My creepy, larger-than-life podcasting pose, at that. No, I haven’t started a podcast. I love to listen to them, but I can’t imagine my place being at the helm of one. So what’s with the headset, then? This was me two weeks ago, when I was chatting with Ilysa Bierer and Kira Slye of Polymer Clay Productions. It was an honor to be interviewed, and if you are reading this, Ilysa & Kira, I thank you! (And I promise to get that headset back to you as soon as I can find three minutes to dig up a box!)

If you’re interested in listening to the interview, you can check it out here.

You know how you always can come up with better ways to say things after a conversation is over? Well, maybe you don’t, but I am intimately familiar with that feeling. After playing the podcast and hearing myself speak, I realized that I didn’t say too much to embarrass myself, which is a really nice realization to have But I do think that maybe I trivialized my book store a bit. It really is a lot more than just a way to “pay for my clay so I can play.” Like many polymer clay enthusiasts, I have a serious affliction when it comes to new books, videos, and anything that gives me the opportunity to see what people are making. It’s an exciting feeling to see the UPS truck pulling in the driveway when I know some new book is on the way. I’ve been known to squeal and jump up and down in the living room, which may not be dignified behavior, but who cares?! Besides my obvious love for the products I sell, I really enjoy the connections I’ve made in the community as a result of having this business. Given how much I love seeing new books & videos come in, is it any surprise that I get excited to share them? I know I have complained long and hard about packing orders around here, but if there is one bright spot, one shining beacon of enjoyableness in that task, it is that I know I am sending a little package of inspiration someone’s way.

I was asked what my business plans are for the future, and my feeling is that I will continue for as long as

• I have an interest in polymer clay and a need to create things with it
• The business can sustain itself financially (we could never survive on this, but so far it’s not costing us anything)
• I can run the business without negatively impacting my family life
• I am happy running it

So there’s my little addendum to the interview. Other than that, I am happy to let it stand as-is. Neil commented to me (in jest. I think…) that I made it sound like I neglect our children in the course of being crafty and having a business. Anyone who reads this blog knows, though, that once in a while I do dust the little darlings off, take them out and play with them No, if anything is getting neglected, it is the kitchen. And maybe the husband.

Share This

Originally published at Polka Dot Creations. Please leave any comments there.

57 degrees. That’s what the little weather icon in my system tray says right now. That’s what it said most of yesterday, too, for that matter. I’m not sure about the previous day, but it was not warm then, either. Is this really August? I’m this close to baking up some pumpkin bread and putting on a sweater.

Truth be told, I’ve already caved and put on the sweater. I’m trying not to go overboard and turn on the heat, but after three days of this the house is feeling the chill, and so are my toes. Perhaps a pair of socks is in order. It uses a lot less energy than flipping on the heat.

As I drink a cup of Lady Gray tea, Aidan, who is son #1, and who I have decided to stop referring to as son #1 since, really, if anybody wanted to find out his name it wouldn’t be too hard, so why bother trying to protect his identity here? Anyway, Aidan is sitting on the floor with a notepad and pencil writing down the first five letters of the Phoenician, Cyrillic, Greek, Roman and Hebrew alphabets as seen in one of his books. He taught me something interesting. Did you know that Greeks read in a zig-zag fashion? One line is left-to-right and the next line is right-to-left. At least, that’s what Aidan says the book says.

I’ve been listening to some podcasts lately that I think might interest some of you. You don’t need an iPod to listen to a podcast. They are really just large mp3 files. I like to play them when I am working on tasks that bore me (washing dishes, packing orders, making supper…). It’s a great way to get a creativity fix when you can’t actually be doing something creative. I enjoy hearing the voices and stories of people I may have only read about before. So here are the ones that I have found interesting in a crafty way:

• Craftcast with Alison Lee: This is a really classy, well-made podcast. Alison has interviewed some big names in the polymer clay community, including Elise Winters, Sherri Haab, Gwen Gibson, Donna Kato, and more. Episodes are generally 30 minutes. (episode list)
• Craftypod: Sister Diane or the Church of Craft interviews mostly people involved in the indie craft movement, primarily sewing- or knitting-related, but not entirely. This week I listened to her chat with Sarajane Helm, and yesterday I heard her discuss some recipes for making your own clays and the pros and cons of the different types. (episode list)
• CraftSanity: I like this one, but it’s not for people with only a minute to spare here and there. You need about an hour - sometimes more - to hear an entire conversation. Jennifer Ackerman-Haywood has not, to my knowledge, chatted with anybody in the polymer clay community, (the podcast is very needlecraft-centric) but she has had (long) conversations with some of the popular crafty bloggers that I’ve come to enjoy (like Alicia Paulson of Posie Gets Cozy and Amy Karol of Angry Chicken). She has also recently interviewed Carol Duvall, and recorded the crafty panel discussion at the BlogHer convention in Chicago this summer. (episode list)
• Polymer Clay Productions Podcasts: I have to admit, I’ve only listened to the first two of these so far. The first one was just too basic for me, although “basic” was probably exactly what they were going for. If you’re new to clay, you might want to check it out. The second one, I listened to last night. It centered on stamping in clay, which is not really one of my interests. I do plan to listen to all of the episodes at some point - I’m particularly looking forward to hearing the artist interviews they did at CHA. (episode list)

