My new adventure!

By Kristy Pantin / @kristypantin

Well I’ve decided to get back into working with clay (in between writing of course).

I bought a bunch of clay and all the tools necessary to make things with it about eight years ago, but after finishing two pieces, having  more kids, and running a daycare for a few years, life got in the way and it was pushed aside for another day.

I’m happy to say that ‘another day’ is finally here 🙂  Gotta love when these things finally come back around.

I’m not quite sure if I’m going to go full swing with this adventure as yet and actually sell my pieces online, but it’s a very real possibility once I have produced enough to make it worthwhile. I’m still experimenting at the moment and trying to find new and interesting ways to incorporate my mother’s glass pieces into the clay so that she and I can collaborate on pieces, so it may be a month or two before I actually go anywhere with this.

I’ve always been very artistic, and have always loved working with my hands, whether that be drawing, writing, renovating my house, or making things with different media such as clay, paper, wood etc, so it was only a matter of time before I found yet another thing to occupy myself with during my down time.

The other thing on my agenda is making pendants for chains out of Dichroic glass. The colors are vibrant and gorgeous so I’m trying it out under my mother’s tutelage and depending on what I think of the outcome, I may add that to my list of things I MUST do in life!

Here’s a picture of one of my clay pieces just so you have an idea of where I’m going with this. The piece below is only about 3″x3″ because it was just a sample I tried, but the future pieces will be larger and framed so that they can be hung on the wall or displayed on a table. Everything you see is made of clay with the exception of the three glass beads and the five small metal rings at the bottom right.

So far I’ve been commissioned to make clay fish to hang on a wall as part of a collection. I really think I’m going to enjoy this next stage of my life. It’s so much fun learning new things and it really does keep life interesting.

If ever I could give you some advice, it would be to try something new as often as you can. You’d be surprised at how much more interesting your life can be, and how adding these kinds of experiences to it can make you a happier person.

So if you’ve always wanted to try canoeing, jogging, mountain climbing, taking classes in something, sky-diving (definitely NOT on my list), or line dancing…then do it, what are you waiting for? Life is too short to sit around waiting for ‘another day’ that may never come. Get off your butt and make today the day despite what any negative people in your life have to say about it! And when you do start on your adventure, write me a letter and tell me all about it big or small. I love hearing about other people’s happiness and accomplishments.

Have a wonderful day!!!