1 FIMO Symposium, 4 Teachers, 70 Students and 140 half Hemispheres - The 1st FIMO Inspiration Symposium in Staedtler's headquarters

How often do you spend 72 hours with 12 nations polymer clay artists and play with clay?

Students Brocade Collection Purses

The 1st FIMO inspiration took place in Staedtler's headquarters in Nuremberg, Germany will be remembered as a wonderful weekend.
Play with clay? we sure did, and we got behind the scenes tours to see FIMO production line, writing instruments and it was beyond my expectations.
Staedtler's team - Mr. Nils Henssen and Mrs. Gerlinde Karg along with dedicated Staedtler's people put together an amazing event. No other words can describe it.

Staedtler's main room

The first day started with an opening gathering, we had  a chance to meet all 70 students coming from 12 nations, along with my collogues teachers - Sarah Shriver, Sabine Backer and Bettina Welker.
A warm (and tasty) welcome and off we went to our intensive 3 in 1: One day - Three tours.

Glass display cubes showing teacher's work

The first stop was Staedtler's pencils production line, did you know That Staedtler people play with canes in their pencils?
Going through endless colored and graphite pencils, markers and pens - makes you want to grab several and do some drawings!

Big storage warehouses

Huge machines, micro technology, smart production are only a part of this fascinating process (sorry, no photos were allowed...).
Packaging is brilliant as well, we've been inside huge warehouses where computers are running all stocks, building a box of all "ingredients" of an order starting from 1 item to thousands.
At this age where writing is done with our keyboard and printers, its great to see that colored pencils and pencils are still so popular, important and valuable, the look of all these colorful pencils immediately made me want to sketch.

Guided tour in production factories

Next stop was the FIMO production in Neumarkt, 20 minutes by bus from the headquarters - huge mixers with colorful piles of FIMO, like colorful yummy sugar paste. Machines creating blocks for the entire world! Unbelievable. The clay is molded into portions and packaged in small packages - 100 packages per minute!
We could not resist not to touch the endless clay piles and got ourselves  small leftovers to play with while walking around.

Old City of Nurnberg

Last tour was a "medieval style" city tour in old Nurnberg, walking around the old city at night and listening to ancient stories about battles, Napoleon and old ages celebrities.

We ended up the day in a lovely restaurant eating traditional cuisine and headed to bed to have our beauty sleep just before we start a new day.

Evening dinner at the
Museum of Industrial Culture

Thursday morning started with workshops, workshops and more workshops, I gave my popular Brocade Collection purse workshop and each student created his/her own wonderful purse - start to finish. 2 workshops a day, fresh beverages flowing and pampering, great lunch and then in the evening a luxury dinner at the industrial museum including a fun auction selling all 4 teacher's special edition pens. My set has a new warm home and was purchased by nice lady from Switzerland :)
Staedler's team did everything they possibly can to make us feel comfortable, gave their full attention to every detail, made sure we are enjoying good food, music and an entertaining show.

Teachers Pens Sets - Auctioned

The following day was once again packed with workshops, group photos and a closing ceremony, giving the students fancy certificates signed by all teachers and organizers.

Did I say already I enjoyed every minute?
I had an amazing weekend, met lots of new and old friends and what's important, enjoyed seeing my students smiley face when they finished their cute little purses, some of them already placed them on their bag as a decoration.
There is something about the "together" atmosphere that fills your heart with joy forgetting for a minute all the laundry, dishes and sleepless nights.

Working...
Saskia Veltenaar and Marjon Donker
from the Netherlands

Learning new things, improving your skills, helping simplify things, discovering a new trick,  or even exchanging ideas for Christmas gifts!

Having fun :)

I had one student, a beginner with polymer (3 months), she could not believe she will be able to make "that complicated purse". In the end of the class she said she is so happy with the results, now she feels much confident to make her family Christmas gifts.

Staedtler's Main Courses Room
The CASINO

So thank you my dear students and thank you Staedtler for making this happen. I am looking forward to my next trip to Maryland, US, having fun with more Brocade purses, meeting old and new friends on CFCF.

Teaching (with a smile)

More photos are posted in my facebook, you are welcome to take a look.
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151095354712968.443049.608452967&type=1
Thank you!

Polymeri Online 17.9.12 | Dried flowers polymer pendants, Spiral up technique, Smurfs and other friends, Found objects polymer and The 1st Fimo Symposium

Kristie Foss dried flowers in polymer

Kristie Foss (which I am about to meet again on CFCF) created new pendants made of tiny dried flowers embedded in resin on a base of polymer Ikat canes. Such a wonderful mix materials piece!
Kristie, previously introduced in PolymeriOnline is engaged in bead weaving, PMC, polymer and porcelain.
http://kristiefoss.blogspot.cz/2012/08/tiny-dried-flower-ikat-pendants.html

Polymer clay "Spiral Up"

Izabela Nowak posted her new colorful creations on flickr, the "Spiral up" technique - bracelet, necklace and "acorn" shaped beads . These shapes are so fun to look at and SO accurate, she is doing a wonderful job (as usual!) :)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/izabelanowak/7990905490/in/photostream
Izabela is a polish girl living in Austria and her polymer clay creations are always sending a fresh breeze of uniqueness.

