Catch up with the news!

We hope you will read beyond the first page of the blog: check out the Summer Class page and the First Thursday page to keep track of the classes coming up: Wire Weaving with Cindy Moore on July 21 & 22; Etched Collage with Cold Connections with Kim St. Jean on August 4; Steampunk Dangles with Kim St. Jean on August 5; Pollage with Patricia DiBona on August 10^th; Face Canes with Julie Eakes on August 11 & 12; Wirewrapping with Jan Stephens on August 18^th; Patricia and Ellen will guide you in making a Gratitude Altar on August 22 and 23; First Thursday with Patricia and Ellen on September 6^th; Captured Curiousities with Resin with Christi Friesen on September 8^th; Fee Fi Faux Fabulous (Introducing Swellegant metal coatings and patinas) with Christi Friesen on September 9^th; and finally….Lindly Haunani is coming back for a weekend workshop on September 15 & 16 where she will share a new class she is debuting at CJS. Whew! It’s getting to be a whirlwind around here…not to mention a couple trips out of town (for the Connecticut retreat and Arrowmont).

A highlight of our summer was a wonderful class with Sarah Shriver. She presented her kaleidoscope cane techniques on the weekend, and then on Tuesday we used our newly made canes and skinner blends to create “Big Beads with reverse inlays”. She is an amazing teacher. Being able to watch her hands closely and glean the little tricks she uses was invaluable. We will definitely be bringing her back next year.

 We just wanted to catch you up on the latest news and excitement. We have been busy expanding the retrospective collection and creating new signage. We also have been adding new artists and rearranging the work for sale in the gallery. Everyone has new tent cards with the Creative Journey Studios logo on them. Between that and combating the major quantities of dust from all the road construction, we have been very busy. We’ve also been stocking new items in Filigree & more, our supply store. We are now carrying Pardo clay—the translucent is amazing, especially for building hollow beads around pressed cotton balls from England (we have five sizes!)  We have a new cutting tool---the Testor blade that Ron Lehocky recommended at his demo (which was fantastic—he shared a lot of pointers on pendant construction.

The tool room is shaping up. One of Patricia’s student’s husband put together our work bench and we have a new bench lathe for polishing beads. We also have a new flex shaft ready to be explored. We are now Foredom distributors, so check with us before you plunge on any of their fantastic tools. I think you will find we are more than competitive with the pricing.

Jimmie Boatright has designed some new class pieces. We have made her some new polymer cabochons which she is using to make wonderful bracelets. She is all set to teach her new techniques.

Patricia DiBona has been busy gearing up for some shows and has created some new numbered shadow boxes featuring her “frozen Charlottes”,  little porcelain dolls from Victorian Germany. She’s been organizing her studio and finding lots of vintage goodies for her future classes. She has a soldering class coming up on July 18th, so check the class schedule on the blog (www.creativejourneyart.blogspot.com). She is always willing to put together a class designed especially for you. She and Ellen will have a special “First Thursday” class on August 2, with mixed media and polymer components –“Story Necklace”. You’ll be making and stringing beads that have special meaning to you. I think I’ll go for the faux ivory bead with “energized” stamped on it!