Who is Polka Dot Creations?
I
am Lisa Clarke, owner of Polka Dot Creations and "one-woman-show (with
occasional help)"
My introduction to polymer clay came on Christmas Day 1995. It was our first Christmas together, and my husband began a tradition of buying me something crafty to try. The gift he chose was a Klutz Press children's book by Sherri Haab which included a number of small bars of Sculpey III. In the months that followed, I made and gave away an awful lot of little clay heart pendants. I bought myself a few more books, learned some new techniques, and started selling some of my colorful jewelry on the corner of my desk at my "real" job where I was a programmer. Before I knew it, it was Christmas again, and I started making adorable ornaments that I had seen in project books (I did a lot of Cecilia Determan figurines around that time). I'm not sure what my husband's crafty gift was that year - some kind of paper-cutting or something, I think. The clay had taken over. Within a couple of years I was making more interesting jewelry, and designing my own Christmas ornaments.
Leaving the corporate world in the Winter of 2000 to become a mother, I began to concentrate more on my claywork than ever before. I developed a more focused direction, and designed a new web site to show it off. My compulsion to buy every new polymer clay book and video that came along was what induced me to add a book store to my site.
At this point, the sale of books and videos has certainly eclipsed the creative side of my business. With an 8-year-old and 5-year-old, I'm still "Mom" above all else, but I truly enjoy this side business I've got going and the great connections I've made in the clay community.
