50 Today!

Turning the big 50 today! I really don't mind getting older - other than coloring my hair - my life is just getting better and better. I've done things I never dreamed I would do. I thought I would set a few goals for myself on my 49th birthday last year of some things I still wanted to do. So, today I'm ticking things off my "things to do before I turn 50" list.

• Travel - check!

This has been a busy travel year, but I love to travel! Traveled to France, Spain, Austria, Czech Republic and soon heading to Switzerland and Cyprus. I pinch myself every morning, amazed that I get to travel this way and am so grateful to all the friends and students that have made it happen.

• Have a website - check!

 JudyBelcherDesigns Hopefully, I keep up with it better than I have done with this blog.

• Make something new - check!

So, I have always been obsessed with Missoni knits. I was so excited when I saw that Target was going to carry a bit of Missoni - but alas, everything sold out before I could get there. So, I made my own. Had so much fun exploring that I made a new class for CraftEdu about what I learned - It's called Polymer Micro Knitting. It's how I made the bangles in the picture.

• Update your stinking blog - check!

Done, and done!

• Lose 20 pounds......

Off to eat cake!!! Happy Birthday to me!

Synergy II

Ok, so I am completely lame at this blogging thing.

Images are important, (I get that) but, it is probably the number one reason I find it difficult to blog. We already have great sites that blog wonderful polymer clay images and I have very few images to share as attested by my wretchedly late entry into the flickr world. I have written and rewritten tons of blog posts that are just wordy - not a surprise to anyone who knows me. Most of them are somewhat on the controversial side - again, probably no surprise to some. All of them have one thing in common, my desire for discussion. So, I will make my first official (and non commercial) post about something NOT controversial, but rather something I would like to have a "discussion" about. Now, my real trick will be figuring out how to publish the comments in a timely fashion! Wish me luck!

The NPCG board has been discussing Synergy II and once again, for me, it all begins with Cynthia Tinapple's blog! What should be the subtitle of Synergy II? Her blog post today has my thoughts turning to "Making Our Way." Maybe the focus of the conference can be: Why we make what we do - the political, economic, pleasure aspects of that. Bringing together (hence Synergy) the person who makes things for pure pleasure, those who make their living out of making things, those who make only for philanthropic or political purposes. The different selling venues: online, retail craft venues, wholesale craft venues, trunk shows, out of our car and why we choose them. Why do people buy? Purely to own, to collect, to buy handmade. How and why we market to them. Public installations and how important are they. The pleasure of just gathering and making. Thoughts?

DVD

Millefiori Story will be available soon. I so enjoyed working on this project. It combines my love of creating polymer clay canes with weaving a great story. You can find out more about this DVD and other wonderful titles by visiting PageSage.



A signed copy will be mailed to you when the DVD is released around the beginning of October. Please leave a comment on this post and I will contact you for payment and shipping information.

Books

Polymer Clay Creative Traditions is available now. A signed copy of this book, which takes a new approach, providing step-by-step instructions and photos for over 30 projects and techniques that draw on the artistic traditions of the past. Artists at all skill levels can create lovely clay pieces inspired by painting and drawing, ethnic carving, quilting, ceramics, sculpture, glass, metalwork and more. In addition, the work of more than 90 contributing artists is shown in full color, for a total of more than 300 stunning photographs.

Please leave a comment on this post and I will contact you for payment and shipping options.