What crafts does everyone do?

[newtohosta-no more]

I'd love you to post some pics of your hats on here, Wanda! Do you sell them?
joan

[Chris_W]

Boy, it has been a long time since I've really done any craft projects. Brian is the crafty one around here. He is currently doing some stained glass for lights in the new house. Last Christmas (2002) he made quilts for his neices and nephews.

I did a little oil painting after taking some classes. Those paintings were lost in a fire in 1996 along with all of my supplies. I also did resin casting for quite a while - made some terrific night lights which I still see at various relatives houses. One is an imbedded treasure troll that was really cute Others were beach scenes with sand, coral, shells... Gosh, those were fun - I ought to start that up again!

I worked at Leeward's (bought out by Michael's) for a few years doing custom picture framing and really enjoyed that, plus got to check out and try a lot of different crafty things. I guess I just don't have the time anymore to really get into that kind of stuff...

[PeggyB]

OMG, such talented gardeners we have here!

Wanda, the pics of your work has me shaking my head in awe! Are you getting tired of all the oooooohs and aaaaaahs yet? I wish I had a fraction of your abilities and creativity!

[Wanda]

PeggyB: You must be joking...artists THRIVE on those oohs and aahs - since we can never seem to make any money at it, we have to enjoy what we can get (hehe). I can’t take any credit for the creativity - I was born with that, along with most other folks on both my mom & dad’s sides of the family. More than half of us in my generation are working artists. I can only take credit for practice, practice, practice to develop the various skills needed to create in different mediums. And Mom saw to it that we were in every 4-H program we chose - That gave me a great base of techniques to draw on, and allowed me to find out what I liked to do.

Joan: I would love to sell my hats...sort of hoping to work towards that (need hosta money-hehe). The hat already pictured is the first and only one done as of yet. I have 3 more ready for sweatbands and hatbands after I hand-sew a narrow silk ribbon wrapped around the brim edge. And two more that need some further hard labor to get them stiffened up. Once I get those 5 done, will start working with some lusciously soft merino wool...and make myself a jet black wide brimmed hat (advertising, plus it is COLD this year).

Oh, and I forgot to mention earlier: I also do basketmaking, intricate beading, sewing with my own patterns, design and cut my own stencils to paint floorcloths, crochet...basically everything except knitting - just can’t get the hang of that! Oh, and tie-dyeing...about every other year my sister, niece and I tie-dye about 60 shirts in one day for their annual trips to amusement parks.

If anyone wants to try any of these things, I am a good helper...

wanda

[Justme]

Wow, Wanda . And I thought I had varied interests!

I Used to sew, a lot. Still have boxes of fabric and patterns. Wanted to take up machine quiltings someday, would love a nice Lincoln Log quilt.

I can crochette, but not knit . I have re-taken up photography after many years on not having a nice camera. Never did get sculpture, but love throwing my own pots in ceramics. Have done watercolor and oil painting, but very long ago.

Mostly now I do Cross Stitch. Stitch like crazy for a month or so, then don't touch it for two or three months. Oh, well it is for relaxation.

Plan on trying to take cake decorating classes this year. The gal who does the scheduling at work has said she will give me that night off for the weeks of the class, if I bring the homework into work

Chris/Brian: Stainglass is something I have been trying to find books on to learn how to do it! I have seen it done on TV and it isn't suppose to be that expensive or difficult to get into. (yeah, right, neither is cross stitch, initially ) Can you suggest one?

Tami

[Janet D.]

Never did get sculpture, but love throwing my own pots in ceramics.

Tami

Gee, I forgot about my high school ceramics class. I never threw, but sculpted. One year, I made a monstrosity that started with 3 joined coil pots and just went up from there. It was weird, it was tall, it was convoluted, it was heavy, it could hold 53 cups of water! It won first place in the Art Show Wish I still had it

Hmmmmm, I have heavy clay in my yard. Wonder if....

