You will be shown how to use your canes to decorate items such as pendants and how to make beads from them. £30 per person, ideal for beginners

• Thursday  20^th September  7.30pm-10.30pm
• Friday 5^th October  10am-1pm

Cute Creatures

I will show you how to make a tortoise, cat and owl from polymer clay. There will be some of my flower canes available for you to decorate your little creatures. They can be little ornaments or we can turn them into charms or beads. Cost £20 per person, suitable for all.

• Tuesday 25^th September 8pm-10pm
• Saturday 6^th October 10am-12pm at Hobbycraft, Cribbs Causeway,  Bristol

Charming Starflower bracelet

Learn how to make my starflower cane and then turn it into these beautiful 3 dimensional beads. We will assemble the bracelet in the workshop. Cost £55 per person, beads and findings included. Some polymer clay experience required, if you have made simple canes already yourself or been on one of my previous workshops you should get on ok.

• Friday 19th October - 10am - 3 pm

Earrings Challenge and Easton Arts Trail

The Easton Arts Trail is fast approaching so I have finally got round to finishing some of the things on my half finished pile including some earrings for the earrings a week challenge!

Next weekend I will be in Easton Community Centre with my jewellery from 11am -6pm on Saturday 30th June and Sunday 1st July. I have plenty of new jewellery including quite a lot I haven't posted here - I can't share everything with you or I would have no time to make anything and you would  get fed up of seeing it!

This has also meant that I am starting to get back up to date with the earrings a week challenge. I know you are supposed to actually make a pair of earrings each week - the beads were all made but I just didn't find time to make them up into earrings and photograph them.

Here are some of my latest earrings

Jubilee flower earrings in patriotic red, white and blue

Black and white kaleidoscope cane earrings

Curled petal earrings from the Dark red with a yell palette - made with a some left over cane bits

I'll also have leaflets with some details of my latest polymer clay workshops in Bristol. I have plenty suitable for complete beginners and some for more experienced clayers too. You can also find details on my diary page (link up the top under heading) or on my latest newsletter (link on top left)

It's still raining here - it's supposed to be summer :( Oh well it doesn't matter much when you are making jewellery I guess. Hope the weather is good where ever you are!

Cara

Melanie Muir's Rock Cuff class - the results!

I recently stayed up half the night to watch a CraftCast Webinar with the Marvelous Melanie Muir - it's an online workshop and it was fabulous and the best thing is I have a download of the workshop so I can go back and watch it again when I can't quite remember. You can purchase a download yourself here - www.craftcast.com.


It has taken me a while as I seem to be too busy to fit much polymer clay time in at the moment :( Am trying to rectify that as soon as I can as I am  happier when playing with my clay!! But finally it is finished! Here's my first rock cuff

 

I made an extra 'Rock' so I also have a matching pendant - it's very shiny so hard to get a great photo. Will try again another time when I am less rushed!

When I took the workshop in March with Melanie Muir and she taught us how to make what she calls a 'Simple Cuff'; it was a brilliant class and I felt like we had been given so much really useful information I couldn't remember it all. I also was really admiring Melanie's bracelets she had for sale so when she mentioned she was doing the CraftCast class I knew it would be good and as I hoped I now have a video record of all that information so I can really digest it! You can see Melanie's beautiful collection of Rocks Cuffs on her website.  As you can tell I am a big fan, she's a lovely person, a talented and generous teacher and her work is to die for - amazingly beautiful and perfectly finished!

Fantastic Christi Friesen workshop

I was very lucky to attend a polymer clay workshop with the fantastically fun Christi Friesen today. It was called 'In the Garden' and we whizzed through lots of different techniques and were overloaded with tips and techniques. And entertained at the same time! I don't know how she manages it! Thank you Christi for such wonderful day!

Look at all the things I made - yes in one day! Christi is a slave driver ;)

It was great to see some good friends and meet some new ones and so great to be taught new polymer skills by such a talented lady! The venue, which is the same as the one the London Polymer Clay Group use is such a good one with a brilliant cafe. Wish everyday could be a polymer day like that!

 Can't wait to try out some more of the things we learnt and to play with the Swellegant I bought. In the meantime go check out this useful information on Swellegant from Chris Pellow. Will of course let you know how I get on with it!

Where you can find me...diary up to date

I have updated my calendar and the Diary tab (up there just under the title) is now up to date. At the moment I have 2 local sales, one this Friday at a Pamper night in Rangeworthy Memorial Hall from 7.15pm.

The following weekend, the 17th March my jewellery will be at the Arts Market at Dr Bells and St Matthias school in Fishponds. Unfortunately I won't be with it, I will be off having fun at Polymer Pamper Play but it will be in the safe and friendly hands of Rachael Symons who will also have some of her own artwork for sale.

There will be new workshop dates coming soon, and Bristol Clay Day dates so keep an eye on it - or better still get in touch ( carajaneuk(at)gmail.com ) if you are interested in attend polymer clay workshops or clay days in Bristol and I can email you to let you know as soon as the dates are set.

I have plenty of new jewellery available for sale thanks to my Thing a Day challenge (which remind me I haven't shared the last lot with you - I will do that later in the week) . Here's a new pair of earrings in the meantime.
 

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First Cara Jane workshop

Some sample bead I made to give people some ideas

A lovely necklace made by a workshop participant!

Another lovely necklace made by a workshop participant!

You too could make your own unique necklace or bracelet in a polymer clay workshop. Contact me for more details - carajaneuk'at'gmail.com (replace the 'at' with @ to email - can't add it direct to the page or I will be overloaded with spam!)

Beginners workshop

I have just been trialling a beginners polymer clay workshop with some of my friends. I was aiming for them to make a bracelet like this from simple cane slices, threaded on elastic.

We have had great fun and they are all really pleased with their creations but we haven't quite managed to get to the bracelet stage so I either need to find a way to speed it up or make the class longer. I am doing them from home which seems to work out well as we have the space and it's comfortable and I can't forget to bring anything!!! Hopefully I can get some pictures of their bracelets when they have had a chance to string them.

One of the things I love most about polymer clay is that you can learn so much from working with others, even beginners who have never touched polymer clay before can show you a different way of doing things!