In the course of conversation with my peers at the Australian Polymer Clay Guild about pricing our polymer items, it was noted that ‘most people don't understand and often don't care about the amount of time that goes into making what we make.’

It seems many in the polymer clay community have resigned themselves to never recouping their time spent making unique handmade artistic works.

What a contrast to my other discipline of law where time charging is strongly supported- in 6-minute units to be precise! All the plumbers and electricians who have ever attended to services for me charge by the hour. Even travel time for freelancers to get to and from work may be tax deductible.

The value of time seems as plastic as the clay we polymeristas love to manipulate!

When I visit the doctor, I am regularly expected to accept waiting an hour after my scheduled appointment time (for which I was expected to be punctual). More starkly, on the verge of delivering my third baby, the midwife asked me to ‘hang on for 2 minutes’ for the obstetrician to arrive. Every parent of young children knows that time stands still during 5 minutes alone with a hot coffee!

How do we polymeristas value our own work? By time? By formulas addressing material costs and market tolerance? By educating our audience about the time we spend and the value it provides?

In case someone out there IS interested in the time it takes me to make one of my items, I offer the following explanation for one of my most popular pieces- ‘Dusk Cherry Blossoms’:

Activity	Time Spent
Design/ research/ colour selection.	45 minutes
Open packages, slice and condition sheet of black, blue and silver- up to 5 minutes depending on environmental temperature.	5 minutes
Make Skinner Blend of blue and silver	2 minutes
Select template shape; cut conditioned clay sheets to shape; and overlay colours. Trim.	4 minutes
Cut flowers. Texture internal flower parts with needle. Hand roll blue centre.	10 minutes.
Cut and hand roll sakura branch parts.	5 minutes
Place formed flowers and branches on background. Remove air bubbles. Trim.	10 minutes.
Bake.	30 minutes
Cool in iced water.	5 minutes
Wet sand with 400, 600, 800, 2400 and denim.	15 minutes
Apply signature disc and finding. Allow to dry.	5 mins
Inspect. Test fine detail and attachments by rubbing with toothbrush and fingers.	3 mins
Photograph.	30- 60 minutes
Internet listing.	60 minutes
Packaging.	2 minutes

TOTAL DESIGN/ MANUFACTURE TIME: over 2¼ hours

ACTUAL TIME FOR ME: around 4 hours

In April, 2011 ‘Dusk Cherry Blossoms’ is on sale for $33. This price reflects what the public expects to pay for a polymer clay item presented by a previously unknown self-made artist.

Taking into account my material costs, I am charging myself out at far less than Australian Award Wages. Aside from how you value my artisanship, you would have to agree that the economics of my time does not make sense.

Originally, I thought the price I was asking was generous and clearly designed to promote my products. Yet when I browsed one of the most popular Internet sites for handmade items- Etsy- I found polymer clay hair accessories for $2. $2- $5 was so regularly posted, my prices began to seem exorbitant and I blushed! Those economics really do not make sense to me. It was at that point I coined two new terms:

Promo sapien: human being specifically evolved to self-promote at the expense of their peers and the reputation of their craft.

Etzilla- lovely to look at on Etsy but awful to know in real life.

The international renown of artisans struggling to make a living needs no introduction. I recently encountered a poignant example in Italy in October last year.

After 7 years of Italian language training in Australia, award of art and language prizes from the Dante Alighieri Society, and personal study of art, food and culture, I finally visited Florence, Rome and Sorrento.

My travel companions were my baby daughter and my parents (I left my two other children with my supportive husband at home). For my parents, the trip also brought long-awaited fulfillment. 30 years prior, they had the opportunity to stop in Florence. However their then 3 young daughters accompanied them. Navigating the family campervan through narrow cobbled streets and securely parking the van were nightmare enough, let alone traipsing through the crowded Uffizi with toddlers! With regret, they were compelled to bypass it.

My parents finally set foot on Florentine soil on what would have been my grandfather’s 100^th birthday- 10.10.2010, with one of their daughters and her baby daughter… a coincidence we celebrated.

