I moved to Bellingham and have created a craft room for my classes.  With lots of cupboards to store your work from one class to the next, oven and refrigerator, we can made stuff from start to baked finish with room for all of us to play with clay and go home with finished work.  Below is a list of classes which I will be offering beginning this summer.  Classes are appropriate for adults and children 12 and older.

Materials and tools are available for purchase before the classes. Beads may be ordered in advance from this site or make an appointment and come by the garage to choose your beads before the class date.

Polymer Clay Classes:

Tool kit:
rigid long blade
needle tool
tissue slicer
plexi roller
plexi work surface
bamboo skewers
baby wipes or other hand cleaner
20, 5/7" index cards

1.  Choosing your color palate and the basics of polymer clay work.  We will use the Margaret Maggio method of color mixing by formula and experiment with personal color palate creation.
Sunday June 1, 9am - 4pm $50 + $15 clay, bring tools or purchase kit at class
Instructor:  Karen Murphy

2.  Canes, veneered beads, Persian folded beads, and more.  Spend the day making canes and beads with them, then go home and make more.
(see these links for examples) Sunday June 8th, 9am - 4 pm $50 + $15 clay + $10 tools if you need them
Instructor: Karen Murphy

3.  Skinner Blend sheets and various uses of it.  Invented by Judith Skinner, sheets of graduating changing color are cut and stacked in various ways to create complex and amazing designs suitable for use in making vessels, boxes, jewelry, lamp shades ---use your imagination, no end to the possibilities.
Sunday June 15th, 9am - 4pm $50 + $25 clay + $10 tools if needed
Instructor: Karen Murphy

4.  Clay imitates nature. Tory Hughes developed several techniques to imitate materials such as ivory, jade, copal amber, rose quartz, turquoise, lapis and more.  Using inlays and other ideas, you will create "ancient" beads in one afternoon and fool your friends with jewelry fit for a queen.
(click here for imitation copal beads) Sunday June 22th, 9am - 4pm $50 + $25 clay + $10 tools if needed
Instructor: Karen Murphy

5. Mold making. Bring your great trinket finds, foreign coins, brooches, buttons, other items with great 3-D designs and bring your imitative clay from the last class to make some great stuff.
(Click here to see samples of beads made in molds with imitative clay).
Saturday June 28th, 9am - 4pm $50 + $15 mold material
Instructor: Karen Murphy

6. Advanced clay work: bring the canes and stacks and other formations you have made in previous classes to use in a unique project to be individually defined.  (click here to see some great projects)
Sunday June 29th, 9am - 4pm $50 + whatever additional clay you need
Instructor:  Karen Murphy. 

Beads and Jewelry Design:

Order on-line through this site for your beads, or make an appointment to come to the studio. Tools, stringing materials and clasps and other supplies will be available at class time. (tools: crimp tool, wire nipper)

1.  Single strand necklace design
(click on this link to see single strand necklaces)
Sunday, July 6, 9am - 4pm $50 + materials (your choice, available at class)
Instructor:  Karen Murphy

2.  Something wonderful out of junk: Multiple strand necklace design (click on this link to see multi-strand necklaces )
Sunday, July 13, 9am - 4pm $50 + materials (your choice, available at class)
Instructor:  Karen Murphy

3.  Earrings:  symmetrical and asymmetrical design
Sunday July 20th, 9am - 4 pm $50 + materials
(See samples here)
Instructor:  Karen Murphy

4.  Peyote and other off-loom techniques for creating earrings, bracelets, and necklaces. (see this link for examples)
Sunday July 27, 9am - 5 pm $50 + materials

5.  Ethnicesque pendants
(see samples here)
To be scheduled

Wire Work and components:

Tool Kit includes:
round needle nose pliars,
flat needle nose pliers, not serrated
Chain Nose Plier
sidecutter plierr
small steel block
small anvil
1" chasing hammer

1.  Simple basic wirework techniques for earrings.(bring tools or purchase kit at class)
Sunday, Aug . 3rd 9 am - 4 pm $50 + $50 materials and tools
Instructor: Karen Murphy

2.  Dangles and components for your jewelry designs
(bring tools or purchase kit at class)
Sunday Aug. 10th, 9 am - 4 pm $50 + materials
Instructor:  Karen Murphy

Be well, Karen Murphy