[Old earth dog]

I've done Oil painting, wood carving, sculpting, customized cars, built hot rods, Made my own plaster molds for my own ceramics. Made silacone molds for cold casting pieces of my sculpture (very expensive process). My ADD kept me from staying on one craft . Once I learned how to do it I got bored. I've found if I limit myself to my dog training, wood working (building fine furniture and garden seats/arches/trellisses) and gardening, then I can stay with it. Been dog training for 25-30 yrs. Gardening for 15-20 yrs, serious wood working for about 10 yrs. Hopefully, when I grow up I'll know what I want to be/do.........Then again, why would I ever want to grow up. Life is to much fun when yer a big kid!

[Justme]

OED: Always said the same thing, once I learn something I get bored with it. Have also said I probably have ADD, my D.D. has it and take meds for it.

Anyway, for got about woodworking! We have some tools and DH and I talk about doing stuff, but . . .

Currently we are letting our new dog train us

Tami

[kHT]

A lot of us I bet use our artistic/painting minds in the garden?

[CarolB]

Wanda - Do you even have time to sleep? I think if any of us have specific questions about our projects, we should just use as a subejct, "Wanda, I need your help!" I am sure you could teach all some thinks. I just love reading all of these posts. I have already learned some things. My mother was never a craft person or sewer. She gardened. She encouraged my father to take up carving when he got out of the hosptial several years ago and had to recoup at home for a while. He was bored. He kept saying her couldn't do anything like that. But within a few years, he became better then the people he was in a wood carving club with. He left the club and worked on his own. Some people were becoming resentful because he started selling his things for hundreds of dollars. After he had a stroke in May of last year, he wasn't able to get back to it. But I think someday he may. When he was in the hospital recovering from the stroke, my mother brought some of his carving to the hospital and they put them on display. The doctors kept telling him how wonderful they were, and we think that is what has kept him going. He wants to do it again. I really think that things like this are what keep people going sometimes and gives them something to live for.

[Wanda]

I would be happy to help anyone I could! I am the oldest of 6 kids spread out over 20 yrs., so got accustomed to showing others how to do things. And I started tutoring in elementary school and continued right through college. We had mom, the grandmas, great-grandmas, aunts, great-aunts and all the 4H ladies that made sure we were taught all the “womanly arts” we desired to learn...not everyone has been as fortunate to have such wonderful teachers.

After I blithely promised a younger sister, “sure I can make you a nice wedding cake” (not knowing what was involved), I ran out, got some books and supplies and taught myself. I soon realized these huge cakes take a ton of effort...so made it a family affair! Started teaching my younger siblings and nieces. My youngest brother is great at the decorating - and he is as big as the guys on the front lines of professional football teams! He did all the fancy linework on one of the dark blue cakes. My eldest niece is great, too. I operate them by “remote control”...we each have a cake, and they follow along with what I do - works like a charm (and you can eat your mistakes)! And the little nieces help us with flower making and placement. Everyone else helps beating the frosting, doing the basic icing and in the transport and set-up. We have just enough family members to transport a big cake like the one labeled “Sarah’s Cake”. Big people hold big layers on their laps, little people hold little layers. Makes the little ones a bit nervous, and quite honored, too, as we are trusting them to not let anything bad happen to “their’ layer. A big job like that is wayyy more fun with lots of people to help (hehe).

So ask away...just no knitting questions for me! It still rankles that I just can’t get the hang of it...

wanda

[KellieD]

K'HT', I am one of those who's artistic talent is best seen in the gardens. While I am good at other things, I truly shine with chlorophyll.
My gardens will never be as weedfree as yours, or as focused, but they make me happy and that is my main goal anyway.