While we were in Sorrento, I met an aged shell cameo carver. He inhabited a tiny dark shop close to the sea, which was stuffed full of pink and white cameos. Every time I sighted him from our apartment balcony overhead, he was poring over antiquated leather bound books, loose-leaf papers and sepia photographs in antiquated albums. His tiny shop stayed open from 10am until midnight every day of the week.

I spent some time with this white haired artisan asking questions about his craft and studying his handcrafted wares. He showed me his aged chisels, shaped perfectly to his gnarled hands. He explained to me how the shells were chosen and cut and carved. (Anyone who is interested in learning about this can have a look at the following informative link: http://www.cascosrl.it/en.cameoproduction.htm). He complained with feeling that his art was dying and that there were only 6 authentic cameo artisans left in Sorrento. Furthermore, not even the mass producers in China and India felt it worthwhile to reproduce such detailed cameos.

I met many artisans like him in Italy- in papermaking, leather craft, mosaics, dollhouse furniture, and puppetry. They were all the last baton carriers of their craft, all highly skilled, all lonely and hungry to share the human side of their business and the tragic loss of long cherished and developed traditions.

Projecting myself into their position 50 years from now, I slowly came to a realization. A realization that has continued to emerge from my polymer clay like an exquisite treasure.

Time is a precious, finite resource. Along that finite continuum, there are moments that can intersect and resonate in eternity. The moment an artisan steps up in them self, the result endures well beyond the economics and the casual buyers and the tourists of their art. What a rich treasure for them, what a gift, what a moment for us to hunt among all the overstuffed shops and Internet sites and books and galleries testifying to an artisan’s life.

The old artisan I met in Sorrento hinted at it. He waved a dismissive hand over his entire shop. ‘I have carved these women for 30 years. They are all good and they all sell. After thirty years, they are all the same to me.’ He indicated a far inferior carving of a faun-like creature. ‘This design is my design. For me, it is much better work. It is three times the price...’

Findi Flooshki offers you handmade accessories that aim to catch and keep attention.

At present I choose to specialize in handmade hair accessories including hair clips, combs, hairpins, bridal accessories and hair ornaments.

My interest in hair accessories arose from a childhood among sisters; my father’s work as an art conservator; and my mother’s artistic hands incessantly busy among sewing, embroidery, silk painting and knitting.

A degree in archaeology and my adult travels throughout Europe and Asia forged a serious appreciation for artisanship and the fine arts. My travels always take me to art museums and antiquities museums. There I have found that collectors worldwide share my fascination for hair ornaments. These date further back than the Bronze Age. (What I would have given for any gorgeous comb as my wriggling babies tousle my locks and fluster my photographs in museums!)

Men and women from antiquity made and wore hair ornaments that were made from natural materials: wood, bone, stone, leather, shell, textiles and ivory. Bronze, gold, silver and other precious metals were later joined by vulcanized rubber and celluloid as popular materials for hair accessories.

When I started the Findi Flooshki journey, I knew that if I was to put my own hands to work in tribute to artisans past, and in service to modern people, I needed a really versatile medium. I needed a material that was durable, light and comfortable. It must be capable of suggesting the hard-won, closely guarded and meticulously transmitted skills that I cherish. It also needed to be capable of proudly carrying the mantel of fine art. At the time, I had no idea such a material existed.

The solution came one day in a phone conversation with an Australian precious metal clay guild member. She recommended a book or three to me. Then, with arresting earnestness and a whisper of wistfulness, she told me that if she had discovered polymer clay before precious metal clay, her creative horizons would have been more broadly opened and so more deeply satisfied.

Many of the peoples who inspire my designs have now vanished, sometimes taking with them the secrets to which they were entrusted. The name ‘Findi Flooshki’ also has its origins in a time gone by, handed down to me by my grandfather, who used to tease his granddaughters’ love of small treasures.

When you wear one of my handmade pieces, I would like you to feel unique and look fantastic with the minimum of fuss. As the high quality modern findings allow, try wearing Findi Flooshki also as brooches, pendants, scarf ties, shoe clips and bag accessories.

You already appreciate the value of hand making. I would like you to know that wearing Findi Flooshki is a tribute to artisanship, as well as beauty and personal care with substance.

3. Time is Ticking: Valuing an Artisan's Creative Time

1. In the beginning: handmade accessories to catch and keep attention