Karen Lewis, Polymer Clay Artist

About Klew

My name is Karen Lewis, my moniker is Klew. For those of you who do not know my work, the Gallery is intended to give you an idea of the of type polymer clay beads, polymer clay jewelry, and wearable art that I create. Although the pieces in the "Gallery" pages are now part of private collections there are plenty of goodies in our Web-Store. The Spirited Bead & Klews Gallery, a full service bead store and gallery with two locations: Tehachapi & Ridgecrest, California. Showcasing more than 30 lamp work glass artists, unusual artist beads, specialty gifts, sculpted leather handbags, one of a kind stone pendants, vintage glass beads, lucite beads, polymer clay jewelry, polymer clay beads, polymer clay supplies, metal art clay, instructional polymer clay videos & DVDs and books , bead stringing bead stringing classes and How-to polymer clay classes. There is also a creation bead station for you to make your own jewelry and a gallery of inspiration for all.

I found this medium in the late 80's. I knew of a similar product that only came in white when I was in elementary school, and after having an idea to make a sculptural brooch series; off I went to the local craft store in search of this oven baked clay. After arriving in the store and requesting this clay I was told that they no longer carried it, but they had "FIMO". .. Well I asked what it was and to show me the product...much to my surprise it now came in colors! Although there were no publications on the product other than a leaflet, I spent my last $20 and off I went. I met Marie & Howard Segal at a show and watched with amazement how Marie manipulated this medium and I was no longer in the dark and unafraid...My life has not been the same since, the clay and I soon developed a rapport and by the end of the sixth month of discovery I thought I'd re-invented the wheel when I figured out that the design reduces within the clay roll or “cane.” Although my clay choices have changed throughout the last 18 years today I enjoy mostly Kato Poly-clay, and the excitement has kept its momentum for me.

Klew's Polymer Beads ... Polymer Clay has been used as modeling clay for many years. A technique called "caning" is borrowed from the Venetian Glass bead makers. A cane is a bundle of colors painstakingly pieced together to create a picture when viewed from the end or cross section. "Millie" means a thousand flowers in Italian and refers to the slicing off of the cross sections of the flower "cane". In polymer the colored clays are formed together like a thick puzzle, once the desired picture or design is achieved the "cane" is compressed, rolled, stretched, pulled, squeezed, & smoothed resulting in reducing the diameter of the "cane". With this process the design reduces within the cane. Slicing off slices of this cane results in a repetitive pattern with each slice off it's cross section! I take these slices and veneer them onto a ball of clay and roll them smooth. Little by little I layer the slices from many types of canes to create my mosaic bead. Once the shape is reached I then make the hole and either bake it or add more sculpted slices for additional interest. The finishes are achieved from many grits of wet/dry sandpaper.

Today there are 100s of books and dozens of videos on the subject for all ages and discerning tastes. Although I haven't actually written a book, I have been published in dozens and have co-authored a book called "My Favorite Things in Polymer Clay" with my poly friends: Donna Kato, Judy Belcher, Kim Cavender, Leslie Blackford, Sue Kelsey, Maria DelPinto, & Gail Ritchey. I have been fortunate to be published in many trade magazines. My work is shown world wide, and is part of the permanent collection of the Bead Museum in Glendale, AZ.

In 1995, I was a guest artist on The Learning Channel's (TLC) program "Simply Style." In 1998, it was a great honor to be one of the Artists on the Smithsonian Arttrain, which travels the country to educate the public. Having demo-ed in many trade shows and CHA events I find it tremendously satisfying to engage the public.

My husband Carl & I along with our 9lbs-of-joy Yorkie-Pooh ~ Buddie (short for Rosebud Sable Princess), two cats ~ TJ and Griffin, live in the mountains dividing the Sierra Nevada's from the coastal range called the Tehachapi's in a town of the same name in California.

In 1997, God took both our Mothers and in honor of their spirit we opened our bead store “The Spirited Bead” on Mothers Day 1999. My studio has also been located here since 1994. March of 2004 we opened our second location in Ridgecrest, CA which is in the high desert in the eastern Sierra Nevada foothills on the way to the famous Death Valley. At this point we also integrated the name with “Klew Expressions” to become “The Spirited Bead & Klew's Gallery."