WEARABLE VESSELS IN POLYMER CLAY
WINTER SESSION 2025
FEBRUARY 1 - MARCH 30, 2025
REGISTRATION IS OPEN
JANUARY 16 - 21, 2025
$425 CAN$ 🇨🇦 ≈ $295 US$ 🇺🇸
Are you looking to open yourself to a new creative challenge?
Are you curious to push the limits of polymer clay as both a structural and decorative material?
Are you ready to push your own limits with a project that focuses on form, function, and finish all in the same container?
We have the ‘perfect’ course for you…
A Perfect Fit is a process-and-project course that covers everything you need to know to make your own ‘all-polymer’ wearable vessel, using original fool-proof methods for vessel fabrication and finishing.
Your class project will be a wearable vessel. All aspects of design, construction, and finishing will be covered in detail, starting with making a collection of hollow vessel forms, and then turning one of those forms into a wearable container. Your own decorative veneers will embellish the exterior, and you’ll learn how to give it a beautiful finish.
CURRICULUM OVERVIEW
Here’s an overview of what we’ll be covering in this course experience…
PHASE 1 :
MASTERING THE MECHANICS OF VESSEL CONSTRUCTION
vessel forms, releases, and wraps
cutting jigs
multi-stage baking
vessel substrates
PHASE 2 :
MAKING POLYMER ‘POP!’
simple containers with lids that go ‘Pop!’
making things flush
veneering techniques
completing a simple vessel
PHASE 3 :
WEARABLE VESSELS
building cord channels
vessel shaping
composite veneer design & construction
veneer application
PHASE 4 :
A PERFECT FINISH!
finishing knowhow
shaping
sanding
buffing
vessel completion
PHASE 5 :
VESSEL VARIATIONS
form formulations
embellished elements
body modifications
changing channels
You can fly solo and work through the lessons on your own, or jump in and benefit from the shared experience and peer-to-peer support of our interactive global classroom community.
No matter how you choose to work through each Module, I will be there to guide you, from making your first forms to finishing your first vessel, and following through with a second project, as your time and experience permits.
BUILDING A CAREER
When I made my very first vessel out of polymer clay, I’d never seen anything that used this pattern-making medium as a building material. I’d seen it cover other things, already-built things made of wood, metal, glass… but polymer on polymer? No.
My intro to FIMO was early ‘90s millefiori, and hours of canework and miles of canes gave me a strong foundation in how this new clay behaved. But there was something about building these cross-sectional patterns that had me curious… what else could I build with this bendable bake-able colour?
Originally designed for function as a signature seal or personal medicine box, wearable Japanese inro vessels became high fashion in the 17th century. These finely crafted objects were an inspiration to me, a place to showcase decorative canework while also exploring the structural qualities of this 20th century clay. Shifting from pattern to form, and finding ways to give form a new function, I made my first vessels in 1995. Not only were they 100% polymer, the lids fit so precisely, the vessels would open with a perfect pop!
My all-polymer pop-ables piqued interest, and it wasn’t long before I was teaching others how to turn sheets of soft clay into well-built and fully-decorated wearable containers. Polymer inside, polymer outside. Form, function, fashion.
Here are some of my very first vessels…
Here are three other wearable vessels, more advanced inro projects that I made a few years down the ‘perfect fit’ path.
Traditional Japanese inro meets retro Japanese tin toys, this trio is now part of the permanent polymer collection at the Racine Art Museum.
My most elaborate vessel so far is my Astronaut Inro, a multi-chambered vessel that’s been featured several times in a travelling ‘outer space’ jewelry exhibition called Out of This World.
It’s also a self-portrait of sorts. That’s me as a kid, dreaming of future adventures…
No kidding. My career is proof that passion and dedication can take you places you never thought possible.
PERFECT TIMING
It’s been more than 25 years since I made my first modern day inro vessels, but the techniques I developed then are still as relevant and adaptable as ever. And the first-ever workshop that took me into teaching professionally at a polymer clay conference in 1996 is now one of several MasterClass offerings in my online school.
Polymer clay as a building material is not new in my online course collection. Building Better Beads has been a perfect complement to MasterClasses in open-ended pattern exploration (Single Slice Mokume, Matrix Canes, Blurred Lines, MilleKume, and Five Star Colour). And Bioforming puts bead-building right at your fingertips. But A Perfect Fit is the only MasterClass that combines fashion with function, outlining every step needed to fabricate a practical piece, without compromising an ever-present focus on intentional design and impeccable finish.
The main project will be simple enough to allow everyone to focus on the details needed to master the mechanics of both concept and construction. Methods for modification will be explored in a module of vessel variations, which you may choose to explore in a more advanced class project.
It’s been half a lifetime since I made my first polymer clay vessel. In fact, it had been a while since I made my last one, prior to designing and creating this brand new piece especially for the debut of this Masterclass in 2022…
Making this new vessel reminded me just how perfect polymer can be when used as both a structural and decorative material at the same time. It’s exciting to bring renewed life to this important chapter in my story as an artist and teacher.
