Ireland: I came, I went, they conquered!

What an AMAZING weekend I've just had in Ireland, teaching the Irish polymer clay guild how to make patchwork bunnies and chickens. A nicer, more fun and enthusiastic bunch of clayers I've yet to meet.  Here we all are, minus Aoife (the chairperson of the guild who is in the photo being held up by Laura!).

However, I'm getting ahead of myself. First came the preparation.
In my usual over-the-top-don't-leave-anything-to-chance way, I tried to prepare completely before I left. My one worry was that people wouldn't have time to complete their project, so I tried to prepare as much as possible before I went, not anything that was a particular skill, just the boring parts. Cutting out triangles of clay to make a rainbow blend is quite easy for one...…………….

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​    Slightly more time consuming         for 11

    Then, I decided that the clay was too oily, so I needed to 'leach' some of the oil out to make it more workable. This involved putting sheets of white copy paper on the clay and weighting it down.

I don't want to see another rainbow blend for a while!
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Then the bunny and chicken bodies...…….....if any customs person had opened my case I would have had a lot of funny looks. 

I stayed with Aoife and her family. I'm incredibly lucky with my Irish friends, both Laura and Aoife host me and allow me to take over their kitchen tables with my clay, and even involve their children! Considering I'm not thought of as particularly good with children, I find Aoife's and Laura's ones lovely. Perhaps I'm just better with Irish children!

​The workshop was great - (I don't mean my teaching, although a friend of mine describes me as not being humble at all, so perhaps I do!). The Irish sense of humour is second to none, I've finally met people as loud as me, enthusiastic and a little crazy, and totally totally genuine.

I've been to a lot of workshops and always enjoyed myself and learnt a lot; however I've never understood people who complain. I go to the most wonderfully run workshops, with tutors who are so generous with their knowledge, and come away feeling honoured to have been part of it. Yet there's always someone who moans. They didn't like the tutorial, the tutor went too fast/slow, the room was too hot or not lit well enough, or the coffee didn't taste nice. These moaners almost put me off becoming a tutor, I have a real fear of not being good enough or liked, but I've got a wonderful newspaper clipping on my pinboard at home by Jamie Oliver who quotes Theodore Roosevelt:

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena..... and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly"

Google the complete quote, it's great.
So, with Theodore's words ringing in my ear, I (as my mother used to tell me to) 'girded my loins', and went to Ireland to teach. If anyone complained, I didn't hear them!!!

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​Everyone who knows me know that I'm absolutely rubbish at remembering people's names. Poor Rosemary was called Margaret for two days. I ended up making myself a sticky label to remind me of her name, and every time I called her Margaret she put it on her head to correct me! I love Rosemary/Margaret!

A few more photos of the bunnies and chickens, and their creators. Sorry Aoife, Laura and Niamh, I didn't get a photo of you with your creations, although Niamh's is the lovely green one shown. 

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And finally, the last word has to go to my two new friends. Sophie and Kristina are two children (don't ask me their ages, I've forgotten!) who accompany me when I'm doing clay at their house, and show incredible talent. The thing with children is that they don't over-think things; they just do it.
Consequently the barriers to creativity that us adults have don't apply, or don't to such an extent, and both Sophie and Kristina are very talented clayers. 
​Here is a couple of dragons that Kristina made on the morning that I left Ireland. She's inspired by Birdy Heywood, the original and best 'dragon lady'. If you want to make a dragon, contact Birdy, she does 1:1 dragon workshops at her home.

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Right, the rambling has to stop. I'm working tomorrow, the 'proper job' that pays for clay, so I'd better get some sleep. Only 13 more days and I'm off to America to spend a week with my lovely friend Donna Baratta. So excited. A whole week of nothing but clay with a talented clayer and good friend. 
Happy days!
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Oh, if you've read this far, firstly well done! and secondly, if you'd like notifications of the next polymer clay ramble, please sign up to the mailing list. Once I've worked out how it works,  I'll send you emails letting you know when a new post is up!
However, don't hold your breath...…….technology is NOT my friend!