Bottle of Hope

 

The challenge for the Makin’s Clay® Design Team this month was to create a Bottle of Hope.  What is a Bottle of Hope?   

Bottles of Hope are small glass bottles covered with polymer clay and given to cancer patients. They symbolize a wish and a hope for health.  This project was started in 1999 by a Rhode Island cancer survivor and has spread internationally. Bottles are made by artists, students, survivors, seniors and many more who volunteer their time and love.   Learn more about this worthwhile project, see a gallery of many creative bottles and more here on their website. 

 I wanted to create a bottle with bright colors so I picked colors from Makin’s Clay® Multi Neon Pack.  I used a plastic bottle.  Because Makin’s Clay® is an air-dry clay, plastic is okay!  No baking involved.

 

I simple covered the bottle with orange clay and textured it with the sand texture sheet from Makin’s® Set A Texture SheetSet.  I cut flower petals from the yellow clay using the two smallest teardrop shaped Kemper cutters; six petals for the larger flowers and five for the smaller ones.  I bent them around a needle tool to give them shape.  They were glued together then crystals were added to the center of each.  I did the same for the leaves from the green clay; two for the big flowers and one for each of the small flowers.  I also made extra leaves to go on the flower stem which I extruded from the green clay.  The stem was glued to the bottle first then the flowers and leaves.

CHA Mega Conference and Trade Show 2016

 

Last week I had the opportunity to check off an item on my bucket list which was to attend a Craft and Hobby Association (CHA) Mega Conference and Trade Show.  Many years ago I would watch the Carol Duvall Show and every year she would film from CHA.  It always looked like a neat event to attend.  It definitely was!

Picture by Marie Segal

I arrived at the airport in Anaheim, California on Friday and immediately met up with my Makin’s Clay® Design Team Leader, Cindy Bisson McGee, at the airport.  We took our shuttle to the hotel, dropped off our luggage, and were out the door to meet Tom Volz from Makin’s Clay®.  He gave us a ride to the convention center where our whirlwind week began. 

I must admit, since I knew nothing about what to expect, I stuck to Cindi soaking up any information she deemed important enough to share.  When she was too busy with duties where I couldn’t follow, I walked the convention center floor.  There were booths and booths of wonderful craft products.  Beads, paper, glue, bow makers, paints, stickers, die cuts, ribbon, pens, books, flowers; the list goes on and on.  Basically, if you could craft with it, it was there. 

Picture by Marie Segal

I got to meet some of the other Makin’s Clay® Design Team members, Candice Windham, Irit Shalom, and Steph Ackerman.  We were all pleasantly surprised to receive a Makin’s Clay® Professional certification for learning and performing a variety of skills using the Makin’s Clay® and Makin’s tools.  Along with Cindi, we all took turns working in the Makin’s Clay® booth teaching different make and take projects each day (projects attendees could make at the booth and take with them so they could try some of the manufacturers’ products).  

 

Bow Genius

In my free time, I could also walk around and do make and takes at other booths.  I visited the Berwick Offray LLC booth twice because their product was not only fun but easy to use.  Their product was the Bow Genius™.   I made a diaper cupcake topped with a bow and a patriotic wand.  Both projects used the Bow Genius in different ways.  I would love to see what I could do with Makin’s Clay® and the Bow Genius™.  I’m pretty sure I could make a clay bow with it!

 

When I got home, my daughter saw the diaper cupcake I had made with the pretty pink bow on top and said, ‘What did you make THAT for?’  Lol, I told her not to worry and that she would be my only baby.  I was glad to be home with my family but also glad that I could cross ‘Attend a CHA Convention’ off my list.  I had a great time and would seriously think about going again next year to the convention in Pheonix, Arizona.

 

 

 

 

 

Met Emi Fukushima from the Carol Duvall Show!