The 2018 Polymer Clay Challenge is here! Once again, last year’s 2017 Polymer Clay Challenge was a great success. Even more people were able to successfully able to complete all 52 weeks of the challenge! Unfortunately this year, I was not one of them. I was able to successfully complete 40 of the 52 weeks. This is the most weeks I have left unfinished of any year. But … as I encourage EACH of you that participate, do not beat yourself up over this, just keep pushing on and creating. As usual, I will attempt again in 2018 to complete the challenge.
What Is the 2018 Polymer Clay Challenge?
I have been hosting the Polymer Clay Challenge for going on 5 years now. The Polymer Clay Challenge is first and foremost a commitment. It is a commitment by YOU the clayer that you will work with polymer clay and complete no less than one item per week. Why would we do such a thing? Why not more and why not less? More is great but can strain our creativity and cause burnout in many people. One item a week turns out to be just 52 items a year and not too hard for most of us to handle and for most does not cause burnout.
Look at it this way: What happens when you dedicate just one year to your craft? As a general rule of thumb, not only do you become more proficient & skilled as an artist, but you learn what you like and what you don’t like, as well as what makes you happy! If you work with polymer clay as your main medium, I challenge you in 2018 to join us! That’s right, I challenge you! I challenge you to start and finish one project a week. Last year (2017) a group of talented and inspired polymer clay artists joined together and committed to making no less than ONE polymer clay item a week. (Come see what we created in the FaceBook Group). Many succeeded and many finished, honed their talents, tried new things, and as a result GREW in their love for polymer clay. Even if they didn’t complete all 52 weeks, they completed more weeks than if they hadn’t entered the challenge at all.
DOWNLOAD YOUR 2018 POLYMER CLAY CHALLENGE COMPLETION GUIDE
How to Pick Your Challenge Theme:
Your challenge theme can be whatever you’d like it to be. Themes in the past have ranged from jewelry components, sculpted items, buttons, canes, even your polymer clay “bucket list.” Is there something you’ve always aspired to do? Is there something you’ve seen and thought, I want to learn how to do that! Is there an artist whose work you admire and want to grow toward their level of professionalism? Do you not yet know what you love in polymer and you’re still trying to find out. That’s what the next 52 weeks are for. Try everything. Discover what you love. You never know where you might land and what you might find out that you truly love.
DOWNLOAD A THEME FINDING CHALLENGE GUIDE
The Nuts & Bolts:
As usual, this project is a free endeavor and comes to you at no cost. Because it is free and in trying to keep it free, it is hosted through a free Facebook group. Join the FaceBook group and post your weekly photos in the corresponding album for the year or add them to the wall so we can all appreciate your hard work.
If you have your own website, I do strongly encourage you to have your own 2018 polymer clay challenge gallery, post or photo album there where people can link to and see just your work if they’d like to. If you do not have a website, Flickr is a great free photo sharing site as well.
Sculpt your dreams,
The projects selected in this post above were made during the 2017 Polymer Clay Challenge.
My 2018 Polymer Clay Challenge Weekly Pieces
Whoa! I love the idea of a polymer clay bucket list!!!!! My is quite long! What an incentive to do some of those things I have in my archives to create folder!!!! I’m excited to participate!
I’m new to this challenge and am already challenged. Download link to finding a theme seems to be inactive. Is this FB page just a place to post pictures of completed projects or are there subgroups based on themes?
I’m sorry Jessie – I fixed the link. The guide is here: https://katersacres.com/product/2017-polymer-guide/
Is there a way to join this challenge without belonging to Facebook? I don’t have a website either.
Absolutely. You can just do the challenge independently. You just won’t be able to see everything everyone else is doing is all. You’re more than welcome to join however!
I’m in! I averaged about 1.5 projects per month last year but my skills improved :0) I will make more this year. Thanks for hosting
Hi there, just found your challenge, what a great idea, I worked with clay several years ago and always said that I wanted to do more. This is a great way for me to stay on track on learning more and doing more. Thanks so much.
No problem! I’m so glad you found it! Be sure you sign up for the emails and come join us in the Facebook group too.
Cool beans! That is a good point about Copyright, too. A lot of the pieces I’ve pinned are Russian, so it will be a little tough for me to tell if they have a copyright. I will make sure to include my sources when I post my projects…like a term paper.
Sounds like a great plan, especially if you have a blog that you will be posting your items to as well.
Hi! I am looking forward to participating in the 2018 challenge! I have a polymer clay inspiration board on Pinterest. Could I pick an item from that board each week, as either an inspiration or an attempt to duplicate, for my theme? Or do I need to stick to a certain type of finished “product”?
Thank you,
Conyers
Absolutely! As long as it’s not a copyrighted item you can feel free to do it!