Has Spring sprung?

It's almost spring (Boy, are we ready!) and we are having beautiful weather that is inspiring us to restock and straighten, clean up piles of junk, finish up old projects and get ready for another year of classes and fun. We just hosted the GAPCG(Atlanta guild) for their Shop Hop. They had lunch at Aqua Terra and then spent the afternoon with us. Ellen demoed a bunch of wonderful products we carry in the store and had the ladies' heads spinning. Make yourself a promise to come for a visit and get the grand tour!

Be sure to look at the upcoming classes page for the latest class news. If you see something you like, don't hesitate until there is no space. Give me a call and get your name on the list before the class fills. Your check or charge holds your spot so you won't be disappointed. We have students from all over the country flying in to attend, and we only have ten spots, unless we are able to schedule a second session, so heed the warning...."she who hesitates, is lost!".
Bettina Welker's class is coming up....actually two sessions in April. Both are full but I am taking a waiting list. Next up is Meisha Barbee, who has come up with a fresh new look to expand your polymer knowledge.

We have a nice display of Meisha's work in the gallery if you are not familiar with her wonderful pendants and earrings. I know once you have seen her work, you will want to take her class. (more pictures on the "upcoming class" page).
In June, we are very excited to have Melanie Muir coming in for two sessions. She is expanding on her Shards Necklace class with a personal design clinic to help you with your own design decisions and construction problems thrown in, along with her special mokume gane variations.

Next, in July, we have a visit with Julie Picarello. Julie was one of our first instructors, way back when!, so we are very excited to offer her amazing expertise.

August will see Ellen Prophater (with twisted arm!) offering two weekend sessions of her small (limited to 5 students) class on Mokume Gane variations. Ellen likes the class to have room to spread out and to get lots of attention. She has a lot to share and the classes will be jam-packed!
Lindly is busy developing a new class for us and will be down in September to help us celebrate our birthdays and teach an exciting class. We'll post a description as soon as it is available.

Winter Wonderland?

We haven't had much winter, but what we have had, has been brutal for all of us "southern" hot house flowers! The lake level (which we watch avidly) has been incredibly high all season, even as the Corp of Engineers lets water flow down the river with great gusto. As we cross the dam going to and from Buford, we watch the digital sign and follow the level.

 

We are 'holding our breath' for all the retreats that are going on at the moment. We hope the snow and ice will hold off and everyone can go and get back home without an issue. We usually travel to the Buckeye Bash at this time of the year, and while it is great fun, we still have too clear a memory of the ice and snow last year. We also contemplated attending Arlene Groch's Clayathon in New Jersey. I guess we are just chicken in our 'old age'. If our magic wands were functioning better, we might have considered going. I know everyone is having a blast! The organizers do a fabulous job at these retreats and we are sad to miss out.

In the meantime we are gearing up for Bettina Welker to arrive. She has filled up two classes in April. She will survey her wide variety of techniques which promises to be awe inspiring! As a graphics designer, she has a wide breadth of looks to expound upon. I'm looking forward to seeing the resultant sampler necklaces....along with the happy faces!

We have rescheduled Leslie for November, after her water pipe/ basement debacle. Having had a disaster in our basement, I felt her pain....and I know she was disappointed, but she'll be back in the fall for all her fans! 

In the meantime, we are planning a bunch of other classes and the descriptions will go up on the "upcoming classes" page, as soon as the teachers get them to us! Meisha Barbee is coming in May, Melanie Muir -- in June, Julie Picarello -- in July, and Lindly Haunani -- in September! The classes will fill quickly! 

The clay shelves are all restocked. We have all the Kor Tools stamps, rollers and edge rollers in stock. (and flying out the door!) Ellen has been busy making samples with inks, paints and textures. There is lots to see and drool over. Perhaps you need to plan a trip....lunch in town and then an afternoon of shopping. If you have a group of friends who want to shop, let us set up a special time for you! We are willing to come in to accommodate your schedule if you are driving thru Atlanta and want to stop by! We always suggest that you call to make sure we are here and we are always happy to help husbands shop so they come home with what you want!

The Holidays are coming....

Life is always busy, both yours and ours.....but never too busy for fun! We've been gearing up for holiday shopping. Historic Buford held an open house that most of the downtown merchants participated in. It was nice to 'fluff' the gallery and put out some decorations. We got the classroom ready for Jana Benzon's class that's coming up in December, on the 4th thru the 6th.

Sadly, we had to postpone Leslie Blackford's class (she had a disaster in her basement to clean up!) As soon as we figure out a replacement date, we'll post it here and on facebook.

Ellen has been working very hard planning classes for next year and is coming up with a dynamite line-up. As information becomes available, it will be posted on the upcoming classes page. If you see a class you think you would like, call us. Your check will hold your spot. We are very excited to be having more international teachers in 2016. Anke Humpert, from Germany, is coming in February.

Bettina Welker, also from Germany, is going to teach two sessions. She is scheduled to teach in April, and we are going to have the usual Friday to Sunday class. We are offering a special weekday session: Tuesday to Thursday, for people that can't get away on the weekend.

We had a great time with the Kentucky/ Tennessee Guild at the Falls of Rough Park in Kentucky. Dani Torres and Natalia Garcia de Leaniz were the guest artists. Ron Lehocky did a great job of running the retreat. It was a nice new spot and I think we are committed to another three years. It has taken us a couple weeks to unpack and restock, but we'd go again tomorrow if we could!

