New here and new to clay

Welcome Cindy -

there are many clay classes and retreats out there. In addition, there
are guilds that hold regular meetings and retreats. In central VA, I
think the closest guild may be the Blue Ridge Guild, but check the
National Polymer Clay Guild web site for a full listing
(http://www.npcg.org).

As far as online resources, there are a ton out there, but here are some
of the 'bigger' sites:

http://www.glassattic.com
http://www.polymerclaycentral.com
http://www.pcpolyzine.com

Plus there are TONS of suppliers online that offer unique tools and
great selection.

If you want to see some of my clay work, please visit my gallery (link
available from my main page at penguintrax.com).

Barbara

http://www.penguintrax.com and http://www.backseatgrammarian.com

There is a very fine line between a hobby and mental illness. (Dave Barry)

Need quality, inexpensive web hosting with site builder and 50 apps? Check out http://www.lyonshost.com.



CindyB wrote:

Hi. My name is CindyB. I'm originally from Upstate NY and now living
in central Virginia for the past 18 months and LOVE it here.

I've been playing with making jewelry for the past year and just
started making my own polymer clay beads a couple of weeks ago.

If anyone has any advice, web sites, etc. for a newbie, I'd sure be
interested. Are there clay classes like there are for lampwork?

What I've done so far:
Just basic handrolled shapes, mixing colors and patterns of color. I
like to make a rope of 2 or more colors, pinch off a bit and squish it
around until I like how it looks. I've also tried marbling. I don't
know if it's the right way to do it, but it's been working for me,
lol.

I just form my beads and bake them. So far, I haven't done any
sanding, polishing or sealing. Should I be? Is there anything else I
should be doing with them?

I just bought a pasta machine and a slicer but haven't used them just
yet. Mom is here visiting this week, so beads are put aside for now.

I'm not artistic at all but I love color and working with the clay is
FUN!

I know I've asked a lot of questions. I'm sorry. I just feel like I
have so much to learn. I've been reading everything I can find online,
have picked up a couple of magazines, etc. It seems that the more I
learn, the more questions I have!