{"id":6083,"date":"2009-10-08T03:06:27","date_gmt":"2009-10-08T10:06:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beadsandbeading.com\/blog\/?p=6083"},"modified":"2009-10-11T07:14:05","modified_gmt":"2009-10-11T14:14:05","slug":"how-to-promote-polymer-clay-in-britain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beadsandbeading.com\/blog\/how-to-promote-polymer-clay-in-britain\/6083\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Promote Polymer Clay in Britain – Step 1 Meet with Friends"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Meeting<\/p>\n

<\/span>“We met right next to the sweet stall and were talking non-stop within minutes.”
\n~Penny-V<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/span>What started out as an update on Polymer Clay in the UK<\/a>, ended up as a gathering of new found friends swapping beads and bead stories in an informal Manchester Meet Up<\/a>. Penny Vingoe was the lead conductor for this wonderful event. She wrote the following report to share with all of us, so that we can feel like we were kinda there too.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Report of the meeting of Cindy\u2019s girls, Saturday 3rd October 2009:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Two of us live in Wales and it hasn’t rained for a month.\u00a0 Yet, true to its reputation, it was raining in Manchester.\u00a0 On top of that, British Rail kept up to its reputation and the train was late. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"Anna's<\/p>\n

However we met right next to the sweet stall (mmm) and were talking non-stop within minutes. See top photo above.<\/span><\/p>\n

Predictably we were wearing pieces that we had made so we compared notes and admired each other\u2019s work before heading off (See the lovely crackled gold leaf pendant<\/a> made by Anna aka Silverleaf).<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Surrounded<\/p>\n

We found a coffee bar – that didn’t sell coffee! (“Sorry, can’t heat anything up today”) and sat drinking delicious smoothies whilst surrounded by beads.<\/span><\/p>\n

Well if you’d heard the noise in that corner of the bar: we exchanged so many beads and so many ideas:<\/span><\/p>\n


\n“How did you do that?”<\/em>
\n“That idea came from the raku video.”<\/strong>
\n“Those beads smell wonderful Anna – I just have to rush home and raid the spices cupboard.”<\/em>
\n“Those beads are beautiful Rachel.”<\/strong>
\n“Well I did that from Cindy\u2019s watercolour technique video.”<\/em>
\n“You can buy those findings from…….”<\/strong>
\n“What an amazing idea Ang – making those beads with eyelets instead of expensive grommets.”<\/em><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And then there was the other topic on the agenda: How can we promote claying in Britain?\u00a0 The obvious one was to proselytize – by showing people what is possible and how easy it is to get started.\u00a0 We discussed a blog where we can enthuse about the subject and\u00a0 came up with the title “Polygirls blog” but later smiled at the idea of “Polyclay Addicts Anonymous”\u00a0 (Pam in particular needs help – she has a severe addiction).\u00a0 This topic is to be continued…..<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Eating<\/p>\n

This all went on for a couple of hours when Rachel had to leave us and we headed off to Fred Aldous.\u00a0 “I’m hungry” announced Pam – we had forgotten to eat.\u00a0 So we sat ourselves on a bench in the middle of Piccadilly with hundreds of people walking past (personally, living in the country where it\u2019s mostly sheep, I had forgotten what it is like to be surrounded by people – quite disconcerting) before heading to that magical craft store.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Only<\/p>\n

Two exhausting hours and a lot of money was spent in Fred Aldous.\u00a0 So much choice, and so many more ideas.\u00a0 Oh what a joy it is to be with such creative and like minded people.\u00a0 And Pam cheated as she had a little portable seat with her so we would frequently find her sat in front of the displays systematically looking at all the goodies.\u00a0 But – to our dismay – there was a large display of Fimo at inflated prices and a further display of Sculpey III – and that was all.\u00a0 Most disappointing.\u00a0 “This is all we have in Manchester” complained Ang (who lives on the outskirts of the city).<\/span><\/p>\n

We tottered, exhausted, back to the station and said our goodbyes with promises to stay in touch.\u00a0 Our plan is to meet up again at the NEC for the annual Craft exhibition in November.\u00a0 For those of you non Brits the NEC (National Exhibition Centre) is the biggest exhibition complex in Britain on the outskirts of Birmingham.<\/span><\/p>\n

We laughed a lot, and a good day was had by all.<\/span><\/p>\n

~Penny Vingoe<\/a><\/strong><\/span>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"Cindy\"Polymer<\/p>\n

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