Cindy Lietz Polymer Clay Artist | Mixed Media Art Craft Instructor

7 Things You Probably Didn't Know About The Polymer Clay Tutor:

This morning reading through the RSS feeds in my Google Reader, I came across fellow polymer clay artist Elaine Robitaille's post called "7 Things About Me." You may remember seeing Elaine's stunning Polymer Clay Pendant from a post on this blog some time back.

Elaine had been tagged as part of a Meme which really is just a digital version of a chain letter that provides bloggers with something new to write about.

Elaine wrote some funny things about herself. But hating to 'tag' people as much as I do, she left it up to her readers to tag themselves if they wished.

That got me to thinking… you guys don't really know too much about me. So here are 7 Things You Probably Don't Know About Cindy Lietz, Your Polymer Clay Tutor:

1) I once was a Trout Farmer. My husband Doug was a marine biologist working at the Vancouver Aquarium when I married him. His dream was to own and run a fish farm and also raise aquatic worms for feed. This led to the two of us operating several different trout farms in British Columbia. Along side of Doug, I fed, gutted and filleted thousands of pounds of fish… and personally delivered live trout to many seafood stores in Vancouver's Chinatown. Although I do not miss those days 'living in hip waders and picking scales out of my hair', he does a little.

2) Several years ago, I wrote and hosted a recycled craft TV show called "The Sophisticated Scrounge". I taught people how to make Christmas crafts out of recycled materials. The Christmas special aired over 40 times on national television here in Canada and the US Pacific Northwest.

3) I have been married to Doug for 21 years. We waited quite a few years to have kids so they are still pretty young at 12 and 9 years old. I adore them all (the kids and Doug) and really enjoy being a family. Our favorite vacations are camping trips, where Doug does a lot of the cooking on the fire and calls himself Chef Pierre.

4) Was a night school craft teacher. I have taught thousands of students (mostly women but a fair number of men) in card making, handmade paper making, painted wine glasses, glass and ceramic tile mosaic, punched tin, tea bag folding, painted glass ornaments and many more. I taught in 13 different schools, three nights a week for 10 years. Doug made wooden boxes and other craft kits for most of the courses. A lot of prep work went into those classes!

5) Besides my current interest in polymer clay beads, I am also an acrylic artist specializing in working with kids drawings to create keepsake artwork. I'm known as the "Look What I Drawed!" artist. The bear in the picture above is one of my public art pieces done for a Children's Charity auction. It was created using selected drawings from 300 children. The original drawings were enlarged and traced onto the bear and then painted by me. This life size Spirit Bear sculpture raised $15,000 for the BC Lions Society.

6) I'm not to worried about how I look. Sometimes I wear make-up, sometimes I don't. Although I prefer cute clothes, I can be seen in just about anything. Always feel better with a new hair cut, a great pair of jeans and running shoes of course! I own a pair with pirates on them and a red plaid pair that seem to get worn more than any other shoes in the closet.

7) My studio is almost always a mess! Especially when it gets busy. I do love it to be organized though and will occasionally put everything away in its labled spot. But stuff slowly starts 'sneaking' back out. Because I've worked with so many different mediums and have recycled just about everything, I love to hold onto items and materials that could have a potential use someday. My friends and family think of me as 'the keeper of stuff' and my studio as a delivery location for things they can't find a home for. Don't get me wrong though, I really do like getting all those "gifts" and treasures… just wish I had a bigger studio.

Now that you know more about my "mixed media" background, hopefully you'll be able to better understand my eclectic style as a polymer clay artist. There are still many more things you don't know about me. But I'll leave those stories for another day!