Hi Sherry and welcome.......My story is pretty simple. I retired first of this year and FINALLY have time to do all the things I want to do. I dabble in many crafts....and as they say "master of none." But I keep coming back to polymer clay. I once sold commercially in Coomers (Atlanta)but that was such a hassle. Now I play with just my satisfaction in mind. My DH and three small dogs live outside of Atlanta and I'm loving "the later years." This is probably more of a story than you wanted.
Glad to have you......

Oh, no, Sherry! You can't come over here and talk about *that* kind of clay and ceramics! You'll have me wanting to buy a kiln and take classes and all that!! Oops! Well, it does say Ceramics in the forum title...! ;--)
Actually, I have a book called Handmade Clay Crafts by Susan Alexander & Taffnie Bogart that I LOVE!!! I drool over it all the time. It has projects for kiln-fire, oven-bake, and air-dry clays. The kiln-fired ones look the best to me, but I'll have to settle!
My kids and a friend and her kids went on a little homeschool fieldtrip to a nearby town where this man makes and sells pottery. He demo'd for us and showed us the kiln he built himself. Oh, boy, what an enjoyable outing! We bought some of his clay and had some good messy fun with it.
So, okay, you can talk up the mud! I'm glad you found us! :--)

I have never thrown on a wheel but I did take a semester of hand-building in college about 10 years ago. I really enjoyed it and my favorite way to finish was Raku firing in a ground pit.
I liked creating large bowls with three legs and stamping textures & patterns into the clay. I used sheet cork glued to sealed cardboard to make my own stamps for the clay.
I wish I could do painting on ready-made ceramics again but all the shops around here have closed up. I used to love to do that when I was a girl. My mom made lots of items that I treasure today.

Karen

Sherry.......Excuse my answer.....I misunderstood the meaning of the word "story." I have always been fascinated by ceramics and pottery but know little about the subject.

Sherry, I reread my answer and I realize that didn't sound lighthearted, the way I meant it. I was teasing. I think it's great you're here and I hope to learn a little about ceramics and earth clays.
And Rosie, I enjoyed your story! (I hear a stamping convention is coming to Atlanta --are you going? It's a bit of a drive for me from SC!)

Yup...plan on going to the show. We have a small stampers club that meets on 2nd Sunday of the month and the convention was discussed last Sunday. Come to Hotlanta and I'll buy you lunch.

Oh! Don't tempt me! :--D

Hi
Have been out of town until about 2 hrs ago and just wanted to check in. This forum really looks like it will be a lot of fun. Nice to meet ya'll

Hi Sherry........welcome.