Welcome!

Back again, this time a short hop up the road to Cripple Creek and our annual mini retreat - Summer Solstice!  9 friends claying and playing with no rules.  We even brought our motors and I brought my foot pedal.  Pretty productive time, I made 5 bangle bracelets, ate too much junk food and only lost about 20 bucks to the slots down the hill.  I’m a winner!  Well, I consider breaking even winning so I was very nearly a winner.  Mini retreats like this are simple to organize - I’d recommend anyone give it a try.  Find a nice little B & B,  pack your bags and go.  Here’s a picture of Cripple Creek from the Hotel St. Nicholas - originally a hospital, now, supposedly, haunted!

More news!  My third book - The Art of Polymer Clay, Millefiori Techniques -  is here!  If you’d like a signed copy, just go to www.prairiecraft.com! 

We are happy to announce that after many delays and set backs Donna's DVD is finally available!  Tips Tricks and Techniques in Polymer Clay by Donna Kato; is a 3.5 hour 2 set DVD.  The information covered includes Basic conditioning, Skinner Blends, Beads, Translucent Layerings, Ikat, Mokume Gane, Metallic Effects, Kato Liquid Medium, How to Make a Box, and Finishing Techniques.  The introductory price for the set is $34.99.  Each DVD set is packaged in it's own jewel case until we finish art work for a trim case.  To read more, click on this link on my site:  tips, tricks, techniques dvd.

Several news items.  I finally decided to put up a sales site - the url is www.weclayforhay.com.  I’ve put up some split pods, like the new ones on the My Art page and will try to continually put pieces up.  I hope you’ll take a look.  I’ve said it for a long time “I clay for Hay!” because that really is where most of our finances go these days.  Having those sweet beauties to kiss and hug is worth it.  Here’s a picture of Paloma from last year.  She’s grown so much since then.  Will try to take some new pictures of our lovely girl.  I also clay for dog and cat food but they eat a lot less.

Kato Polyclay has gone green!  Tony reformulated our clay and removed the phthalates.  We resolved to try to accomplish this task but the clay had to perform the same and we could not lose any of its positive characteristics.  If we failed, we would simply not change the clay and would instead print labels with the necessary warnings.  Happily, Tony did it and we’re now making all the colors.  Look for some blow out sales on our old stock as we make room for the new. The clay is softer and easy to condition but not too soft - I believe it’s an improvement all around.

We also changed the size of the package to 2 ounces like the others.  Robert designed a great new rack and we now have cute little sample packs composed of 4 - 1 ounce packages of KPC in several color ways.  Also, Kato Clear Medium is now sold in colors!

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Timed perfectly to coincide with the release of my new book “The Art of Polymer Clay, Creative Surface Effects” comes this crushing news...in the inkjet transfer techniques, I recommend using Epson Glossy Photo Paper.  This paper was like “Old Faithful” always made perfect transfers, reliable, solid as a rock.  Well, Epson has just changed the paper and the new paper will not transfer images onto clay.  The new paper bears the watermark “Epson” on the back of each sheet while the good, old paper says “Epson Photo Paper”.  This is, I believe, the only real way to discern the old and the new versions.  Do not rely on the box.

Thanks to members of the newsgroups, I’ve can report on several alternatives to Epson Glossy Photo Paper.   Just go to Tutorials and click on “Inkjet Transfers”.  Please accept my apologies for any inconvenience this may have caused you.

Many thanks to Cynthia Tinapple of www.polymerclaydaily.com for her sage advice and recommendations on how to improve the initial site.  I think the changes she suggested definitely made the site better.  She’s a master at this as well as a master with polymer clay!  I would highly recommend tuning in to her site - I do, every day.

Contact information:

Donna Kato

P.O. Box 209

346 Brittany Dr.

Florissant, CO  80816

dkkato@gmail.com