polymergence header
In This Issue
Jewelry Business
Classes & Events
On-Line Resources
Renewals Via PayPal
Calls for Entry
IPCA Retreat 2011
Photo Challenge
Karen's Posies
American Craft Week
CERF+ Auction
Polymer in Print
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Staying Excited about Your Jewelry Business:

Rena Klingenberg's Advice


Probably many of you receive as much e-mail as I do (or even more). Sometimes this feels overwhelming, but once in a while I receive a message that addresses issues I didn't even realize were bothering me!

 

That's how I felt when I received Rena Klingenberg's newsletter,

Jewelry Business Success News, and saw "18 Ways to

Stay Excited about Your Jewelry Business" (Issue #128, July 28, 2010).


Rena's website, Home Jewelry Business Success Tips, is a repository of great information about selling your handmade jewelry. Much of her  advice is offered free of charge, and she welcomes input from her readers, sharing their tips, successes, and photos.

 

I encourage  you to look at Rena's checklist if, like me, you've allowed the poor economy to discourage you and keep you from doing what you love. Here are the entries that really spoke to me:

  • Set goals and know what you're going to do next, instead of drifting around waiting for something to come up.
  • Focus your efforts. It's more effective and less stressful to do a few things thoroughly and well, than to do a slapdash job of dozens of things.
  • Consider every opportunity carefully - and make sure the work it involves makes you feel excited.

Rena's Number One tip may be the hardest to follow, but it's a great goal for all of us to keep in mind: "Only take on work that makes your heart sing."

--Suzanne Ivester
IPCA President



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Classes & Events

Judy Belcher pendants, to be taught in Houston this month


For a current list of classes and workshops, visit the IPCA website often. And be sure to enter information about your events on our calendar. We rely on you to keep us up-to-date!




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On-Line Resources


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An Update About Membership Renewals Via PayPal


In our ongoing efforts to eliminate issues of double-billing your IPCA membership dues, we will manually cancel the automatic renewal for your membership. As a result you may get an e-mail notice saying your subscription has been canceled. Please note that this is PayPal's notice and does not affect your active IPCA membership. You IPCA membership will remain active until your expiration date.

To insure that your membership remains active, please respond to the 30-day expiration notice as soon as it appears in your inbox. If you do not know when your membership expires, do the following:

1. Go to http://theipca.org and log-in with your username and password.
2. Scroll down to the User Menu.
3. Click on the link called My Membership. You'll see your current membership information displayed.
4. To renew, click Get a New Subscription.
5. Follow the instructions on the page to renew your membership.

If you're not currently a member of IPCA, please consider joining today!
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Calls for Entry


Teaching
IPCA pre-Retreat classes, deadline Sept. 3

Exhibitions

Art Interview Online Artist Competition (painting, drawing, sculpture only), Berlin, Germany, deadline Sept. 30
Global Faces of Contemporary Art, on-line worldwide, deadline Oct. 1
25th Annual International Juried Show, Summit, NJ, deadline Oct. 1
Call for Artists: "Sin!", Miami, FL, deadline Oct. 1
Artspace Fine Contemporary Craft national Exhibition, Raleigh, NC, deadline Oct. 4
Dual, the Private Life of Sculpture, Seattle, WA deadline Oct. 4
All Mediums Exhibit, Louisville, KY, deadline Jan. 14

Magazine and Book Challenges
Bookopolis, Asheville, NC, deadline Sept. 8
"Beads," Polymer Cafe, deadline Oct. 10
Simple Pleasures, Somerset Studio, deadline Oct. 15
Hair-Raising Accessories, Belle Armoire, deadline Dec. 1

Essay Contest
American Craft Week, "Why Is American Craft Important?" deadline Oct. 30.
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Forget Something?
Check Our Archives
If you can't remember something interesting you saw in a previous issue of
this newsletter, don't despair!  Just go to our website, log in, and click on the IPCA Newsletter Archive button in the left-hand column. All issues of Polymergence since April 2009 are available for your convenience. 
Volume 3, Issue 9
September 2010
IPCA Retreat 2011--Save the Date!
Now is the time to save the date and submit your vacation request for July 11-16, 2011, so you can enjoy an exciting (and also relaxing) retreat with the best and friendliest clayers in the world!
 IPCA will be returning to the Indian Lakes Resort for pre-retreat classes and three days of claying fun with IPCA. The most popular features from 2009 will be offered again, including demos by attendees and by a guest artist, themed swap, and the retreat bead strand. There will also be door prizes, silent and live auctions, and opportunities to buy and sell finished work. Attendees will enjoy $99 rooms in a luxury retreat with many amenities and a meal plan or day-pass access. Once again we'll be offering Early Bird registration discounts and payment plans.

For the first time, in 2011 the Retreat will be held concurrent with (and in the same location as) the Metal Clay World Conference. We'll be sharing meals and some social events and breaks with the Metal Clay World Conference attendees and will have access to the MCWC Vendor Hall.  We'll also offer a ticket entrance fee for any Conference or Retreat attendee who wants to attend the other event for the day.

For full details, as they are announced,  watch our website or subscribe to the IPCA feed. Registration will open early in 2011, so plan now!

Photo Challenge--Let's Get Inspired!