The Latest....

One of the nice things about running Creative Journey Studios is having “regulars” who like to shop for supplies and who enjoy coming to classes. Linda Hall, my “twin sister”, has been known to come and spend the day doing tedious inventory stocking jobs with me. She is a member of the Greater Atlanta Polymer Clay Guild and used her basket making skills to turn our donation to their retreat into a spectacular prize! We were happy to support the guild and thrilled for Melinda Greene to win such a beautiful basket.

We are gearing up for Dani and Natalia. We can hardly wait to share their new techniques this weekend. Then we are off to the Rough River State Resort Park to join the Kentucky/Tennessee Guild for their annual retreat. Ron Lehocky has planned a jam packed few days and we are excited to see all our “Cave” friends attending this transplanted retreat. Ellen has been working on new techniques with Viva Décor paints that she can hardly wait to share. She uses them on the clay surface, with translucent clay, and in mokume.

In other news, we are incredibly excited to welcome Julie Picarello to the CJS Gallery. Julie loves to make  beads but had to fortify herself with loads of chocolate to assemble some necklaces for us. We think she did a magnificent job. Julie will be teaching for us next July. It’s been years since I’ve had a class with Julie, so I’m really excited that she will be part of our 2016 lineup.

What's New this Fall....

It's sad when you are so busy you can't find a minute to write a post on the blog, but today is a rare day off so I have no excuse! Since the last entry Christi Friesen, Lindly Haunani and Loretta Lam have been to the studio to give wonderful classes. Do you know how much French pastry I have had to consume lately? It's a tough job, but someone has to do it! It seems that an expected "perk" of teaching for us is at least one trip to Collet's French Bakery. We even had a couple birthdays we had to celebrate.

 

Things won't really calm down until the new year. Dani Torres and Natalia Garcia de Leaniz, from Madrid, are coming in October to share their secrets about hollow forms and ring making. They were here when Synergy 3 was in Atlanta and got us all excited about making hollow forms.

Since then they have grown the idea exponentially! Be sure to read the upcoming classes page. After their class, we will all be going to the Kentucky/ Tennessee Guild retreat at the new venue, Rough River Dam park. 

In November, Leslie Blackford is coming back for another nightlight class. She will add her "Winter Woodland" Bracelet to the fun. Call us (404-314-5767) to sign up and start thinking about the theme of your nightlight. 

We'll finish off the year with Jana Roberts Benzon. As you'll see on the class page, she is sharing all her techniques in a process driven, rather than project driven class. I'm sure it will be mind boggling.

If you haven't been in for a visit lately, there are lots of new things to see. We just got more new work from Patrice Pfeiffer, Anke Humpert, Celine Charuau, Loretta Lam, Bettina Welker, Karen Woods and Lindly Haunani. There are new products in the store that I'm sure you can't live without! Pastels, PolyBonder, Kor Tools (even the new long rollers!), a new batch of acrylic rollers, Premo's new colors, Pardo translucent colors, new silk screens from Karen Woods...all sorts of temptations!

Something new and exciting....

Everyone is falling in love with the new KorTools and we are no exception. We learned about the new texture tools from Ron Lehocky and immediately we were 'all in'. We are stocking all the rollers and a large portion of the stamps.
 

A few of Ron's latest hearts using the KorTools

The textures are deep and crisp, and are ideal for polymer clay. We have been playing with mica shift and love the nice deep imprints made with ease and no sticking. The rollers create a length of continuous pattern that is just shy of two inches wide (5cm). We are giving you a break on the price ($9 for the rollers and $3.50 for the stamps) and can pop them in a padded bag and send them inexpensively by first class mail. Check out the pictures below and give me a call at 404-14-5767 to get yours on their way!

So Many Reasons......

It's been a crazy month. We had a wonderful trip to the Virginia mountains to visit with our polymer friends and have some sanity replenishing time to clay and relax. Then we raced back home to ready the studio for Ron Lehocky's debut in the teaching arena. He was magnificent! We had a fabulous weekend learning his easy peasy cane, his style of mokume and ikat, and all his construction secrets! We laughed 'til we cried and ate everything that wasn't nailed down! The weekend culminated in Ron's presenting his 30,000th heart to the Creative Journey Studios Retrospective Collection. We are so happy to share his accomplishment with the polymer world.

Ron gets down to KIDS level to place his heart!

Now we need to get back to the real world and gear up for Sarah Shriver. Her class is June 5th to the 7th. She will be sharing her Big Beads and making them into rings and bracelets! I see a fabulous ring in my future! There is still a space if you want to join us!

We've added new work (in addition to Ron's wonderful heart) to the collection. New bracelets from Lindly Haunani, a new bowl from Emily Squires Levine, some new earrings and a pendant from Sandra McCaw, a bracelet and pin from Julie Eakes (in her new Silk Road style), and a wonderful batch of polymer pussy willows from Cynthia Tinapple that we won at the retreat auction.

We've also been busy adding new products to the supply store. We have new wire working tools, Ron's pounce wheels, new texture rollers and stamps from Kor-tools, amalgam carriers for dots, new button molds, new silk screens from Alison Gallant and Karen Woods, new Fimo Pro clay, new Pardo translucent colored clay, and new Premo clay colors. So many reasons for a trip to CJS!