As the creators of an online school, Tracy and I are so grateful to have a place to host thousands of students from all over the world. Seeing how these courses have transformed so many is what inspires us to keep creating as teachers.
More than any other course, A Perfect Fit emphasizes the value of precision, engineering, and craftsmanship in polymer work, but all with an accessible, logical, learn-as-you-do approach. Controlling polymer clay as a structural material may be more challenging than anything you have ever done with this medium before. But trust me, it’s possible.
And if you don’t believe me, believe my students. Keep scrolling to see just some of the vessels made by first-time vessel-building APF alumni…
WILL YOU TEACH US HOW TO MAKE VENEERS?
No.
A Perfect Fit is strictly a B.Y.O.V. kind of party. That stands for Bring Your Own Veneer.
This process-through-project curriculum will cover everything you need to know to make a 100% polymer clay wearable vessel pendant, from beginning to end. While I will show you how to apply patterned veneers to decorate your vessel, decorative veneer techniques are not part of this Masterclass curriculum.
You won’t need much veneer to cover your vessel and most patterning techniques will work fine, like canework, blends, or mokume gane. If you’ve taken one of our veneer courses like Single Slice Mokume, Matrix Canes, Blurred Lines, or MilleKume, you might already have something that will work just fine.
And remember, since we will all be following the same path to build the structural components of the vessel form, making your own choices with colour and pattern in the decorative design stage will be a chance for you to give your class project a personal touch and express your own unique voice as an artist.
BTW, If you’re curious, the veneers that you see in the new vessel I made for APF’s online debut were made during the debut of one of my other Masterclasses, Blurred Lines. Graduates may recognize these ‘Feathered Edges’ patterns. Again, I won’t be showing you how to make this veneer (or any other veneer) in A Perfect Fit. But as you have seen in the student work showcased here, there’s no shortage of pattern possibilities to choose from for embellishing your vessel in a personally perfect way…
DOES A ‘PERFECT FIT’ VESSEL HAVE TO BE WEARABLE?
Your main MasterClass project will be a wearable vessel inspired by Japanese inro, small containers worn with traditional garments that didn’t have pockets.
But a vessel doesn’t have to be wearable. It doesn’t even have to be small. The techniques we’ll be exploring in A Perfect Fit are adaptable and scalable, making them ideal for creating vessels and boxes in a range of sizes, both wearable and not.
The jewelry box shown here is about 3” in diameter. I made it using the exact same techniques you’ll learn in this course. This should give you an idea of where else you will be able to take your ‘perfect fit’ knowledge beyond this workshop.
A Perfect Fit will also be an opportunity for you to enhance and sharpen your studio skills, with fundamentals in clay handling, baking, composite veneer design, and plenty of tips along the way for finishing, right from the start. The learning is in the doing, and by the time we are through this Masterclass journey, you’ll have knowledge and experience to apply to a range of polymer projects, not just vessels...
MORE FAQs…
If you’re new to our online school, or online learning in general, here are some of the most frequently asked questions about how things work in the HoCo! classroom...
WHO IS THE COURSE FOR?
Some experience handling polymer clay is recommended, but everyone is welcome to join us for A Perfect Fit, no matter your skill level. And while the curriculum is structured to take you through all the steps of a specific project (building a wearable polymer clay vessel), the techniques, tips, tools, and skills we will cover are applicable far beyond this project.
WILL I NEED ANY SPECIAL TOOLS, EQUIPMENT, OR MATERIALS?
Other than the basic tools and materials found in a typical polymer clay studio, and the downloadable extras you will be getting as part of your tuition, you won’t need anything special.
A complete Tools & Materials List lesson will be waiting for you in the classroom. This list will also include recommended amounts of clay. And we’ll be reviewing all the tools and materials together as part of our orientation.
REAL TIME, REAL LEARNING
My vision for teaching has always been to provide not just information, but transformation. I have been working with polymer clay for three decades, and as much as I have to share as a teacher, as a student in this workshop, your participation is encouraged and expected.
By following the WorkPhases and implementing the lessons along the way in your own class project, I promise, you will make your very own ‘Perfect Fit’ vessel. The learning is in the doing. First-class work habits become second nature, and you will develop ways to improve and refine your craftsmanship overall, with new techniques and skills that will last a lifetime.
REGISTER HERE
FOR THE WINTER 2025 SESSION
A PERFECT FIT
TUITION
$425 CAN$ 🇨🇦 ≈ $295 US$ 🇺🇸
Please note, we are based in Canada, and our tuition prices are listed in Canadian dollars. If you are outside Canada, you will be charged an equivalent amount in your currency.
The US$ price is included as an estimate based on current exchange rates.
The A PERFECT FIT CLASSROOM OPENS FEBRUARY 1, 2025
ALL WINTER 2025 MASTERCLASSES END MARCH 30, 2025
REGISTRATION CLOSES
TUESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2025
ANY OTHER QUESTIONS?
If you have any other questions at all about this upcoming workshop, we'd love to hear from you!
Please contact us and we'll reply via email and/or share your Q and our A right here on this webpage.
We look forward to welcoming you to the Perfect Fit classroom…
Dan + Tracy