Feat of Clay

Author(s): Ingrid Jacques For the Citizen Patriot  Date: October 21, 2007 Section: Living Today

When Crystal Copperstone, 44, leaves her full-time job as office manager at a Jackson clinic, she doesn't relax and put her feet up. Instead, she goes home and heads into the art studio attached to her Grass Lake house.

She opens the door to the studio - and to her artistic side.

Her husband, Al Copperstone, recently turned what used to be the garage into a spacious studio for Copperstone's endeavors.

For more than 20 years, Copperstone has taught polymer clay classes. She also teaches a silver clay class.

She teaches a pair of three-hour classes every week after work. Monday and Wednesday evenings are devoted to her students.

She wants people to feel that coming out to her studio is an escape from daily life. She said she has state police officers, social workers, nurses, stay-at-home moms, mortgage officers and criminal attorneys in her classes. All her students this year are women, and they enjoy the time together, evidenced by constant talking and laughing.

"They are a hoot when you put them all together and let them get rid of stress," Copperstone said.

On the other evenings and weekends, she said, she's always thinking of new creations that her classes can make. When inspired with a new design idea, Copperstone said she immediately writes it down - whether at work or in the middle of the night.

Her business, Waterloo Craft Co., encompasses Copperstone's creative gifts and her passion for sharing her talent.

She thrives on being around people. When she has stopped teaching to give herself more time to produce her clay creations, she feels like she's missing an important part of her life. She can't imagine not inviting these guests into her home each week. Between the two classes, the current number is 50.

"I'm a people person," she said.

Copperstone has chestnut-colored hair and big brown eyes that beam as she talks about her art.

By the end of each class, her students walk away with a finished product. This evening, the students are each making a turkey figurine they will place inside a pumpkin, a fun fall decoration. She tailors projects to the season, she said.

Her studio shows off her imagination and talent. Most of the walls and tables that line the room are filled with her original designs, from clay ghosts, to snowmen to turkeys to more elaborate scenes.

The minute detail she includes on the figurines - whether tiny shoelaces on a snowman or the expression on a turkey - is impressive. Copperstone's sense of humor shines through her work.

As a self-taught artist, she said she first became interested in clay when a friend bought her a clay figurine years ago. She liked it and felt she could make similar creations for less money.

"Clay and me are just a thing," she said.

What is polymer clay?

A malleable substance, polymer clay is versatile, and all that's needed to create clay pieces are hands and an oven.

A few basic tools, including a pasta machine and unserrated kitchen knives, such as a paring knife, can come in handy.

The clay comes in dozens of colors and can blend together like paint. And polymer clay doesn't dry out, so there is no time limit for sculpting. Once it is baked, the clay becomes hard enough to make durable objects and can be finished in glassy and stone-like textures.

Copperstone, a member of the Metropolitan Detroit Polymer Art Guild, said her work has "Hallmark quality." And through her careful direction, she said her students can have equally successful results.

"You do not have to have any special talent," she said.

Copperstone puts her "polymer clay touch" on nearly all her craft endeavors. For example, when she makes scrapbooks she includes clay throughout - whether on the cover or on individual pages, giving the books originality. Clay can also be used on wooden boxes, picture frames, mirrors and tableware. It can be used to make beads, pendants, bracelets and neckpieces.

She is also a certified silver clay instructor. This art form starts with a silver clay that can be formed into any shape. After holding a torch to it for three minutes, the clay melts and the silver emerges.

"It is really cool," Copperstone said.

Relieving stress

Copperstone's country home is tucked away in the rolling hills near Waterloo State Recreation Area and is located off a gravel road lined by trees. Although it's only a few miles north of I-94, it feels much farther away from the pace of everyday life.

And this kind of environment is exactly what Copperstone said she wants to create for her classes.

Copperstone also goes out into the community to teach her classes, including a monthly class at Michaels in Jackson. Starting in November, she will begin teaching classes at Jo-Ann. She said she teaches clay classes for stress therapy as well as for fun at local businesses such as Foote Hospital and Sandhill Crane Vineyards. She can also hold classes for private groups, including bridal and baby showers and birthday parties.

Debra White of Pleasant Lake has taken clay classes from Copperstone for three years. She said she even sells some of her work at the annual Craft-O-Rama arts and crafts show in Jackson.

"She's a fun person and a great teacher," White said.

White, a stay-at-home mom, said crafts are her hobby and that she looks forward to learning new ideas from Copperstone and well as to the camaraderie with the other women.

"We get really silly," she said.

Susie Iocca of Howell, who has taken classes from Copperstone for about six weeks, said she doesn't mind driving nearly an hour each way to the studio.

"She's a genuine, likable person," said Iocca, who describes herself as a "pretty crafty person."

Iocca said she has two young children, so she considers the classes as "Mom's night out," and enjoys every minute of it.

Pat Carroll of Jackson looks forward to the classes as a way to unwind after a stressful day at work. Carroll works as a substance-abuse therapist at the Washington Way Recovery Center of Foote Hospital.

"This works really well as a stress reliever," Carroll said. "It's quite good fun and I don't think about work."