Kettle of Fishtales

Lots of fish...images. Next Thursday, I will be teaching a polymer clay class to a small network of participants. Actually, the nuclear group of this class has spent time together at other classes that I've hosted. We'll be joined by a few newbies and even an out-of-province visitor. The topics for the class will be rudimentary surface techniques (transfers and mokume gane) and I will be introducing them to transfers onto polymer clay using the "hic-gin" method.

I have to laugh, because I carry the "transfer medium" in a brown hair colouring bottle. (I liken that to those people who have smoked glass car windows so you can't see what's going on in the back seat.) I have added just one or two drops of scent (one of the perfumes I seldom use) to the medium so it doesn't smell like C2H5OH. When I used it at a "class" the other day, everyone commented on how "nice" the fragrance of the transfer medium was. It didn't affect the transfer technique at all, and so no one was the "Wiser"...tee hee.


We will be using the same "liquid transfer medium" at the class this coming week. With the participants being of "un certain âge", I will disclose what the contents of the bottle are, but will still leave its little label of Transfer Medium on, just in case I have to use it for future juvenile presentations.

In preparation for the class, I wondered what kinds of images we would use to transfer; there are so many around. In the end, I decided to make my own samples out of a personal sketch. I was influenced by a chance encounter from yesterday. I'm carrying the fish theme a little far here, but need to elaborate.

On Saturday, I was at the Folk Festival "Sale" and there really was a lot of "free time" so to speak. So I went into the Music Store adjacent to the sales room, and browsed through the stacks of audio discs, looking for some new music to listen to when I'm driving. I FOUND IT! I had no idea what to expect of the artist, but the name caught my attention...Rupa and the April Fish. This morning, I had a few minutes to do a bit of research and heard a couple of tracks from the cd. I LOVE what I heard. When I go back to the music store to pick up my cheque next week, I'm going to buy the cd. It's partly in French, and very easy to listen to. Of course I was especially drawn to the track entitled..."La Pecheuse". Those who know me will know why, lol.

To get back to the black and white fish images, I am calling this series Fish in the Scale of 'C' and for those in the school of fish I usually attend, the "eyes in the back of my tail" are for you Robbie. (When I first encountered Robbie in a Grade One class, he wondered how I knew who was fooling around. When I last encountered him in Grade Six, he still remembered how I could "C" him...)


As for the original intent of this post, I will be making my samples for the class demo in a day or two, and will post the results here.


Best Fishes on Mother's Day to all you who are reading this today!