Crafts I would like to try...

I started to do stained glass and pottery in high school out of the two I love to do stained glass. I am currently working on a piece in school. With glass it takes time and practice. I find my hardest part is cutting the glass and having it now break. So if your doing this on your own you will want to be very careful as glass is expensive after so long and if you keep breaking your pieces it will add up. but good luck I find working with glass to be lots of fun.

I recommend looking into a junior college/community college for taking a beginners course in pottery. It is an amazing hobby. It is very therapeutic and rewarding. Throwing on the wheel seems very hard at first but then becomes all about centering, not just the clay itself but also yourself in many ways. Community colleges often have rather good programs to help prepare students that want to go to universities to study ceramics.

Whilst both can be extremely expensive hobbies, the basics can be done very cheaply. In the past we have fired pottery in a bonfire kiln in the back garden and had really good results. The only cast was the clay, and even that we can dig locally if we were really determned to (it takes a few months to prepare if you do that though). For an even quicker atempt you could buy oven hardening clay just to get the feel for it. Stained glass can be done cheaply using copper tape and a soldering iron. Its about £5 a roll last time I saw it in the craftshop, so again a very cheap way to start trying out an idea.

I haven't done either of those, but they both sound really interesting. I would suggest going to a craft store and buying some "starter" kits. Obviously you don't want to start out doing something for a pro lol, so definitely start with easier kits. I would also recommend maybe buying some books on these two things, that will help you when you are trying to do them.

I have tried stained glass before, it was in High school so I had the guidance of our art teacher. I would reccomend frist reading up on it. This way you can know what supplies you need and what types of things you need to have access to...for example, you might want to find out about kiln access to do pottery. Where I live the city has a community education place where you can sign up for all types of classes, from cooking to computers, and art to learning a new language. Maybe you can find either a stained glass or pottery class through something like that? Often these classes have materials built into the price. Also if there are any universities near you check there. Sometimes art students are willing to teach for a fee. You could try using craigslist.org to help hunt down someone to lead you into these new crafts too. Good Luck!

I don't throw my own pottery on a wheel, but I have made and sell ceramics for 15-20 years. I have my own molds and my own kiln. It is one of the most rewarding hobbies I have ever done. To take liquid clay(slip) pour it in a mold, then dry it, fire it, paint it, and possibly sell it is a wonderful high. Or just to make something as a gift, for a friend, or for yourself....I wish you the best of luck...it is so rewarding