Trish Randal

grew up on a small farm in Ohio. Her earliest childhood memories are "creating" with Mom at the kitchen table. Sewing doll clothes by the time she was 5 was the beginning of a love affair of working with her hands. Even now, creating at the kitchen table is where she feels most at home.

Trish studied at Ohio University in Athens, and graduated with a degree in education. Teaching was the realization of a childhood dream, but after a move to Columbus, Ohio she discovered clay and found a new excitement.

Influenced by artists such as

Influenced by artists such as Sharon Sahl, Diana Brian and Jean Earnhart, Trish began creating whimsical characters in salt dough or baker's clay. She remembers that her first piece was an elf that took over two hours to mold. But, she also remembers the surprise and pleasure of friends and family at the image she had created. Eventually she turned the making of these clay figures into a business. Her wish to make more detailed and intricate figures led her to bread dough clay, a mixture of white bread, glue and glycerin. A medium traditionally used for miniatures, Trish was one of the first to develop techniques to make larger figures. Each piece is hand-made, air-dried and sealed with an epoxy resin. Molds are never used.

Lately, Trish has been enjoying

teaching creative dough art workshops. She believes that there is a creative solution to every problem or at least a creative way of dealing with it. "The more we exercise our creative muscles, the easier it is to draw on that creativity in our everyday lives," says Trish.