The Whimsical Bead Blog

The Whimsical Bead is ‘Officially’ on Facebook

Dani — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 12:41:52 +0000

After a lot of persuasion, I have finally put The Whimsical Bead on Facebook! I am still learning all about how it works but we’re there and it’s certainly a start. All the latest news from the studio will be posted there – new products, updates, workshops etc. – just give me some time to get into the swing of it all!!

You can find us (and like us!) HERE . I hope you come and join us!

Claying Around with Metals

Dani — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 12:34:55 +0000

Today in the studio we had a Metal Clay Play day with Lara Le Reveur. These days are held every 6 weeks or so and are becoming very popular. You can come and use our tools and equipment to create your own metal clay piece/s. The great thing about this day is that you have a highly experienced tutor/artist on hand to help you with your designs plus you can interact with other metal clay artists, and get some ideas for future projects.

Everyone working on their metal clay pieces

My BRONZEClay Hollow Beads - they've gone off with Lara to be fired.

If you think you’d like to be a part of our Metal Clay Play days then why not check out the website. We also cater for beginners!!

Also, checkout Lara’s Facebook page to see what she’s been up to lately……….

Studio Open Easter Saturday

Dani — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 03:34:30 +0000

Just a quick post to let you all know that The Whimsical Bead is open throughout the Easter period. We will be packing and shipping online orders every day this weekend. Please take into consideration Australia Post closures.

We are also opening the studio for customers on Easter Saturday – 7th April. 10.00am until 5.00pm. Please phone, text or email me for the studio address. You can find our contact details here. Most of the shops in town are also open Saturday so it would be a great opportunity to come and visit our town. Visit www.healesville.biz for more details.

Christi ‘Down Under’

Dani — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 12:57:25 +0000

If you’re a polymer clayer in Australia, unless you were hiding under a rock, you would know that the extremely talented, wonderfully quirky, US clay artist Christi Friesen has just wrapped up her tour here in Australia. Christi visited Brisbane, Canberra, Sydney and Adelaide as well as our studio here in Healesville, Victoria.

She arrived at my place on Thursday night, a little early to organise the classroom and catch up on emails, work etc.(I will admit I was a little ‘star-struck’ at first!!) , and it also meant we had a little relaxation in before the craziness of the weekend began. Plus, I got to chat to her about her wonderful new line of metal coatings and dyes – the ‘Swellegant’ range (which we will soon be stocking…..stay tuned!) and do some ‘shopping at her goodie table before everyone arrived (I knew there was a perk to being a host!!). Friday was spent setting up our classroom, organising emails and it was also my birthday so I had a visit from my gorgeous niece and nephew as well as my two ‘adopted’ nieces. Crazy kids running around didn’t faze Christi – my Nathan took quite a liking to her!!

Saturday morning, bright and early was when it all began. I had the studio open at 9.00am with people waiting at the door eager to stake their claim on a table, buy supplies and, of course, meet Christi herself. The morning was spent creating Art Noveau Blooms – lots of leaves and flowers. I have mine half finished sitting here. I reluctantly had to leave my table to organise lunch for the hoards – although I know they appreciated it! After an hour or so of mayhem…….people eating lunch, stocking up on more supplies, cleaning tables ready for the new wave of students etc. etc., the afternoon was spent creating Pegasus pieces.

Sunday was the same as Saturday – lots of enthusiasm right from the start of the day. Even on a Sunday morning I had people lining up to get in the door first!! Sundays projects included a Peacock and a Steampunk Fish.

Our classes were full with 20-ish people in each of the four. Christi handled it with ease, making sure each student had individual attention throughout the day. She was very generous with her information sharing lots of tips and tricks with everyone. The students were all amazed by her skill and generosity not to mention her down to earth, bubbly personality.

This weekend was, without a doubt one of the most hectic but amazing weekends of my life and I know I wasn’t the only one who had an absolute ball (although I slept well on Sunday night!!) We are looking forward to Christi’s next visit to say the very least. Thank you Christi for an amazing weekend!

Here are some photos of our fabulous weekend………………….

: The Fabulous Christi

Our pressie for Christi - locally made fudge and goodies from Healesville Sanctuary

The CF 'Shop'!!

More CF Goodies......not much left by the end of the weekend!

Swellegant - I can't wait to get this in stock. It looks AWESOME!

Dani and Christi

Yep....us again!

Dani, Christi and Karen. D

The 2 "Chris's" - Christi and Christine!

Christi and Sharyn

Christi with another talented artist, Claudia

A Beautiful 'Bloom' Wall Hanging ready for baking

Another 'Bloom' ready for baking.........

