does anyone have "arts and crafts" obsessions?

Post Reply New Topic

Let us know how that goes...I have always wanted to do this(but afraid of the social interaction part)



GOOD LUCK!!

Have number of ongoing projects in various stages, some can be picked up or set down easily & at a moment's notice, others require certain concentrated mood.
I mostly draw (on paper, freehand) mazes (ink pen) & mandalas (colored pencils or markers)-have 100's of them. Use embroidery floss to weave "friendship bracelets", have 72 so far-only managed to give a few away. Decorated t-shirts w/fabric paint (in those squeeze bottles), they came out cool-looking but I can't stand how they feel. I enjoy making collages-am overrun w/piles of images I want to use at some point. Not into paint-by-numbers, but I filled in the plates of my Anatomy Coloring Book & now I'm working on pages of Physiology Coloring Book. I dislike sewing, but have cobbled together some pillowcases (handsewed some old sheets together).
Haven't made career out of anything, for myriad reasons. Among other things, can't decide on selling price-feels like someone's being screwed over (myself or person paying for my artwork). Guess I need an agent to flog my wares, but that notion opens up further problematic issues...

Yes.

I started calligraphy at 11 - after being sent to special needs handwriting lessons.

I also liked reading books about woodwork, macrame, stained glass.

I took up crochet two years ago. I really enjoy crochet, but haveen't completed any big projects yet. I like making big chunky scarves, and teddy bears, and bean bags, and just playing with stitches to see what happens.

I also enjoy painting, drawing, and making stuff.

Robin

Yes!

I started about ten years ago with a cross-stitch kit, and loved it. Then embroidery and sewing in general (just easy stuff like curtains) then a friend gave me some card-making rubber stamps and I was hooked on card-making. I like trying all the different things you can do with that craft - teabag folding, embossing etc.
A couple of years ago I had the urge to try painting. I love it, but find it very difficult to get the image I see in my head onto the paper - I can never get it to look the same. I'm still very much at the learner stage with that.
If I don't either paint or craft for a few days I feel rather miserable. Maybe because if I'm doing crafts I get a bit of time to myself to 'recharge the batteries'.

Only had the coordination since adulthood, but I've started getting into cross-stitch. (Unfortunately while I'm doing pretty well on my first project, I already had tendonitis and this is making it worse so I took a break.)

Love crafts! My mother(who passed away in her low-thirties) used to sew all of our clothes and my father would make wooden toys, a great tree house etc. I aspired to be as good a seamstress as my mother was, so as soon as I got my first job at 15, saved and bought a second hand sewing machine. Never looked back! Went on to make clothes(casul, formal, children's dress-ups), americana patchwork quilts, candlewick embroidery, cushion making, mohair bear making, curtains, tablecloths. Hubby used to make ships in bottles for awhile there and had his work published in mags.

I love arts & crafts, as well!

- Pottery
- Drawing
- Oil painting
- Making / fixing clothes
- Making jewellery

And basically anything else that involves pencils, scissors, glue, etc...

Only thing is, this makes me a terrible packrat because I'm forever saying, "I can't throw THIS away! I could USE it to make / fix something..."...

Mine is tatting--a type of lacemaking, considered a dying art.

thistledown

Going all the way back to childhood, the ones I can remember:

Currently:

- painting (oils, arcylics, watercolor)
- drawing/sketching

In past, or whenever I have the time and interest:

- wood decor
- hand made furniture
- paper collages
- balsa wood/basswood construction
- hand knotted rosaries
- bead jewelry
- cross-stitch
- long-stitch
- sewing
- hook rugs
- model airplanes
- weird odds and ends stuff that I come up with, usually to deecorate my home

There's others I can't remember right now.

My mom's good at quilting and knitting, two things I never have been good at. My mom taught me any skills with a needle, basically.

