My Crafty Roommate

In my quest for someone to interview about crafting I considered a variety of people, including my mom and my grandmother, but in the end I decided to learn about someone new.  When I began thinking I realized that I knew that my roommate Allison likes to redecorate rooms in her house and cross stitch, and my roommate Ashley likes to create her own costumes for parties, but I had no idea what my third roommate Laralyn liked to do, or if she even crafted anything.

I interviewed Laralyn over dinner at IHOP.  I found out that she did indeed craft something, vases, from an interesting medium.  It turns out that Laralyn practice upcycling, even if that’s not what she calls it.  She told me that she liked to make vases from old liquor bottles, which are considered a hassle to recycle in Conway because you have to drive them to the recycling plant.  She informed me that she liked to use materials like rhinestones, ribbon, and fake flowers to make vases and flower arrangements for them to use as decorations in her rooms.  Unfortunately she can’t keep any of them in the dorm because it’s against school regulations to have liquor bottles, even if they have been repurposed.

When I asked Laralyn why she liked to craft she said “I enjoy making things that aren’t sparkly, sparkly, and making things that I think are ugly pretty.”  Beauty is behind her medium as well.  When I asked her why she choose liquor bottles her answer was simple “Because I think they bottles are pretty.”  It’s a sentiment she seems to share with a lot of people.  If you search Etsy you can find a variety of items people have made from liquor bottles.

My last question to Laralyn was if she had any crafters in her life.  She told me “My mommy made cross stitched things for me when I was a baby, I have a baby blanket that has a bear on it, it was ugly, but it was sweet.”  I can see the evidence that her mom still crafts in our room.  Her mom decorated her initials with paper and rhinestones and they’re hanging on her door, and they reflect her personality perfectly.