The IPCA would like to invite its members to participate in a new Photo-Inspiration Challenge. From time to time we'll post a photo taken by one of our talented members--a photo we feel is ripe for interpretation in polymer clay.

The inspiring photo above is the work of IPCA member Maureen Thomas, who says, "I love photography about as much as I love polymer clay so it would be very exciting to merge the two!  I've been dedicating time every Monday morning for many months now to shoot pictures in my garden.  I've been especially intrigued with finding the beauty in flowers just before and after their "peak" bloom times.  It makes for some really fun shots like the still-closed sunflower.

If the inspiration grabs you and you make something based on this or one of our upcoming challenge photos, please send it to IPCA president and Polymergence editor Suzanne Ivester at sivester@bellsouth.net.  We'd also love to see the photos you take that inspire you!
Karen Sexton's Polymer Posies

We'd like to extend our sincere apologies to Karen Sexton for overlooking her article "Polymer Posies" in Belle Armoire's July-August 2010 issue. Karen is a member of the Mile High Polymer Clay Guild in Colorado and her work has been featured on Polymer Clay Daily.

We're all proud when one of our members is published in a prestigious magazine like Belle Armoire, and you deserve it, Karen. Congratulations!
American Craft Week and "Crafting a Nation"
American Craft Week, October 1-10, 2010, will be the first-annual nationwide celebration of U.S. craft traditions and innovations> The event is being organized by CRAFT (Craft Retailers and Artists for Tomorrow) and Craft in America.

During American Craft Week, a ground breaking, two-day interactive conference, "Crafting a Nation," will be held in Washington, D.C. The conference, presented in partnership with the Smithsonian American Art Museum, will be an anchoring event for American Craft Week and a landmark occasion for the craft community to come together, engage and interact regarding where handcrafted work is heading in the twenty-first century.

Craft artists, scholars, collectors, retailers and enthusiasts are invited to participate in this important celebration and inquiry into the evolving state of American handmade objects. The conference is free and open to the public.

The sessions at "Crafting a Nation" will be structured as dialogues led by moderators and panelists, but driven by the participation of the audience as open forums. The thematic link for each of these "conversations" will be the idea of craft education and the economics of producing handmade goods in this day and age. The global origins of craft, the business of creating and retailing the handmade, the DIY movement, and the environmental sustainability of craft are among the topics that will be addressed.
 
"Crafting a Nation" will be a unique opportunity to convene and explore the range and vitality of craft, the satisfaction it engenders in those who produce and collect and use handmade works, and the expanding role that craft will play in our economy," said Carol Sauvion, founder of Craft in America.

To register for the conference, or for more information about participating panelists and a schedule of presentations, please go to American Craft Week.

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Editor's Note: Don't miss the American Craft Week Essay Contest in the Calls for Entry column.
CERF+ Auction: Bidding for Good

The Craft Emergency Relief Fund (CERF+) has been active in strengthening and sustaining the careers of craft artists across the United States for a quarter of a century!  In celebration of its 25th anniversary, CERF invites us to browse and bid on the many wonderful pieces in twenty5+craftworks 20five years of cerf+, a collection of one-of-a-kind, fine craft work generously donated by recognized and collectible American craft artists.  Proceeds support CERF+ programs and emergency services to craft artists.  

Metal-smiths Kathleen Doyle and Tom Reardon from Ashville, NC, reflect back to the day when the Craft Emergency Relief Fund was formed:  

    "Hot day at the summer 1985 ACC Show in West Springfield.  Our leader, Carol Sedestrom, and a league of proactive artists and staff announced the beginning of the Craft Emergency Relief Fund. After years of all of us contributing to the many "hats" passed around for fellow artists in need, it was like a summer breeze drifted over all of us. The roar of applause was the jump start; we do not believe that the CERF+ staff have ever stopped running.  

    So here is to the next 25.  Hurray for CERF+!  Celebrate all of the art-filled lives they have touched, healed, and rebuilt."

To view the auction items, visit Bidding for Good. The auction closes on September 25, so be sure to check back as additional items will be added in the days ahead! 

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Above: Basket of Woven Paper, by Polly Allen.
Polymer in Print: What's New?
New Books
Books Coming SoonMagazines
  • Polymer Cafe, October 2010: "Easy Leaf Necklace," Marlene Brady; "Jumbo Bead Roller & Spiral Fan Pulls," Suzanne Ivester;
    "Cabochon Heart Necklace," Eve Leder;
    "Reel Jewelry," Arlene Harrison; "Magazine Holder with Fantasy Flowers," Jane Zhao;
    "Leaves, Leaves Everywhere Challenge Winners";
    "Sandra's Witch," Sandra Davis; "Drop Leaf Earrings," Shirley Rufener
  • Belle Armoire, July-August 2010, "Polymer Posies," Karen Sexton. Our apologies to Karen for omitting her article in last month's Polymergence!
  • Belle Armoire Jewelry, Autumn '10, Wild Roses
  • Art Jewelry, Sept. 2010: "Ergonomics for Jewelry Makers," Jean Wilson
  • Bead and Button, Oct. 2010, "Making Connections," Barbara A. McGuire
  • Bead Unique, Fall 2010, "ClayTime with CF," Christi Friesen