Monday, October 13, 2014

Retreat Preparation

I'm in the process of getting ready to go to the Kentucky/Tennessee Polymer Clay Guild's annual retreat at Mammoth Cave, Kentucky.  This will be the first time I've attended this event, and I'm really looking forward to it. Right now, I'm in the midst of preparing for some of the activities they plan, and thought I'd share my little projects here.  
Of course, there is the traditional "inchies" exchange where everyone makes enough 1inch square tiles to trade with the other participants.  Inchies are usually based on a theme. This year, the focus of the retreat is extrusions, so my inch tiles are extrusion-based.  As you can see by the tiles to the left, I made flat patterns using extruded snakes, then shaved off the edges to reveal the colors below.  I used the shaved pieces and placed them on solid color backing to create the more random looking pieces.  It's sort of a combination of extrusions and mokume gane techniques.  The process is great fun and the results look pretty good, too. 

At the retreat, there are daytime activities as well as some after-dinner games.  One of the games requires us to have "poker chips" to use.  I've made up one set of "chips" using extrusions carefully placed and cut in a striped checkerboard pattern.    These chips are about 1.5 inches across.


 I liked the way these pieces looked so much that I decided to try some jewelry.  I made up a new color set, used a smaller hole for the extruder disk, and made up more checkerboard pieces.  The results below show some earrings and a pendant, all awaiting wires or other findings. 



Now I have one more set of poker chips to make.  I'm not sure what technique I'll use.  Maybe it won't be extruded......

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