Where have I been lately? - C3 Clay Flower Workshops

My all-time favorite -peonies. I love the new techniques that we learned. They make the peonies look so much more realistic!

You all have probably been wondering why my blog posts have been so few and far between. I've been in taking intensive DECO Clay Craft Academy C3 Instructor workshop classes all last week. I'm thankful that my friend and student now turned instructor, Myrna of Petal Chic was staying with me so that we could encourage each other all those late nights of doing homework to be able to complete the next day's worth of projects. Let me tell you, Commuting an hour and a half each day, 5 hours of clay class with only 20 minutes to break for lunch and then working from 8 p.m. to 2:00 a.m. every night was brutal. I think we were starting to wonder if making flowers was fun anymore. LOL. Now I realize a little how intense it must be for my students who come for accelerated classes. Granted the homework level cannot compare to what we pumped out in 5 short days. I am grateful for the fact that I can do things very quickly after years of experience. That's probably the only reason why I was able to keep up. We didn't get a chance to finish everything, but it was nice to see my student instructors there and the other instructors I've come to know over the years.

Kazuko Miyai - helping the instructors paint the faces on their pear project.

Yukiko and Kazuko have really outdone themselves with the new C3 Instructor's course. Ranunculus and viburnum flower girl purse design - always amazed at Yukiko and Kazuko's creativity!

Very complex, detailed and over the top beautiful things to learn. I haven't taken classes in 2 years so a lot has changed even for me and I thoroughly enjoyed all the new developments that have transpired since then.These are absolutely amazing - large form hydrangeas with the "blaumeise" style hydrangeas
with the little buds in the center with vines made out of clay!

We even made birds and baskets out of clay! These were super fun and so creative.

Here are some photos of the workshops and the projects I completed. There is still more that I have to complete, but I only have 3 more things to work on and then I will have completed the first 4 courses. The next 6 won't take place until a year from now, but I'm so excited to start them when they are developed and ready to be taught. I'm always amazed at what Yukiko and Kazuko Miyai create out of clay. The possibilities are TRULY endless!

Only those students who become certified instructors are allowed to take these wonderful classes, but I have to say, I am so honored that Yukiko and her mother traveled from Hawaii and Japan to teach us for a week. They are extremely busy and we certainly appreciated them taking the time to teach us all these wonderful projects to share with new instructors moving forward. I'm also very proud of my instructors who I taught because they worked very hard to keep up and I think they all did a fabulous job.