Polymer beshert

Joey Barnes explains "beshert" and her timely donation on PolymerClayDaily.com

How did Texas’ Joey Barnes happen to have a spare Lucy clay roller that she donated to the women at the Ohio Reformatory? She explains that “When these machines came out several years ago, lots of customers were having difficulty understanding the machine’s roughly translated Czech/English instructions.”

Joey offered to improve them. That led to her translating their teachers’ contracts and operators’ manuals. When she refused payment, Lucy Tools sent Joey their biggest “Elephant.”

But the Elephant was too big for Joey’s workspace so she set it aside waiting for the right use.

When she saw that the ORW students needed a second Lucy Elephant, she thought, “Beshert!” That’s the Yiddish word for “meant to be.” The funds raised on PCD will go to other needs of the prison program.

Ever the collaborator, Joey credits Carol Simmons, Ivy Niles and Corrie Beth Hogg for giving her inspiration for her flower box (shown here) and garden series.

Let’s get this rolling

Michigan’s Georgeann Galante helped launch polymer lessons at the Ohio Reformatory for Women with her donation of 14 Atlas pasta machines several years ago. Those machines did not fare well when they were screwed down tightly to the tables. They eventually worked themselves apart.

We added a Lucy machine when we won the bid on it at the IPCA Synergy 4 auction. That machine is designed to be bolted down and continues to work well.

But one lone machine shared among the whole group slows production. So we’re raising money to buy another prison-approved roller to be used by the students in the Kindway polymer program.

Buy Helen Breil's newest tutorial and support the ORW prison program on PolymerClayDaily.com

You can help by buying Helen Breil’s newest In the Loop tutorial (a portion goes to the ORW program) or by donating to the program directly.

PCD will tell you more about the prison program as we sail through the holidays. Click in the right column to keep us rolling along.