Welcome! I'm Nancy Amores. I make ceramic pendants, beads, and tile. I have a background in graphic design but fell in love with working with clay about three years ago.
When I say 'work' what I really mean is 'playing around' because clay is so much fun and because I'm just beginning the learning process, and have many years ahead before I feel like I've mastered the art. Working with the medium for myself has done wonders to humble me to the beauty and expertise behind the works of master potters and sculptors. I look at their pieces in a whole new way, not just with the extreme admiration I'd always had but with a new intense need to know how they "did it." In a decade or so I'll probably be reverse engineering their glaze and firing process as well, but for now just their forming and decoration methods are puzzling enough for me. I like tile because it's always the same form...mostly flat, almost like a little canvas to work with, as it is with pendants, beads, and other jewelry components.
I'm not ashamed of being a beginner, everyone has to start somewhere! I'm hoping to help other people that are at the point I was a couple of years ago, not knowing where to begin and a sea of information from an overwhelming number of sources. The first thing to know is that it's never to late to begin, even if you are well on in years the satisfaction of working with your hands is alone worth the effort.
There are numerous sites outlining just about everything about ceramics that you could ever think to look up, and there is SO much to look up. I don't think that a lifetime would be long enough to learn everything there is to learn, yet with a basic knowledge of a few things you can jump right in. Start with ceramicartsdaily.org if you haven't been there already. It's the top resource site in the industry. I'll share some books and sites that I've found most helpful, and of course take you through the jewelry/tile making process step by step, with what I've learned so far in wanderings around the 'Net and library. My hope is that you will see if *I* can do it, a middle aged grandma with limited resources and very little in the way of education in the Fine Arts, then *you* can do it too. Pick up some clay and let that creativity flow, it has an energy all of it's own and will help you get to know yourself better. You'll also have some nice things to give to your family and friends, and when all of that practice pays off you may be able to make some income on the side, and that sure never hurt anyone!
When I say 'work' what I really mean is 'playing around' because clay is so much fun and because I'm just beginning the learning process, and have many years ahead before I feel like I've mastered the art. Working with the medium for myself has done wonders to humble me to the beauty and expertise behind the works of master potters and sculptors. I look at their pieces in a whole new way, not just with the extreme admiration I'd always had but with a new intense need to know how they "did it." In a decade or so I'll probably be reverse engineering their glaze and firing process as well, but for now just their forming and decoration methods are puzzling enough for me. I like tile because it's always the same form...mostly flat, almost like a little canvas to work with, as it is with pendants, beads, and other jewelry components.
I'm not ashamed of being a beginner, everyone has to start somewhere! I'm hoping to help other people that are at the point I was a couple of years ago, not knowing where to begin and a sea of information from an overwhelming number of sources. The first thing to know is that it's never to late to begin, even if you are well on in years the satisfaction of working with your hands is alone worth the effort.
There are numerous sites outlining just about everything about ceramics that you could ever think to look up, and there is SO much to look up. I don't think that a lifetime would be long enough to learn everything there is to learn, yet with a basic knowledge of a few things you can jump right in. Start with ceramicartsdaily.org if you haven't been there already. It's the top resource site in the industry. I'll share some books and sites that I've found most helpful, and of course take you through the jewelry/tile making process step by step, with what I've learned so far in wanderings around the 'Net and library. My hope is that you will see if *I* can do it, a middle aged grandma with limited resources and very little in the way of education in the Fine Arts, then *you* can do it too. Pick up some clay and let that creativity flow, it has an energy all of it's own and will help you get to know yourself better. You'll also have some nice things to give to your family and friends, and when all of that practice pays off you may be able to make some income on the side, and that sure never hurt anyone!
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