Lunch time = Down time

Karen and Dani at work......ok, ok....Karen hard at work, me.....not so much LOL!!

Beautiful horsies......ooh, sorry - Pegasus'

Rosalie & Philomena's gorgeous Pegasus'

Karen and Christine's Pegasus'

Liz's Golden Unicorn for her daughter

Kerryn - very proud of her Pegasus - as she should be. It was gorgeous!

Liz and Kerryn

Brenda showing us her hard work - just beautiful!

Karen B, Sandra and Pam hard at work!

Angie, Pam, Louise and Sandra hard at work

Sandra's Gorgeous Peacock

Sandra's amazing Griffin (which was completed at another workshop)

Beautiful Peacocks

Fe and Robyn working hard but having fun!

A whole flock of peacocks.......aren't they beautiful?!

Dani's fish.....don't laugh ok?! I'm quite pleased with him!!

Where the Magic Happens....Christi Demo-ing

Survey Winner

Dani — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 11:14:35 +0000

Last month, in addition to our monthly newsletter, I also sent out a short survey to my customers. Thank you so much to those of you that participated. It has given me a bit of an idea about where to go from here, what you all like and what you’d like to see happen in the future.

Thank you also to those of you who wrote me little notes however all answers were randomised during the survey process so I’m not sure who wrote the notes to me but they were nice all the same so thank you! If you’d like to own up to any of them, just send me an email!!

Anyway, as promised, I have randomly selected a particiant to win the $50 store voucher. This voucher goes to……………

Rochelle Rodier

Congratulations Rochelle! I will be in touch soon. Don’t forget, if you want to participate in our giveaways and competitions you need to sign up to our mailing list on the website……….

Dreamscape Challenge

Dani — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 00:29:12 +0000

At the beginning of the year I presented my students from various venues with a challenge. Beginning a new year, I think we all lack a little direction and sometimes a little motivation as we wonder what the year will bring, so I gave my students the option to participate in this challenge as a way to combat these issues.

The theme for this challenge was ‘Dreamscape’. Students were asked to interpret this theme as they saw fit. Entries could be wearable or sculptural with the only limitation being that they must contain at least 75% polymer clay. Other materials could be whatever the student chose – glass, acrylic, wood, found items……you get the idea!

Students had approximately 6 weeks for this challenge and could either give me the actual pieces for judging or submit photos via email. This had to be done by 18th March 2012.

I was extremely pleased with the entries I received. They were all little works of art and so different from each other. It was amazing to see the different interpretations of the theme. My difficult task of judging these entries took place this week and with the kind permission of Voila’s Christine Dumont I have used her framework to judge these pieces. Although this job was made easier by Christine’s framework, I still found it quite difficult to judge such wonderful pieces of art!! It turned out that first, second and third place were only a few points apart.

Read on to hear about the entries and of course, the winners (although they are all winners to me!).

Our first Encouragement award went to Sandra Ireland with her Dragon Dreaming piece. Sandra’s little dragons are just gorgeous and beautifully presented.

'Dragon Dreaming' - Sandra Ireland

The second Encouragement Award is awarded to Christine Witton for her ‘Puff the Magic Dragon’ entry. Christine tells how she was inspired by Christi Friesen’s magic figures. She says we all wish for some magic in our lives and Puff embodies the power, fantasy and drama of it. I am yet to see this little dragon in ‘real life’ but I think he is just adorable as I’m sure you’ll agree.

'Puff the Magic Dragon' by Christine Witton

Third place is awarded to Kerryn Ladell for her ‘Tree of Life’ sculptural piece. Kerryn’s dreamscape design has been inspired not only by the Tree of Life but also by the colours of the chakras. Kerryn tells how the garden has always been her sanctuary to escape to, with colour and beautiful flowers to inspire her. She has also added a crystal prism a the bottom of her piece which she says encompasses all light and colour. I really enjoyed reading about Kerryn’s journey in creating this piece and was happy to see how she was inspired to create this piece.

Kerryn has won a copy of ‘Polymer Clay Colour Inspirations’ by Lindley Haunani and Maggie Maggio valued at $45

'Tree of Life' by Kerryn Ladell

Second Place is awarded to Brenda Petitt for her amazing tile of polymer clay colour which she has entitled ‘Dreamscape’. Brenda says, ‘When I need to ‘escape’ or I being to meditate, my special place to be is in a flower-filled field, by a stream, under a shady weeping willow tree, in a framed background of undulating hills and mountains at the peaceful time of dusk. The calming sounds of trickling water and the gentle call of the birds, send me to my special place place and help to ‘take me away’. Brenda’s ‘Dreamscape’ is created in layers of Premo polymer clay on a substrate of ceramic tile which is 18 x 24cm. I was amazed by this piece. For me it certainly had the ‘wow’ factor.