Ones I wish I could do/try:

- stained glass
- metal works
- ceramics

Well it didn't go so well. There were a ton of other people selling their jewelry there. I was the only one selling stuff made out of seed beads (you know the woven jewelry that takes forever to make), but still I didn't get a whole lot of business. I mostly just got a lot of people walking by and saying "wow that's amazing" but not buying anything. I made about $65 after being out there for 7 hours. Half of that came from this one woman who wrote a check and I haven’t had a chance to cash it yet.

I went through a cake decoration stage, I loved those very realistic icing cake decorations, complex ivy, rose petals, figures, buildings, its a delicate artisitry though as usual I could'nt get them the standard I wanted so the hobby petered out!

I would like to learn calligraphy or learn to do that amazing handwriting they had in the early part of the twentieth century, beautiful script with precision and character.

I love to knit, crochet, weave, and bead.

Yes, I am!
Ive been obsessed for a while now with fashion dolls & fashion doll clothing. Especially Disney fashion dolls... & historical, cultural or fantasy fashion dolls & doll clothing...

the link below is my site(still not completed) with pics of some of my deboxed dolls (i have tons!) & fashions I dress them in. Sometimes I will make them matching jewelry & accessories (like hats & hairpieces), but most of the fashions have been purchased in stores, or on Ebay...

http://www.geocities.com/disdollfantasy/


Alas I do not know how to sew, but want to learn so I can make my own fashions. I just bought one of the Dummies doll clothes sewing patterns but when I opened it up, aaaak! it looks so complicated! I don't even own a sewing machine! Ill need to borrow one from...somebody.

Along with that I have a bunch of other oddball hobbies & obsessions but as for other arts/craft related ones, I like collecting Disney stickers & I also like to draw, though I don't really do much drawing nowadays...

Does pastry count? I love to work with sugar in sculpture/baked item adhesion. Decorating cookies, especially with some intricacy, tends to be within the same milieu as crafting, I suppose.

One of the ways I kept sane in high school was jewelry-making and beading. My tendency to fidget with small objects was used constructively to make a bit of money.

YES! And it's gotten worse since I've had kids! I sewed many many cotton sherpa diapers for my sons and for friends who used cloth diapers. I even appliqued some of them w/ cute little designs. I also knit wool diaper covers (eco friendly! And better for their skin!) I've also started sewing some clothing and costumes. We volunteered at a local historical reenatment and I sewed period correct costumes for my family of 5. I mean, absolutely period correct. The only thing missing were shoes for the boys and dh and stays for me (this was 17th c. French settlers in Northern Indiana.) I even made a dress for 1 year old ds! THey were AWESOME, but people told me I was crazy to do all that work for a 1 day VOLUNTEER activity.

I've also made waldorf dolls and baby slings. I bake their birthday cakes and decorate them (and for other kids if they ask. My neighbor's kids always tell me what they want on their birthday cake and their mom gets so upset--because they don't ask her first and she feels like she's putting me out-- when I tell her not to buy a cake since I've already figured out how to do what their kids want. But she can't say no, cuz I'll do a better job than the bakery and I really do enjoy it.) Friends tell me everything I make I could easily make a living doing, but I'm not focused or organized enough to ever do that.

I'm also taking a pottery class. Well, it's not really a class. ds's old art teacher (doesn't go to that school anymore) does a "class" where we pay for a 6 week session, 2 hours per week. She's there for 2 hours and will help if you ask, and we can stay later if we want after she leaves. I've been doing it for 10 mos now and I'd say my stuff is getting to be consistently VERY nice. I could sell some of these bowls I'm making and not feel bad about them not being perfect. SP now I'm ready to start giving them away to friends and family.

I can't even remember what all I did pre-kids, but it was a lot then, as well, although it was more on the art end, like drawing and painting, rather than useful crafty things.

Wendy

Hmm, I've been very interested in arts and crafts since about age 3. I was interested in colours and light at an even earlier age than that. The trouble is, I've made a lot of things but am too shy to try and sell any of them in person.