Why I Clay

I've often been asked at craft shows why I do "claying."  I do it because it's relaxing, it's fun, and it's creative.  However, it's so much more than that.  I love it because there is no limit to the things you can do with it.  You can sculpt with it, create characters (like I do), make fantastic jewelry, put it on just about anything, paint it, give it metallic effects, mimic gemstones and other naturally found rocks, even create silver with metal clay.  


Some people use only the colors that come in the package, never venturing out to find new colors, create their own palettes, or marble clays together.  The combining of clays is one of the most exciting parts of claying.  I love the way you discover new color combinations and create marble like effects, just with clay.  It is so fantastic to see 4 colors combine in a unique way to become a marbled blend that looks like something only mother nature can do.


I sat with my friend one day when she came over.  I taught her how to knead the clay to "condition" it so she could use it.  I gave her about 1/4 of a block of glow in the dark to create something for her daughter.  She played with it and played with it...(over conditioning it actually).  I made a ghosty out of my portion and she hadn't even finished hers yet...in fact, it was still being transformed from a ball to a snake and back again.  Frustrated she looked up at me and said, I have no idea what to make it into.  After 30 minutes of playing and coming up with nothing, she handed it to me and said, "here, make my daughter something cute for her room."  So I took that clay and made it into a glow in the dark man in the moon.


The point is, it's not just knowing what to do with the clay.  It's about seeing something in your head first.  For as long as I can remember, I have been a Disney movie / cartoon addict.  I love them!  I love the fairy tale creatures who look real, yet really aren't.  It's from this very notion that Parker was born.  You have to see something before you create it.  When you clay you must bring something to life...be it a flower, animal, cartoon character, or piece of jewelry.  If you can't envision it, you can't create it.


This is why I love to clay.  My head is full of imagination and cute little whimsical, happy, vicarious creatures roaming around.  Those are the things that I choose to bring to life.  What are you going to bring from clay to life?