Saturday, February 15, 2014

My Conversation for Polymer Clay Collective.

Polymer Clay Collective
My Conversation by Wendy Jorre de St Jorre

A few months ago I joined the facebook group Polymer Clay Collective and met a bunch of really enthusiastic people who like to work with polymer clay, as I do.  Here in Western Australia I don’t get a chance to talk to others who enjoy the same pastime as I do, as there are very few people here who use the medium.  The PCC group is a great way to get in touch with like minded people.

I was asked to answer a few questions as a way of introducing myself to the group, these “conversations” are voluntary and are a good way for everyone to get to know one another. 

• Tell us a bit about where you live.

I live in Bullsbrook, a small town a little north east of Perth Western Australia. It is a quiet, country kind of a place.  We, my husband and I, have a small 40 acre farm where we raise a few beef cattle and keep a lot of pets!  We have a horse, some sheep, a few chooks, geese, guinea fowl and five beautiful dogs.  

Our children, a son and a daughter are both in their thirties now and happily living in their own abodes so life is easy these days which gives me time to do a lot of playing with clay.

Bullsbrook is at the base of Perth’s hill country at the northern end.  It is pretty much flat farming land mostly used for grazing as the grass is good here.  We are about one hour’s drive from the coast and Perth’s beautiful beaches.  To the south is the Swan Valley and vineyard country, lots of lovely wine and olives to be found there. 



• What do you do when you're not polymer claying?

I work around the farm doing all the usual chores.  I can often be found feeding animals or fixing a fence. I can drive a tractor or mower.....all the usual farm stuff!

 I like to take my dogs for walks in the early morning, we wander to the back paddocks and check the animals as we go.  I especially love it in the wintertime, the paddock floods some years and all the wild water birds come to breed.  The dogs love splashing through the water, they chase the ducks, the ducks chase the dogs, I swear they like it as much as the dogs do!

I also enjoy gardening and can often be found pottering about with my plants.  The garden has grown into quite a large one as I keep adding a bit here and a bit there.  After 10 years of adding the house garden now measures about two acres.  I really should stop adding!



• What did you want to be when you were little and do you think you ever will be?

When I was little I told my mum I wanted to be a farmer. Unfortunately the man I married had been raised on a farm and wanted nothing more than to live in the city.  It took me 25 years to convince him that farm life was better, but I got there in the end, perseverance pays sometimes tee hee.


• Tell us something about yourself that we don't know.

I like to raise tropical fish.  It’s a hobby I started many years ago, first with just one tank to brighten a dark corner in our house of the time. A lot of things I do, tend to get me a bit obsessed, I really love to get right into anything I do.  Thankfully my family are used to my “obsessions” and just let me carry on even though there is usually a bit of eye rolling going on!  
At the moment I have thirty tanks, three in the house and the rest in a custom built (by my husband) cool room in the shed.  I breed Angelfish, Catfish, Australian Rainbowfish, and various Cichlids which I supply to several stores around Perth.  



• Tell us your polymer clay story: What made you first try polymer clay and how long has PC been part of your life?

I first dabbled with poly clay a little over  20 years ago when my daughter was about 9 to 10. We were members of a guinea pig club and decided to make some badges that were shaped like guinea pigs, for the club to sell as fund raisers.  It was really just a bit of fun that lasted only a few months and then we moved on to other things.  At the time I thought of it more as a way to occupy my daughter when out of school and did not realise the potential of polyclay.  Of course we had no “Google” then and I had no idea how versatile polyclay was.  We simply used our fingers to shape it, a knife to cut, and a bottle for a rolling pin.  

A little before Christmas in 2012, I was looking for some new Christmas decorations and had recently re-discovered our box of poly clay from the guinea pig days, still in a box in a spare cupboard. It was hard, but still usable so I started trying to make a few things. I decided to look for some more supplies and one of the packs still had a label on it so I googled  the manufacturer.  They were long since gone, so I investigated what was available these days.
Googling of course eventually led to tutorials and utube, I was so amazed that I had to try some of these wonderful ideas.  It has been an amazing year of discoveries, mostly due to the generosity of polyclayers all over the world.  I am so thankful for all the tips, advice, websites and videos that make me feel part of a huge community.  There is something special about polyclay and the way it brings out the best in people.


• What's your favorite PC technique?

I’m still learning lots of  techniques and really can’t get enough of any of them at the moment.  I have a list as long as my arm of tutorials that I want to have a go at but so far my favourite technique is caning.  I’m totally hooked on it!  




• What are your art/design inspirations?

I like so many things it’s hard to nail any specific thing down.  I suppose the things that crop up the most in my work  are plants, I guess that stems from my love of gardening.  But I also love animals, insects, fish, the sea, light effects, oh!  I could go on forever.  I’m seeing a common thread now though, it’s all natural, perhaps that is it.  



• Show us something you’ve made with polymer clay.

This is a picture of a jewellery box I made in 2013.  It is a faux jade effect outside with laminated faux bone panels inside.  It is about 18cm tall by 17cm wide and has 3 stackable trays that I can happily fill up with my jewellery creations. If you would like to see some more of the things I have made check out my Flickr page!








My extra question from Marlene.


Do you create just for yourself and friends, or do you sell? If you do sell, please share your best advice for others to read. Thanks in advance.

A bit of both really.  I started like I suppose we all do, just making things for myself and friends but people started asking me when and where they could buy some of my jewellery.  I am a bit lazy when it comes to selling and really can’t be bothered to set up a shop. I keep saying one day I will hunt for a local shop to put a few things in but so far I haven’t gotten around to it.  However, my mum lives in a retirement village and the ladies there were particularly interested.  One day mum insisted I put prices on a few things so she could take to Bingo and show the girls there.  Well she sold heaps and now mum is officially my chief “sales manager”.  She carries a basket of my goodies to her group of friends (and believe me it is quite a large group).  I guess that is the reason I’m so disorganised myself, it’s easier to leave it to mum!


My Question for Niki.

How do you go about selecting a colour palette for your next project?