[Garden_of_Mu]

I've tried all kinds of things over the years, but like a few others, once I can do it well and understand it I am no longer interested. Not ADD, just ready for a new challenge. Gardening seems to have stuck and I am still looking forward to making new 'tufa garden ornaments so that may stick too. I can sew well by hand, but can't work a sewing machine to save my life, mastered basic crochet, some woodwork (but not carving - I am not a good sculptor), eraser carving to make stamps, did beadwork for a few years (with the pinnacle being my sisters wedding dress - ivory fabrics covered in pearls. Mom sewed it and I beaded it. It was gorgeous!), used to draw and paint with a variety of mediums, did collage for awhile - loved that, but got bored eventually, loved working with clay in high school, but haven't since.

I am moving to larger canvases now and am trying to design a garden for a friend, as well as finish my own. He wants to get rid of all the grass/moss in his yard (it doesn't grow anyway) and I'm trying to make it low maintainance with gravelled areas surrounded by plantings of natives and a few easy perenniels. That is fun, but slow going. I'd really like to do some metal working, but don't have the money to take any classes or buy the tools and supplies. Sigh... someday.

[Linda P]

Interesting that so many of you should mention ADD! I often wonder about myself! I've done SOOO many things..just have to learn everything there is to know about a process, and work like crazy at it for a while, and then move on. I started making dolls when I was a little girl, and still do that (spent nearly 20 years designing and making them to sell at craft shows). I did soft sculputure for a while, and would still like to go back to that someday. I sewed all my own clothes for years, as well as all the clothes my children wore growing up, and made my DH's shirts. I made him a suit once..and once was enough! I made the wedding dress for my oldest daughter (and I did beading on it, too, Mike!). I do flower arranging, silks, dried or fresh, and did all the flowers for both daughter's weddings, among other things. I was a professional cake decorator for about 15 years while my children were young, so that I could work from home. (You're right, Wanda. It takes an amazing amount of strength to put those wedding cakes together!) I made my first quilt in 1965, and still do that. I taught quilting classes for a time, both hand and machine piecing and quilting and trapunto, and helped a friend start a quilt shop. I was a founding member of our quilt guild. I design my own patchwork and quilting patterns for most of the projects. I think I have 8 quilt tops to do, and one on the frame now. I've done crewel, bargello, needlepoint, cross stitch, crochet, knitting (I can't get the hang of that either) and who knows what other needlearts. I have more fabric than any one person could use in a lifetime. I've dabbled in painting and photography, calligraphy, quilling, and done creative writing and poetry. I've made zillions of grapevine wreaths and baskets. I've also done some traditional basket weaving, but find it is really hard on my hands. I made one..yes, one...woven grass basket, and I would love to do that again. I used to give a lot of programs on quilting, but haven't done that in some time. My mom was my able helper with that, and since she's gone, I don't know if I'll ever have the heart for it again. I also play piano (though I'm waaay rusty at that now!) and used to sing in choir at church, and sang with a quartet when I was in highschool. There are many artists and musicians in my family, so I think there is something in the gene pool! I built a willow arbor once, and have done some woodworking. I repaired and refinished a lot of run-down furniture that I used to get at auctions, and most of it is still in my home today. I've done upholstering (also too hard on the hands!) and wallpapering and always do all my own painting whenever there are redecorating projects. I designed my kitchen and bathroom remodel, and am about to embark on a project to design and build (with the help of DH and some friends) a deck or deck/patio combination. My grandchildren love to help with projects in the garden, and they like to tinker around with all my craft supplies in my shop in the old chicken house. I posted a pic some time back of a bricklaying project my grandsons helped me with. They are always up for anything that I want to do, and they're getting bigger and stronger all the time, so who knows what we'll do next!
Linda P

[dian57]

Like a lot of people here, I have done a lot of different things. I am a person who becomes overtaken by a project concept, submerges myself in every aspect of it (buys all the equipment, reads, experiments, makes tons of things to give as gifts) and when the obsession has run its' course, I move on to something else. It has to do more with my personality than talent.

