July 26, 2011 – Pinay New Yorker

The past few days have seen me doing research on Polymer Clay or polyclay upon the suggestion of my sister, Ofie. It was something I had long thought of trying to learn more about, but which had taken a back seat to freshwater pearls and gemstones. I was sort of daunted by the fact that it requires a raw material (the clay) that needs processing and certain equipment which I was afraid to procure lest I end up not doing this after all is said and done. Ofie’s interest, though, gave me an “out”. If it doesn’t work out for me, I can pass on to her the things I get to pull together in this new experiment.

I have always held on to the mantra that anything can be learned. I can do this if I take the time to learn how to do it. Case in point: I didn’t know I could cook until I had to cook for Alan. I would scan magazines at the Barnes and Noble behind our apartment in Bayside when I first moved to New York and actually surprised myself when I discovered I COULD do it. I researched about substitutions and methods. I must say that in my quest not to poison my better half, I can actually say I not only cook to survive, but I cook to enjoy food.

After two weeks of research, I have come across quite a wealth of information that I have read, watched, printed out and actually tried. The problem with online technology is that bookmarking is not always a good option to keep track of all the information because of the various hardware used to access it. What I have bookmarked on my PC would not be bookmarked on my laptop. Although I found similar listings where people who had undertaken Polymer clay research had provided links, there are those that I have no use for and some which I believe would be very helpful to novices like myself. Hence my PolyClay notes page.

While my polyclay notes will find its main home here in my personal blog, I am creating a page for it in my other blog dedicated to my exploits as a crafting entrepreneur, GothamChick. I want to be able to provide a forum for other like crafters who are also into polyclay, more so those who are just starting out like me. There is a ton of information out there and a lot of ideas to spur on the novices. The possibilities are endless.

I used to respond to blog comments faithfully until all those spam comments started flooding my box — this, despite the moderation function being on. But a few days ago I heard from Chelo of Home and Bahay who had chanced upon my Art Journal Every Day page where I put my entries as they come (when they come.. ha!)

So Chelo wrote:

WoW! These are great! You are indeed very artistic I came across your blog while searching for “pinay blogger american”. Yep. Too much time on my hands (and the laundry piles away) haha. Anyway, just wanted to let you know I really liked these. Are they for sale?

And the Pinay New Yorker says:

Nope, Chelo.. they’re not.. but if you go to the Flickr group we have, you’ll see that there are REAL artists there who sell their works.. =) Thanks for stopping by.

It is always refreshing to hear from a fellow Pinay whether from here or back home, because it tells me other people are actually walking into my corner of the blogsphere somehow. =) I like the blog conversations that go on between me and my readers when it happens — in private or in the comment box, although I still stick to my main assertion that I blog for self expression, and not really for anyone else’s benefit. If, by some chance, someone finds the same fulfillment in reading my posts like I do when I go blog hopping and I learn something new, then well and good.

Thanks again, Chelo.