Brenda has won a Goody Bag to the value of over $50!

'Dreamscape' by Brenda Petitt

And finally, First Place goes to Liz Alserda for her ‘Dreaming Lady’ neckpiece. I was blown away by the amount of research Liz did prior to creating her piece. She took me on a journey through her creation of this piece as you can see in the photos below. Liz created a face cane and then attempted (very well!) her first feather cane. There are so many elements to the final piece – from the many canes that have been created to the different shaped beads. I enjoyed reading about the ‘little extras’ that Liz created as she went on her ‘Dreamscape’ journey. Her final thoughts on this journey are as follows, “I have always thought if you don’t step outside your comfort zone you dont grow – this is a philosophy I have applied to many situations. I also consider myself a newbie to the whole polymer clay medium and with this in mind my Dreamscape was a challenge in that I took the opportunity to try some new stuff! At the end of it all I am very happy wtih what I have achieved and will wear it with much satisfaction. Now I only need to figure out what I am going to do with the massive amount of my sleeping lady face cane I made along my way………”. I think Liz’s attitude to this challenge, and to life, is inspirational and we can all take something from her words.

Liz has won a $75 voucher to The Whimsical Bead. Congratulations!

'Dreaming Lady' by Liz Alserda

Congratulations to all of you that entered. I was blown away by the talent and the diversity of the entries. Stay tuned for our next challenge………

Royal Children’s Hospital Good Friday Appeal

Dani — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 23:19:02 +0000

This year, The Whimsical Bead is not only supporting the Royal Children’s Hospital Good Friday Appeal, we are also collecting funds for this worthy charity.

This appeal is one that is close to my heart and something that we have always supported on a personal level, but this year I wanted to get the business involved as well. Even though the Royal Children’s Hospital has recently moved into it’s new premises, there is still a lot of work to be done and a lot more specialist equipment that needs to be purchased. You can read about this on their website www.goodfridayappeal.com.au

You can make a donation here at the studio or by adding extra money to your order (either via Paypal or Bank Transfer) which I will then add to the collection tin. Don’t forget you can also donate directly to this appeal through the Good Friday Appeal website (see link above). I hope that you can find it in your heart to dig deep and give generously and I thank you for supporting this worthy cause.

The funds from our collection tin will be picked up by a CFA/GFA Volunteer on Thursday 5^th April.

Thank you,

Dani

Christi Friesen on Sale

Dani — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 00:35:01 +0000

We are now stocking all of Christi Friesen’s fun and exciting books and for a limited time only you can get $5.00 off all of Christi’s books. This includes Steampunkery and Polymer Clay and Mixed Media (very limited stock of this one).

If you’re going to one of Christi’s workshops, why not order a copy in advance so you don’t miss out. If you can’t get to one of her workshops, these books honestly are the next best thing. They are extremely detailed and lots of fun to read with great projects suitable for all skill levels.

Book 1: Dragons

Book 2: Welcome to the Jungle

: Book 3: Under the Sea

Book 4: Cats Big and Small

Book 5: Down Under

Book 6: Birds of a Feather

Book 7: Woodland Creatures

Steampunkery!

Polymer Clay and Mixed Media - Big Book!

February Competition Winner

Dani — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 02:50:37 +0000

Those of you who receive our newsletter will know that we held a competition in February. Each person that made an order online during the month of February received an entry to win a copy of the latest The Polymer Arts magazine due to arrive in store any day now.

The Polymer Arts - Spring Issue

The winner was drawn at random this morning and notified via email. Congratulations to Lalaine Wall of Victoria!

Don’t forget, if you would like to hear about all the latest news and receive some great ‘subscriber only’ offers, sign up to our newsletter today in store. We will always keep your details private and never pass any of your information on to a third party.

Pretty Little Flowers…….

Dani — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 04:15:50 +0000

Well……in this case it was ‘not so little’ flowers to start with!! Yesterday I held a polymer clay flower caning workshop here at the studio. Everyone spent the afternoon creating their own pretty flower canes which started off quite large and then were reduced down to an appropriate size for bead making. I was amazing by the variation in each student’s cane – each was beautiful in it’s own way. Each student had a variety of experience – from ‘almost’ beginners to students who have been claying for a few years now. No matter what skill level, each student finished the lesson with their own gorgeous flower cane.

I thought I’d share a few of them with you………..

Sadie, Sharyn, Jenny, Judy and Penny's canes.....aren't they beautiful?!

Pretty in Pink.......Sandra's and Karen's flower canes