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Digging up treasures

It’s been an interesting week or so, polymer-clay-publications-wise. I was already thinking that we’d seen a lot of really neat new books come down the pike this summer, and I wasn’t really expecting anything else until November or so, when I started discovering things. You know how it is when you’re wandering around the internet – you find one thing, and that sparks another idea, so you check something else out, which links you to another place and makes you think of yet another thing you wanted to look up. You get the idea.

Well, in the last week I have gotten myself set up to sell Bead & Button Magazine and Art Jewelry Magazine (woo hoo – finally!!!) which reminded me of something I hadn’t looked into for some time – Ornament Magazine. Now that they’re online, the task of becoming a vendor has become much easier for me. I spent the better part of a day just sifting through their list of back-issues looking for polymer clay content. And I found some. 16 issues that feature master classes, articles, and artist statements from some of the pioneers of the medium: Ford & Forlano (or City Zen Cane as they were called in the “old days”), Kathleen Dustin, Pier Volkous and more. I hope to have them in my hot little hands next week, but I’ve made them available for preorder on my website right away. I’ll be getting all of the new issues as they are published as well.

Two days ago, a customer placed an order and gave as her reference a video company I’d never heard of. Intrigued, I googled them and found out something cool – Dayle Doroshow has two instructional DVD’s available! Did anybody even know about this?? The polymer clay community gets so few new videos every year, that there’s always a flurry of excitement over a new title. And here are TWO that have slipped under the radar. Well, *my* radar, at any rate! So, I’ve got them added to my site now and I hope to have them next week as well. You can reserve your own copies here.

While I was wandering around that video site, I found out they will soon be filming two DVD’s with Sherri Haab. Sherri Haab’s Incredible Clay Book, while targeted at kids, is actually what got me started in polymer clay in the first place. I love her style, and have enjoyed all of her books. The two DVDs will cover the topics of Metal Clay and Resin Jewelry, and both will include ways of incorporating polymer clay into the designs. Seeing this reminded me that I hadn’t added her recent book The Art of Resin Jewelry to the store. They’re all available for preorder now on my site.

I’ve added a few other things here and there – a self-published project book by Trish Hodgens that is cute and environmentally-conscious all in the same breath, and a book called The New Jewelry which showcases some of the more interesting jewelry-making materials being used these days (including our favorite) . You can see everything that’s new this week here.

Besides unearthing the few new treasures for my store, I’ve also been in full “tinker mode” (if you’re one of the 128 people who got accidental email from me this week due to aforementioned tinkering – sorry again, LOL!). I’ve revamped several of the little online tools I have for processing orders, and I’ve been working on a way to see what you have in the shopping cart from every page in the site (not quite there yet, but close). I’ve also gotten rid of that useless search box and replaced it with a google search until I can find something suitable that’s not full of ads…

Oh, on one last note – next week is my husband (clarkesworld)’s 40th birthday. If you’re at all into sci-fi, fantasy or horror, drop by his website, buy a book, and say Happy Birthday!

Now, I must nurse this dang summer cold, curl up in front of the tv for 1/2 an hour with a refreshing drink and go to bed!

Happy Claying!
Lisa

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