The Retrospective Collection here at Creative Journey Studios continues to grow and amaze visitors, both experienced polymer clay artists and people just learning what polymer clay is when they walk in the door. If you love polymer clay, a visit should be on your “life list”. Give yourself the time to really take it all in. We like explaining the eighteen cases as well as what’s on top of the cases or hanging from the ceiling or spilled over to the walls here and there.

Occasionally we get a fun surprise. We met Helen Cruickshank, the evening speaker at the Ky/Tenn Guild Dam Retreat, who taught everyone how to make a seahorse and properly use British slang. She offered to send us a seahorse for the collection, which we leaped at! You can imagine the surprise and delight when I opened the box!

She wanted to make one she really liked (and we heartily agree with her choice!) It’s now “swimming” on the top of the cases in front of the polymer pussywillows, looking like it’s making its way thru underwater plants. We made a point of putting her two books on polymer clay in our library.

Then came the other surprise…..she sent the first project she ever made — a chicken, that is just delightful.

Apparently we are both fans of chickens so we had lots of stories to swap. She has a pen in her backyard with three chickens and her pet turkey, Penelope! She also likes tandem horse driving–she has some great clips on her facebook page! In another lifetime I would have been right there with her!