ClayUs - polymer clay tutorials and projects

A cute tutorial website, in chinese, features children (and adults!) projects such as smurfs sculpturing, snow-white princess, winnie the pooh, angry birds and many more! When using Google chrome browser you can automatically translate their website.
http://www.clayus.com/2011/light-clay-smurfs/

Polymer jewelry by Chris Kapono

Chris Kapono has been painting and drawing for most of her life. She paints in watercolor, ink and acrylics and first began selling her ACEO on eBay. These days she is focusing on polymer clay pieces made of found objects - ornaments, vases, trinket boxes, polymer figurines and decorated journals.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mandarinmoon/
http://www.etsy.com/shop/MandarinMoon

The 1st Fimo Symposium
STAEDTLER's headquarters

My polymer clay tutorial
Brocade Collection purses

We are celebrating "Rosh Hashana" today, the Jewish new year; Family gatherings and lot's of good food :)

May this bright new year is given to us to live each day with zest, to daily grow and try to be our highest and best.

I am making my final preparations for my 2nd trip to Germany, this time to visit and teach my Brocade Collection purses in STAEDTLER's headquarters.

Have a great year my friends!

Polymeri Online 10.9.12 | Mummy cane giveaway winners, Harry potter bookmarks, Teeth rings, Mini skull toppers and Halloween themed hairclips

Mummy cane winners!

Thank you so much for your lovely feedback and comments, we have 3 winners to the Mummy cane giveaway!
Rebecca, Judy and Eleanor (comments no. 1, 14, 16)
If you did not leave me your email address, please contact me by leaving a comment here or here.

More Halloween themed links -

Harry Potter Polymer
Clay Bookmarks

Libellulina is the creator of these cute Harry Potter bookmarks, Hermione, Harry and Ron, It was created with Fimo and a hand painted on wooden base.
http://libellulina.deviantart.com/art/Bookmarks-Harry-Potter-149936982?q=sort%3Atime+favby%3Alelymarques&qo=3

Teeth Rings!

Another super cute resource for Halloween projects can be found in Pongojam deliantart gallery - giggle charms, teeth rings and other fun projects
http://pongojam.deviantart.com/gallery/26154057

Polymer Clay Mini Cake Topper

Take a look at this mini cake topper - Skull bride and groom in matching colors for Halloween or for other occasions.
Wanessa is the creator behind "iampleasure" and her store theme is "custom made ​​day of the dead cake decorations". Each topper is embellished with clear crystals and glitters.
http://www.etsy.com/listing/105571565/mini-cake-topper-skull-black-and-orange

Polymer Clay Hair Clips - Halloween!

last link for today is these cute hair clips made with felt, cotton fabric and polymer clay embellishments. These hair clips are made by Judy which is making her own buttons and clips for years. Only when her son married and had 2 cute grandchildren she I picked up the pace making buttons for hair clips and clothing.
http://www.etsy.com/listing/104927700/new-halloween-hair-clips-wool-felt

Next week we are back with more polymer clay treasures!

More Halloween FREEBIES!

Don't forget to check out my previous Halloween projects - Scary finger, Eyeball and Spider rings!
http://www.polypediaonline.com/133688/FREE-PolyPediaOnline-Tutorials

FREE Video | How to Create Polymer Clay Halloween Mummy Face Millefiori Cane

Free polymer clay video!
Mummy face millefiori cane

Purim (a similar jewish version for Halloween) was the holiday I loved the most as a child. I remember I used to wait for the day my mother asks me "who do you want to be" this year?
I was a ballerina, little red riding hood, a hippie, a rabbit, a traditional Japanese dressed lady, and even a kitty (it's me age 4 in the photo!).
All these special costumes were handmade by my mother and I can not thank her enough for being so cooperative with our childhood desires.

Purim is due in 6 months but Halloween is only 60 days away!
Have you planned your polymer clay projects? gifts? treats?

Me as a kitty!

You are most welcome to join me in a new FREE 29 minutes video tutorial, teaching you all how to create this spooky (spooky? I think it's cute!) millefiori mummy face cane, made of only 3 clay colors - white, grey and black.
Skinner blend, stitched lips, black eyeballs and nose - and you have a super cool cane to add to your Halloween gift collection!

Lot's of useful tips are included in this video, including my way of creating a skinner blend, inserting details inside a round cane, accurate slicing of a plug, stripy finish wrap around the cane, and many more!

and...

Don't miss the special giveaway! SORRY! Giveaway closed!

I am giving away 3 canes of this cutie!

Post a comment under this post with your answer -
=> What was your favorite costume on Halloween as a child?
OR
=> Post a link to one of your polymer clay Halloween themed creations!

Post your comments below along with your email address so I can contact you if you win -
In my next PolymeriOnline blog post, 3 of you will be drawn out from all the comments and WIN A CANE - FREE!

Good luck and have fun!