SPOTLIGHT ON ... DESIGNER
November 2009
Our featured designer for this month is Jackie Sieben
Hi, my name is Jackie Sieben, and I work under the moniker 'Jae Jewelry & The Pleasant Pheasant'. I am delighted to be featured as the Spotlight Designer on the Soft Flex® website. I work in polymer clay (once you begin, you cannot stop!) and make jewelry using both polymer clay beads of my own and glass, metal and gemstone beads with or without polymer clay additions.
I was always interested in being creative, but as a schoolgirl in the 1950s it wasn't encouraged. I went through life as an Independent Insurance Agent (!), then got involved in computer support. Soon after, I discovered computer graphics. A new world opened up for me, and over the following 20 years, I went from playing with the Paint program to being a full time AutoCAD guru, then moved into technical illustrations using Corel Draw on my home computer for a major computer book publisher for several years.
I had always been working on my hobbies - sewing, knitting, crocheting, embroidery, drawing and making jewelry...and then I found polymer clay. The day that I showed my daughter-in-law how easy it was to make a flower with polymer clay was the day I was hooked.
Since that time, I've worked constantly to improve my ability with both polymer clay and jewelry making. I have recently opened my Etsy store, ThePleasantPheasant - and I am looking forward to that. I also attend several craft shows as a vendor, generally in Northern California, which I love doing because of the direct contact with real humans.
One of my talents is helping other people realize their dreams and I consider myself a "cheerleader" in the polymer clay community because of my "Discussions from the Claypen" chat every Thursday morning at the Polymer Clay Central website. In this chat, we discuss polymer clay techniques and processes, and share our polymer clay work on a website called "Claypen Art". It is one of the largest collections of polymer clay art by many polymer clay artists on the web . The Claypen chat has a good following, and is just starting its 6th year in September of 2009.
Despite all this, my most rewarding job is that of wife, mother of two, mother-in-law of two and grandmother of ten. They are the glue that holds everything else together.
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