Television was a fairly grueling career, involving a lot of travel and long hours. During that time she divorced and became the sole support for her daughter, Lisa, now 36.  And like so many other careers that start out in an exciting way, eventually it became “a job.” 

To keep her creative juices going, Michelle took up watercolor painting in the 1980s, while continuing her make-up work. She met her second husband, Nicholas Thomas, a videographer, through the entertainment industry.  They have been together for 15 years and reside in the same Sherman Oaks house where Michelle raised her daughter.

<>Health crises, her mother’s and that of herself, began her on the road to polymer clay.  She lost her desire to paint when her mother became ill with what proved to be terminal cancer. Her mother died in 1992.

Michelle’s watercolor hues always had been “bright and happy” up to this time, not “dark and gloomy,” and she no longer could muster up a vivid palette. Then she was struck with fibromyalgia within two years of her mother’s death, a debilitating disease of overwhelming fatigue and pain which eventually forced her on permanent disability in 1996.

Michelle Ross found herself at home “for the first time in 30 years,” feeling miserable and useless.  Ironically, it was “The Carol Duvall Show” that came to her rescue. She recalled, “I needed to be busy and occupied and creative and to play with colors and textures.  I was bored with me being sick.”

“I didn’t have the equipment for ceramics anymore and it was expensive to start up again.  Anyway, I physically was not able to sit down at a potter’s wheel and throw clay.” She became enamored of rubber stamping one day while resting in her living room and watching television. “The Carol Duvall Show” was on and a guest was working with embossing powder. “Omigod, that looks so cool” was her mental reaction.  

This was something she physically could do and she quickly immersed herself in it.  She designed her own line of stamps and sold them over a website. She quickly became known to local rubber stamp store owners in Los Angeles.  She began teaching classes for many of them, at their requests. One of those stores was patronized by a producer from “The Carol Duvall Show” who tapped her as a project creator and demonstrator during a hunt for new guest artists for the show.

Michelle initially had mixed feelings about going on the other side of the camera for the first time. “But I was trying to get my rubber stamp business off the ground and I would have been stupid not to take the opportunity,” she said.  This course of action fell into a general philosophy she has followed most of her life: “I don’t plan my life at all, although I might be better off if I did.”

But thus far, Michelle Ross’ calculated impulsivity seems to have paid off for her. Shortly after she began filming for “The Carol Duvall Show,” she met Donna Kato, who encouraged her to pursue the endless boundaries of polymer clay.  Her first effort was a polymer clay project she completed at home, but she “didn’t feel successful.” After viewing some of Karen Lewis’ work at a bead shop, and finding out that KLEW was a Southern California artist, she pursued a two-day workshop in polymer clay with Lewis. Michelle’s work as a polymer clay artist took off after that, first incorporated with rubber stamping, then as a separate passion.