SWAPS
Why to do them
...Swaps are good for everyone for various reasons. Not only do we get some wonderful pieces in return for ours, but it's also a way of making us look at something in a different light, and it always makes us grow and expand in our creativity . . . Dotty
Where to find them
You can do a swap within your guild ....or just with
a few clay mates.
Or you can do an online swap, held by a polymer
group.
Photos from finished swaps
(&
ideas)
PolymerClayCentral has many swaps to view at their
site, many of which were at Arlene Thayer's original PolymerClayCentral website:
...
http://www.polymerclaycentral.com/pcc/swapindex.html
... http://www.polymerclaycentral.com/pcc/swaplist.html
(info & upcoming)
Individual people's websites may have one or
more swaps shown... for example:
....Kim K's list of swap links... http://www.tlcnet.com/~polyclay/swaps.html
....Chicago
Area Polymer Clay Guild's swaps: http://www.capcg.org/swaphome.htm
....NoraJean's
swaps: http://www.norajean.com/Biz-Archive/MSAT/ClayArt/Swaps/Past/Index.htm
....Sarajane's swaps (mostly masks) http://www.polyclay.com/swapinfo.htm
....goddesses and "wild women" swaps:
... http://sunnisan.com/crafts/goddess2.html
....http://www.capcg.org/goddess.htm
For ferreting out even more swaps, a "site search" here at GlassAttic
will turn up even more:
http://tinyurl.com/yel6zk
...by clicking on the word
"Cached"
under any page link brought up in the results (rather than on the link
itself), you will see all instances of the word "swap" on that
page highlighted in yellow when
you get there... you can then easily click on each link you see to take
you to the actual swap photos.
A couple of years ago I participated
in a mixed media online (themed) "challenge" with the
the theme of Aprons. Here is the url: http://www.elsawachs.com/apron/,
which contains a brief discourse on aprons, a challenge statement, and pictures
of each artist's apron with their artist's statement. . . .Mine began by incorporating
the conceptual, and and how I created a form that has permanent being but can
be destroyed by improper care. . . the apron challenge object was built on the
concept of the meaning of aprons --politics, self-deprecation, submission,
etc., not just on the object.( We were considering
head coverings as a next possiblililty - not hats because our idea was to make
a political statement of the position of women as related to covering one's head
or being forced to cover one's head. . . . check the two pages about aprons and
about the challenge.) Jacqueline
…..….. This is the kind of challenge that
I like---not so much technique driven, but idea driven.
The techniques get explored once I figure out what I want to make. I can come
up with many ideas and it really gets me going with being creative. So
from now on I will do idea swaps ---more than technique driven swaps. Jeanne
My
guild has a monthly "Exploration Theme" assigned to members (since 2001),
which can also be a good resource for thinking up possible swap themes:
http://www.glassattic.com/polymer/EXPLORATIONS.htm
(this page is not in the navigation bar here though)
Guidelines
for swapping and hosting a swap
what a swap is, what one
is expected to do, and some guidelines for becoming a "swapmeister"
http://www.polymerclaycentral.com/pcc/swaphowto.html
As swapmeister for another swap a while back, I'll offer the tips
we benefitted from:
--Limit your swap to no more than 20 and preferably
more like 15 people -- think of making twenty pens (especially if you do
fancy ones) and you will start to see why -- maybe with the group you already
have accumulated, you should have two swaps.
--Set a deadline but realize
some people will be a week late! ;^) (TRY really hard to meet it)
--Send your
stuff carefully wrapped and identified to the swapmeister by Priority mail (costs
$3--more now?) and include $3 for return by priority
mail. (Another reason to limit the number of swappers is to keep the mail weight
under the three dollar level.)
.......Send a self-addressed mailing LABEL
for the swapmeister to use to mail your goodies to you -- you wouldn't
BELIEVE how helpful this is! (If you simply can't find a self-stick label, make
one from paper the swapmeister can tape or glue on.)
--If you find you can't
do the swap, TELL THE SWAPMEISTER!!! Don't just "not play" -- it's REALLY
rude to drop out and make everybody who thinks you are in make things especially
for you. This has happened at least once in every swap I have been in so far.
--Swapmeisters
.....make everybody commit in e-mail to you
....then
assemble a mailing list to keep them updated
....remind them of the deadline
....tell
them your address (more private than posting it), etc.
That's all I can think
of at the moment -- I hope you all get beautiful things from each other! Sherry
I've been in swaps where this has happened (I got some of my items back from the swapmeister). (This usually happens when some people have dropped out of the swap and there are extras.) The usual occurrance is that the meister contacts the swappers and asks them what they want done with the extras - to give extras to the existing swappers or send them back. To return them with no explanation could indeed cause confusion. caneguru
Displaying or using swap items
A neat way to display some of your swap stuff! Take a double layer of foam core... cover it with cloth, taped to the back.... insert it into a frame and hang it on the wall. Then use it like a bulletin board. T-pins work great for attaching pieces to the backing and look good too. Put a t-pin at the two top corners and make a bead string, from all your swap beads, to drape the edges of your board with. Joanie
Make a necklace or other piece using all the items
Place in a nice bowl or basket on your coffeetable or bookshelf
Put in a shadow box display case on the wall