Also astonishing was the whole conference — it went off without a hitch. Amazingly well-run, but in a loose, comfortable way. I can’t imagine how many hours must have gone into planning, because you just don’t get that kind of well-run event without tons of work on the front end. I’m so very grateful to all of you who did whatever you did to make our experience so fabulous. Thank you.

I made a test bead from the Eberhard Faber microwave clay. It’s v-e-r-y light. It’s challenging to work with — I gave up on making a beautiful, smooth ball — but I wasn’t that concerned since I was only experimenting to use it as a base bead.

Advantage Sculpey ultra-light (which I use as a core for larger beads: Since it cures at the same temperature as other polymer clay, I can cover raw ultra-light, which is convenient. I like to cover the raw ultra-light with raw Premo and then poke the hole in and bake.

Advantage Eberhard Faber: It’s lighter, and once it’s microwaved, it can go into the toaster oven, so you can use it as a base for your polymer. It also only takes 10 minutes to microwave, which is nice. I didn’t smell any fumes. I will cover my E-F core bead with Premo, bake and then drill a hole and let you all know how it went.