Hi Everyone! We're back in action- we filmed 12 episodes of Polymer Clay TV and Polymer Clay Classroom last weekend and had a blast. We're doing the videos in a new format and we hope you love them. We will be showing basic gold leaf techniques next week, so don't miss that.

LISTEN to to podcast right here!
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We reviewed a book called Clay Techniques with a Pasta Machine, by Maureen Carlson (who we interviewed in the Synergy podcast- be sure to listen to that one.)
This book is published by Design Originals- <a href="http://www.d-originals.com">www.d-originals.com</a>. We really like it, it is my favorite book to point people to when they want to know why they need a pasta machine. I don't know what I did before I got mine (actually, I remember lots of failed attempts to make nice smooth flat sheets) and we highly recommend it. We will be giving a copy away to a lucky listener this month, so be sure to sign up for our newsletter or comment on the site. We enter everyone who does into our monthly contests.

Next month, we will be unveiling the first of several new elements of Polymer Clay Podcast - our Monthly Call for Creativity. We are hoping that with a little "directed inspiration" we can all challenge ourselves to be creative and learn new techniques. So each month, we will announce three things- an overall theme, a technique, and an object to focus on. For example: Theme: Ocean, Technique: Silver Leaf, Focus object: lightswitch plates. Then, you can show us your creativity by making something either for the focus group (a lightswitch plate) or the Open Call- which means you would make anything you are inspired to make, using the Ocean theme and silver leaf. We will be building a special board in our forum where you can discuss the theme, show your pictures, and vote for the People's Choice Awards. The winners will receive a gift from us- and we will also randomly choose a winner from the folks that come over and vote. We haven't completely "fleshed out" this idea yet, but we will be announcing our first Call on October 1 in our Newsletter and we hope that our first month is fun and inspirational for everyone.

Please consider donating Bottles of Hope or polymer clay supplies to our friend Barbara Reider for distribution at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in MA. She has been very active in getting a Bottles of Hope program going there, and we think it's a great cause to support.

Please support our show by reviewing our podcast, either at itunes, Meefeedia, or anywhere else you pick up our podcast or videos (youtube, google, myspace, etc.) We really appreciate the kudos, thanks to everyone who has helped to increase our rankings!

Be sure to sign up for the newsletter this month, and come back next week for our Silver and Gold leaf video!

This week, Ilysa shows some of her work and discusses her experience with art and craft shows. Enjoy the video.

We plan to film our next series of instructional videos this weekend, hopefully the fates will allow it! We have great plans in store for a slightly new format that we know you're going to love and the best part is, we took our audience's advice. We love your feedback, so please keep it coming!