Registration opened yesterday for CREATE Art Retreat in Orange County, California. The event is put on by Cloth, Paper, Scissors magazine, and I’m so thrilled to teach again at the retreat. I have three classes this summer, and I’ve put a lot of effort into coming up with projects that are jam-packed with techniques.
The first class I’m teaching Wednesday, May 30th is a 6-hour class called “Mermaid Dreams,” where we’ll be having fun with resin clay, paints, fibers, wirework and resin. I’ve been exploring resin clay ever since I first heard my friend Kerin Gale talking about it. She wrote a really amazing book on the subject called Inspired Remnants, Curious Dreams. I began experimenting with the product and just find it amazing to work with. The reason I get so excited about resin clay is because it’s an epoxy clay that air cures. Let me put that in caps it’s so exciting. AIR CURES.
Over the years, I’ve experimented with all brands of polymer clay for beads and pendants. I’ve done paper mache sculpture, paper clay embellishments for my collage and assemblage, molding clay, clay that you fire in a kiln and glaze for color, etc. The fact that I can take resin clay, work with it and then just leave alone to cure and have it harden to where it’s virtually indestructible is creatively mind-boggling. Of course working with resin clay after working so closely with ICE Resin is another reason it struck a nerve. Epoxy in its many forms as an art medium is phenomenal.
Oops, rambled some there. Anyhoo….”Mermaid Dreams” is going to be oodles of fun with lots of great technique for making your own cast embellishments. Students are encouraged to make the project their own by changing colors, casting a different pendant (I’ll have a number of found objects there to choose from) and even sizing the necklace to their tastes. I guarantee that once you learn how fun making molds and casting your own objects is, the technique will become a staple in your art toolbox.
To keep this from becoming too long and even more rambly, I’m going to end today’s post with this note: Come back Monday for pics and a little more background on my other two classes.
For now, head on over the CREATE website and check out all the amazing art that is being offered. Oh my goodness, there are 91 workshops taught by 29 instructors. How does one choose?
