Saturday, May 1, 2010

Member Story- Jrosenberry1- New Leaf Designworks

I work with Polymer Clay, making figurines and jewelry. It's a lot of fun and it's very fulfilling. :D

Working with Polymer Clay was begun as a whim ... I wanted to make miniature ornaments for an Advent "Christmas Tree Calendar" - we needed 25 small ornaments which would be added daily. The beginning ornaments were pretty lame (!) but my son joined in and he loved it. My husband and I will always treasure his little ornaments.

There was some leftover clay, so a couple of months later I decided to make a little "garden gnome" for my dad. He loves garden gnomes. Everyone liked the little guy ... I made more and more till we had a veritable army of gnomes!

I've been crafting - in one form or another - for most of my life. But I've only been working with polymer clay for about a year and a half. Every day is a learning experience and daily I see new techniques, tools and items to experiment with.

Formerly, I worked at a history non-profit and lost my job when the position was moved over 3 hours away, to Washington, DC. It was a huge loss, but now I'm glad to be out of there. I'm healthier and happier now. So sometimes a terrible event is really a blessing in disguise. (Even if you don't feel "blessed" at the time.) Out of a desire to "make ends meet" I've learned to produce a large number of objects, to market myself, to use contacts, and to explore options out there. It keeps me on my toes - looking for new ideas all the time, things that "the public" will like ... while I also do "art pieces" or "personal pieces" which are not for sale.

My advice is to "never give up". In the words of Winston Churchill:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzh-xq65rMs&feature=related

...Never give in, never give in,
never, never, never, never-in nothing,
great or small, large or petty - never give
in except to convictions of honour and good
sense. Never yield to force; never yield to
the apparently overwhelming might of the
enemy.

My web site (always under construction) is www.newleifdesigns.com.

All the best ....
jrosenberry1