If you know of any other good ones to add to this list, leave me a comment!

I think somebody is having a laugh at me this summer. Every time I plan to pack up a big batch of orders, I am struck with an ailment. First it was a cold, then it was a pulled somethingorother in my back, and now it’s a very sore shoulder. Eamonn (aka son #2) needed company last night after a bad dream, and something about the way I slept with him has made me very sore today. I can barely lift my tea cup. It’s crazy. I can’t afford to lay around and baby my shoulder today, so I’m going to soldier on. There is food shopping to be done and a shipment to prepare. I sound so brave, don’t I? Don’t be fooled. Oh, I’ll do the food shopping alright - a girl’s gotta eat - but don’t be surprised to find me wimping out for the rest of the day after that, whining about how much I have to do, but not actually doing any of it…

Oh, and that picture at the top of this post? It’s my second quilt top. This one’s for Eamonn, and I like the colors much better.

Lisa

[Edited to add: Looks like food shopping is out of the question.  I can’t drive!  My shoulder is so sore, I could barely get dressed.  36 years old and already I’m falling apart…]

Share This

Originally published at Polka Dot Creations. Please leave any comments there.

Alison Lee of Craftcast has another interview with an interesting artist - Sherri Haab. I haven’t listened to the podcast yet, but I plan to as soon as I can get a few quiet moments alone (last time I had a podcast I wanted to hear, I loaded it onto my mp3 player and listened to it on the way to Target, while I shopped, and on the way home - it was a fun change of pace). Sherri has written a pile of books on different crafty topics, and just about all of them include a creative use of polymer clay in one way or another. Most recently, she’s got the Precious Metal Clay Jewelry DVD that I highly recommend.

Lisa

Share This

Originally published at Polka Dot Creations. Please leave any comments there.

Got another interview for ya - Luann Udell was recently featured on the Crafting Voices podcast. This podcast is new to me, and I plan to listen to it sometime this morning. I found the link on Luann’s blog.

I find it so interesting to listen to the artists themselves discuss their work and their creative processes.

Lisa

Share This

Originally published at Polka Dot Creations. Please leave any comments there.

This week, Alison Lee chats with Gwen Gibson on CraftCast. I listened to the first half while I made supper tonight, and the last half while I cleaned up and folded laundry - gotta love multitasking I enjoyed the interview. Gwen has taken an interesting artistic path in her life. And while she says that she’s pretty much finished with polymer clay at this point, her retreat in France is still a main attraction for pc teachers and students. She talks a lot about that during the interview. One other bonus - Alison Lee picked out a song to play by a great Scottish band I had never heard of before. I’m putting them on Polka Dot Radio, as soon as I can manage to download myself a couple of tracks…

I encourage you to take some time looking through the CraftCast archives. There was a Donna Kato interview a few weeks back that was interesting. She talked with Carol Duvall recently, too (although I have yet to listen to that one). And tonight I played last week’s chat with Tim McCreight. It seemed interesting, although my listening experience was punctuated by loud, shirtless little boys running around playing Ultraman, and I’m afraid I didn’t catch a whole lot of what was being talked about. I may have to listen to that one again when everyone is in school…

On another note:
Over the last few days, I’ve been populating the Google Reader with as many clay-related blogs as I can find. If you’ve got a favorite, I’d love to hear from you. I’m going to mention Polymer Clay Daily and Polymer Clay Notes here, but frankly if you’re a clayhead and you haven’t heard of them you must be living under a rock

Looks like it’s time to get those boys into some shirts and put them to bed. Until next time…

Lisa

Share This

Originally published at Polka Dot Creations. Please leave any comments there.

Alison Lee has a 30-minute-or-so chat with Donna Kato this week on her Craftcast podcast. Even if you don’t have an iPod (which I don’t) you can listen to it as a regular mp3.Enjoy!
Lisa

Share This

Originally published at Polka Dot Creations. Please leave any comments there.