Day One – Celtic Canes
The Curborough Conservatory was buzzing with anticipation on Saturday morning, ready for the excited participants to begin their Celtic Cane workshop. If you have ever had the fortune of attending a Sarah Shriver workshop then you will know what a wonderful tutor she is. Right from the start she put us all at our ease with her gentle humour and supreme knowledge of the subject.

By the end of the morning we had all basically completed an initial Celtic Cane and then came the fun part in the afternoon when we all got to experiment and create new shapes and canes using Sarah’s methods. Smiles all round, and lots of “oohs” and “aahs” and “wow’s” as we started to see what everyone else was creating. It is always the sign of a great tutor when you feel confident enough in what you are doing to freely experiment; and that is what we did. In fact we were so busy experimenting making new cane patterns we forgot to make any beads (well most of us did anyway) so if anyone has any photos of what they made once they got home, please either send them to us at the Guild website, or add them to our facebook page.

All in all it was a fantastic day, and what was even better was that most of us were back the following day.

Day Two – Kaleidoscope Canes.
Sarah was again superb, right from the start she engaged us with her thoughts and suggestions about colour and its use and showed us how to take a Skinner Blend further than most of us had envisioned, all wonderfully interspersed with tips, anecdotes and humour.

There may have been a few worried looks late morning from people not sure how theirs would turn out, but by the magic of Sarah Shriver, once we started Kaleidoscoping the canes they all looked fabulous – no exceptions. Once again the rest of the day was experimenting with our canes, learning how to add and cut out extra bits to make different patterns, and how adding additional colours could change the whole look and feel of a piece.

By the time the course  was due to finish, people were very reluctantly beginning to pack up, and by 5pm the Conservatory was again mainly quiet and empty, but the memories of two fantastic days of workshops will linger a long time.

Thank you Sarah, you are a wonderful tutor, we had a fantastic time with you and please come back soon.

By Fiona Abel-Smith  ( fuller review to follow in the newsletter.)

As Chairman (and Acting Membership Secretary at the moment), I would like to thank all of the existing BPCG members who have already renewed their subscription for the year.

If you still haven't renewed your membership yet, please either fill in this form and send us a cheque, or (to pay via PayPal) fill in this form and we will give you the payment details.

The committee are planning great things for 2013-2014, so please don't miss out! I look forward to seeing many people next weekend at Sarah Shriver's workshops.

All the best,
Kay Vincent

Allan Marshall says: "Last week I found out that Karon Cunningham  (Karon Cunningham miniatures) is trying to arrange an ‘Angie Scarr’ weekend of workshops. Proposed date is 14th/15th September and can be a 1 or 2 day session. "

This is a fantastic opportunity for miniaturists to attend workshops run by a world-class polymer clay artist. If you'd like to find out more, please contact Karon: www.karoncunningham.com/en/pages/contact-us.aspx

K

The latest BPCG newsletter has just been sent out. If you are a BPCG member or have signed up via our subscription page then you should have already received it.

(If you think you should have received it but haven't, please contact Kay.)

K

There are apparently still a couple of spaces left on this workshop (£45 for the day).

Please contact our Treasurer, Angela for more details.

“It’s exhibition time again and as usual the BPCG has stands at
both hobbycrafts and miniatura at the NEC in
Birmingham.

However,  this March we have a few complications –
firstly, both shows are on the  same weekend this time. Hobbycrafts Thursday to Sunday 21st to 24th and Miniatura 23rd and 24th.
Secondly, three of our regular helpers are not available on this weekend.

Allan Marshall will attend Hobbycrafts on the Thursday and Friday but will  have to switch to Miniatura for the Saturday and Sunday.
So besides the general appeal for helpers and exhibits for both shows we  also have to ask if someone can supply tablecloths and some display  stands for use at Hobbycrafts.

These will be needed on the Wednesday afternoon to
set up the stand. If  you can help for either show, even if for only a couple of hours, you will get free admission to the show and time to see the show. Please contact Allan as soon as possible

Unfortunately we have had to postpone Melanie Muir's workshops which were due to run on 11-12 of May 2013.

Fortunately this is because we are currently planning even bigger and better workshops than originally anticipated!

If you would like to join a list of people who are interested in hearing news of her forthcoming workshops for the BPCG, please fill in a quick form here.
K

Sarah Shriver will be running workshops for the BPCG on the 13th and 14th of April 2013. To find out how to book a place on her fabulous "kaleidoscope" and "Celtic canes" workshops, please click here.
K

We have just heard that there are still some places left for the Lisa Pavelka workshops (in Coventry) at the end of February. For more detaisl please see here: http://www.palmermetals.co.uk/lisa-pavelka.html

(Note: These workshops are not run by the BPCG (but the BPCG is all about promoting the use of polymer clay within the UK, and Lisa has taught at our own 'Polydays' workshops in the past))
K