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MINUTES FROM OUR MEETINGS

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Southern Arizona Alchemists
October 12, 2008 meeting notes
Attending:  Ruth Bollerud, Marnie Ehlers, Priscilla Fernandez,  Jay Humphreys, Leslie Jensen, Doris King, Lucy Pirro

Welcome to our newest member, Priscilla Fernandez!  After "touring" Jay's beautiful studio, we ate a delicious pot luck supper.  Then came the surprise:  our bronze clay throw down! 

Everyone was given 30 grams of bronze clay with only a roller, badger balm, two rubber stamps and two toothpicks for everyone to share and told to go to it!  It was a fun time and we'll see at the November meeting how our creations turned out. 

Plans were made for the rest of the year's meetings.  Meetings will be held the second Sunday of each month - except April which is Easter Sunday - and each will be a hands-on meeting.  We'll be introduced to a project or technique and have an opportunity to experiment with it.  Materials will be provided by our guild.  Meetings will be noon - 4:00 p.m. and everyone will bring a sack lunch and beverage.  We'll eat noon - 12:30 and our projects will start at 12:30.  If you don't bring your lunch, maybe someone will share their box of raisins with you (a quote from Marnie!). 

November 9, 2008  -  Marnie Ehlers' home.  Bring your basic metal clay tools dedicated to bronze clay.  We'll again experiment with bronze.  And, election of officers for 2008-2009. 

December 14, 2008  - Holiday Party at Nancy Palmer's home.  This will be a pot luck meal.  Since none of us have seen Nancy's newly renovated home, and she was not at the meeting to say no, it was decided to have the party at her home.  (unless, of course, Nancy has something else to say about it!)  Instead of our usual white elephant exchange, this year will be a Holiday ornament exchange with each ornament made of silver and/or bronze clay or other mixed metals or materials to make it really creative and cut costs.   You might want to make your ornament at the November meeting.

January 11, 2009 - Jay Humphrey's home.  Jay will share all we've ever wanted to know about metal clay veneer and never asked!  What a great opportunity to learn from the creator of this wonderful product! 

February 8, 2009 - Reception at the Hilton sponsored by Rio Grande!  Rio has offered to again sponsor this event.

March 8, 2009 - faux bone  (details to follow)

April 5, 2009 - image transfer to metal (details to follow)

May 10, 2009 - concrete and papier mache  (details to follow)

Rio Grande has offered to sponsor the reception at the Hilton on February 8, 2009, during the gem show.  Last year there was a very low attendance - seems half of Tucson and its visitors were sick - and Rio has asked for a head count for this year's reception.  We will send out invitations to guilds in Arizona, visiting teachers and guests in town for the gem show and will need an rsvp from our members.  More details about the date to rsvp will follow.

A membership drive was also discussed.  Each meeting has the same people in attendance and we'd love to get some new people involved.  It was great to meet Priscilla on Sunday and have her try her hands at bronze clay.  We also discussed having a table at Park Place Mall to promote PMC and our guild, showing how PMC is used and some finished products to help get interest in our guild.  Marnie also mentioned a Family Arts Festival in January where we possibly could set up a table.  Any other suggestions of how to promote the guild, please let Marnie, Doris, Jay or Lucy know.

We also discussed a spring retreat for the guild.  Marnie is checking into possible dates at a spot in Flagstaff and we'll get more details to you as we have them.  Please let any of us know if you have any interest in doing something like this.

We also discussed having a guest teacher come sometime next year.  Any suggestions?

Marnie also mentioned one of the Phoenix area guilds, Metal Heads, is having an exhibit in Phoenix this Saturday from 2pm - 9pm.  The address is 8550 N. 91st Ave #49, Peoria, AZ 85345.

And, if you haven't already paid your dues, please send $20 to Doris King, our treasurer.
Minutes of SAA Meeting
March 8, 2009 Jay Humphreys' Home

Attending: Ruth Bollerud, Doris King, Kim Keast, Deborah Brunner, Leslie Smith, Gail Pitts, Elly Kadie, Marnie Ehlers, Lucy Pirro, Jay Humphreys

It can truly be said that a great time was had by all at today's meeting! With the help of Jay's husband, Bob who cut whatever shapes we wanted with our faux bone, we had a great time experimenting with different techniques.
We discussed having Holly Gage come to do a workshop for our guild and it was decided that, at this time, we'll put that on hold. The Phoenix pmc guild is having Holly there September 11-15 for a workshop and we are invited to participate at their guild's cost. I'll send our details when I get them.

Our next meeting will be April 5 at noon at Marnie's home (the second Sunday of the month is Easter) and we'll do image transfer on metal using Sherry Haab's solution. More information will follow in a later email.

Since Mothers Day is the second Sunday in May, we will reschedule that meeting. We will discuss the date at the April meeting.

We also discussed that instead of the white elephant exchange or ornament exchange at the holiday party in December that we have a texture exchange. It would be done like a cookie exchange except we'd exchange texture sheets. Sounds like a wonderful idea! Maybe cookies, too!?

Welcome to our two new members, Kim and Deborah! Great to have you with us! See you all April 5 at Marnie's!

lucy pirro, secretary

Minutes from April 5, 2009 Meeting
Maryanne Mott graciously opened her home to our guild and taught us how to make felted flowers. Our beautiful flowers are shown in the photograph. Clearly, we had a great teacher, thanks Maryanne.
We'll have a show and tell at the April meeting so make sure you complete your bracelet by April 5, 2009! There were lots of laughs and sharing of ideas.
THANK YOU JAY AND BOB!!!



Minutes from May 5, 2009 Meeting
Hi Alchemists!

We had a wonderful meeting at Marnie's home in May. She treated us to an absolutely delicious cake with incredibly delicious fillings! If you weren't there, you missed a wonderful cake! We also had a record attendance - 14 members and three guests. One of our guests joined! Welcome to our newest member Dikki Van Helsland!

Marnie did a marvelous job of teaching image transfer to metal.

Our next meeting will be June 14 at Jay Humphrey's home with Jay teaching veneer bezel cup. You will need to bring two 18 gram packages of PMC+ or two 16 gram packages of PMC3 - one to make your veneer and one to replace the already fired veneer Jay will share with us. You'll also need to bring a stone to set in your bezel and it should not be any larger than a 25 cent coin. The meeting will start at 11:29 and we'll start the veneer as soon as everyone arrives and then have lunch while it is firing. Please rsvp to Jay so she'll know how many are attending! (I will be out of town so make sure you send your reply to Jay.)



We are in the process of updating the Southern Arizona Alchemists member list. This list will be used by SAA members only and won't be shared with other groups, sold or published on our website. There will be a sheet at the June meeting for everyone to review their information and make any changes or corrections.

We are also encouraging all SAA members to join the International PMC Guild and that can be done by going to www.pmcguild.com  and there you will find all the necessary information. There are benefits to being a member of the Guild including getting Fusion magazine and the PMC Annual. The cost is $30/year.

At the June meeting at Jay's we'll have information about the July 12 meeting at Kim Keast's home, as well as talking about some future workshops, etc. Plan to be there. You'll miss a great time if you don't attend!

lucy pirro, secretary