A week in the life... or the frantic behind the scenes mayhem!

I am thrilled to be teaching at Bead Fest this Spring. In fact - as you read this I am there! I tend to think of myself as the "mixed media girl" as that's when I am happiest - putting materials together! Sure I love clay... but polymer allows me to tap into my painter/collage artist alter egos simultaneously...

Polymer. resin. color. image. text.

I'm teaching a mixed media class - mold making, polymer focal, paint finished, and collage with resin inside. If they look familiar, its because these "Word mojo" pieces debuted here as the COM in January 2014. I hope my students are as happy with them as the team made me...  Getting ready to teach a class is a bit different from prepping for a show. The show prep I do so often, I can go on autopilot. But to be prepared for any and all questions, to anticipate additional materials we might need... samples, hand outs... Last week it was all calm and civilized: email the students, make a few Xerox copies of images, and start the class samples.

Now its crunch time. This is the week OF class. I leave on Wednesday evening. If you are reading this, on Friday, we can assume all is well!

Monday:

• Drink the coffee. 
• Work on your taxes. &^!#%&^!@%#^&@!%
• Shop for miscellaneous materials. Baby Wipes, paper towels, toothbrushes... I forgot the wax paper! 
• Panic because you think you have to prep and teach a bookbinding class tomorrow. (Then you realize after you call the library, that you are teaching that class NEXT week. When you should. be. sane. again.) 
• Finish first stage of class samples. 
• Start to gather the class supplies. 
• Mistaken think its Tuesday already and freak out. 
• Drink more coffee. 

Class samples: cured and waiting.

The start of the supplies. I think we need a bigger boat... I mean chair.

An hour or so of messy creative therapy.

Class samples stage one complete.

Tuesday:

• Drink the coffee
• Finish the samples. 
• Make more piles of supplies. 
• Assemble the student kits for class. 
• Start writing the class handout. 
• Laundry. Because what am I wearing to teach?!
• Drink more coffee
• Get distracted by Facebook
• Run last minute errands to post office and hardware store. 
• Drink more coffee
• Check to see if resin is cured. Get sticky fingers; resist the urge to touch again. 

More piles of stuff.

Make the student kits. note ever present coffee.

Always have a mold - or 5 ready for excess resin.

Wednesday: 

• Drink the coffee
• Take dogs to daycare.
• Fondle cured resin. 
• Pack tools and last minute additional things you decide you should take. 
• Proof and print the handout. 
• Proof and publish this post! 
• Drink the coffee. 
• Drive to Bead Fest. Check in. Set up classroom. 
• Hotel. Collapse. (Hmm - maybe a side trip to Wegmans for dinner...

Thursday: 

• Up early. Mix of nervous and excited. 
• Drink the coffee. Hit the Starbucks. 
• TEACH CLASS
• HAVE FUN
• GET MESSY

Friday: 

• Drink the coffee. 
• Shop for the beads. 
• Shop for gems. 
• Chat with friends. 
• Drink the coffee. 
• Relax. 
• Buy more beads. And gems. 
• Drink more coffee. 
• Go home. Flying is optional but possible due to coffee consumption. 

If you are coming to Bead Fest Spring - I hope you have a marvelous time - I know I will. Its amazing how so many weeks, or action packed days of preparation go into preparing for an event... but the event flies by in a blink. Until later... 

Making Polymer Stones and Sea Glass GIVEAWAY

Quite some time ago I purchased a class called

  Making Polymer Stones and Sea Glass with Cynthia Tinapple.

 Then somehow I forgot about it and never watched it (very strange I know) until last night!
 Can't believe I forgot about it!! It's a fun class and I can't wait to try making Stones. I was however able to try my hand at the Sea Glass. I need to get a couple more supplies before I can have a go at creating Stones.

My first attempt at the Sea Glass got away from me,

Cynthia warns you during the class not to walk away from them. I didn't actually walk away but I obviously wasn't paying close enough attention because before I knew it this is what happened.

Yup, I burned them, smoke alarm going off and the whole nine yards.

I was trying to get them out of the oven but wasn't prepared for having to do it so quickly.

OOPS!!

They also stuck to the paper which is a first for me, I guess it's not a surprise though.

Kind of cool looking actually but not a good thing.

Won't be doing that again I hope.

Better, only just slightly overcooked.

Almost there, the colors are a little bit to saturated but I didn't burn them!!

I had fun playing with this new technique and I'm really excited to try making Stones.

Maybe my next post will be about just that!

I've made some little Ammonite beads in Polymer before so I thought they might be the perfect thing to start playing with this Sea Glass mixture using my own aestetic.

Faux Sea Glass Ammonite beads.

These set of beads is available on HERE on Etsy.

Making Polymer Stones and Sea Glass

 

The Giveaway is now closed,

Congratulations to Jan Scarborough!!

 

Feel free to

Click HERE

and like the CRAFTCAST Facebook page.

And tell them who sent you!!

 

Kristi

KristiBowmanDesign.Etsy

KristiBowmanDesign on Artfire