Let's see, over the years I've worked with textiles: had a custom sewing business (sold beaded wedding dresses, drapes, upholstery, christening gowns, slipcovers, down comforters, quilts, etc). Worked with food: made wedding cakes and duplicated invitations on birthday cakes, canned vegetables, preserved, made liquors, sold holiday pastries and appetizers. Worked with wood: made frames, built a farmers pantry, countless shelf units, a sound studio, deck, arbor, benches and put a roof on my house. Worked with cement and mosaic: patio, hypertufa projects, fossil stones, walkways, stepping stones, grave markers. Worked with glass: stained glass projects, Gallery Glass window designs. Worked with paper: calligraphy, design personalized stationary with bits of ribbons/shells/stamps/flowers. Worked with plants: my yard, my HOSTAS. Worked with paint: faux treatments, oil on canvas, wall words, primitive and tole painting.

That's why I walk through gift shops and never buying anything. I keep thinking, Oh, come on, $35? I can make it for $4!

Working with my hands makes my heart sing, but what puts the food on the table is nursing.

[newtohosta-no more]

I'm getting an inferiority complex after reading all these posts!!! Wow.....what a talented bunch you all are!! It's good to know where we can turn to for help if we start a project.
Joan

[CarolB]

I would like to know what Linda does in her spare time? I can not imagine doing all of these things. Linda is probably good at all of them, otherwise she would not have stayed with working on the arts. Isn't it a wonder why men really don't seem to get into the crafty stuff or sewing? Granted, some do paint and sculpt, but not really the things that women like to do. Anyway, seeing as how we have so many talented people here, I need someone to go back and read my post on the blanket stitch. Please, please help me!

[JaneG]

Wow, such talented and creative people here!! I'm impressed!

My biggest talent and enjoyment is sewing. Started as a little girl after seeing Mom do it. I figured out the sewing machine and made little purses and stuff. Then more in 4-H, made many of my clothes in jr high and high school. As a teenager I started sewing home dec and did my entire bedroom ensemble. I don't do many clothes anymore, but made most of the window treatments and accessories in my home. Have done a little bit for others, but that's more nerve-wracking than just doing my own. Enjoy doing all sorts of sewing projects.

I dabble in other things, crochet (never could learn to knit either), furniture refinishing, a little bit of scrapbooking, sweatshirt painting when that was "in". Have made candles, done a little stamping, and tried all sorts of things once or twice. When I was a kid my Mom took cake decorating classes. She would practice at home and show/teach me what she was learning. I have all the stuff now and enjoy making special cakes for family members, but don't think I'd tackle a wedding cake! I not an expert at any of these things, but I sure have fun!

My closets are full of "UFOs" (Un-Finished Objects), all the projects I started and then lost interest in or got side-tracked by life. I don't have as much fabric as Linda, but quite a stash non-the-less.

I can't leave a craft store without a bunch of stuff and a grand plan for what I'm going to do with it. Unfortunately, my time and talent aren't always up to the task!!!

I have finally accepted the fact that I don't have the time to do all these things, so I am trying to focus on the ones I enjoy most. For example, I found that I didn't enjoy stamping, I could do it but it didn't give me that good feeling. After investing a couple hundred dollars in stamps, ink, and supplies, I sold it all for $35 on a garage sale.

Like Wanda, being around lots of older talented family members and spending 9 years in 4-H taking about every project they offered, helped to inspire me.

[CarolB]

Seeing as how Jane does furniture refinishing, I wonder if she has ever done decorative painting on furniture? I would like to try it with pieces I would pick up cheap at garage sales. Could someone tell me how to get started, please?

[JaneG]

I hadn't been back to check this thread in a while. No Carol, I've never tried decorative or tole painting on furniture. I love the look of it and have often toyed with the idea of painting flowers and vines on a chair, but never have. None of the crafts that I do involve drawing or painting, it's something I just can't do.

There's the gal on TV and writes books who does "one stroke" painting and makes it look SO SIMPLE. But I know better, it's never as easy as it looks!

Go ahead and buy a cheap garage sale chair and give it a try!