Interview with a Crafter

For my interview, I talked with a friend of mine, Brandon, in the physics department. He’s a junior from Little Rock. Turns out he has some pretty crazy interests… and a pretty crazy sense of sarcasm.

Me: What kind of crafting do you do?
Brandon: I actually really enjoy ice sculpting. Or sculpting in general. Usually sculpting in general.

Me: Ice sculpture? Why!?
Brandon: Well… I like the cool side of the pillow. *laugh* But for real, ice sculpture seems natural to me. I love cold weather. Creating something in ice lasts for a short time, but it looks really cool. Plus there are power tools involved!

Me: But seriously…. What do you sculpt with?
Brandon: I like to use Sculpy clay. The kind you buy at Hobby Lobby. I’m a really simple guy. I’ve wanted to try that Crayola clay too.

Me: What types of things to do you sculpt?
Brandon: Birds. Specifically herons and cranes. I find their delicate features to be a striking contrast of beauty in the normally dark world.

Me: Who taught you how to sculpt?
Brandon: A French-Canadian fur trapper by the name of Jacque. I met him at the Museum of Discovery when I was eight. I was on a field trip and he was talking about his hobbies and things he created.

Me: Seriously?
Brandon: No. I saw television show on sculpting and that stuck with me.

Me: So… where do you sculpt?
Brandon: I like to sculpt in my apartment. Vinh and I have a portion of the living room dedicated to “crafting”… he’s really into origami actually.

Me: That’s cool. Do you guys teach each other?
Brandon: Yea. He’s taught me how to make that little swan. And I’ve taught him how to sculpt a swan. Crafting is a mutual endeavor in our apartment.

Me: Well. That’s really cool. I’m glad we got to talk about this.
Brandon: Yea. Me too! You’ll have to show me how to knit sometime. Always worth adding another craft to the pile.

Better than Storebought

When I had to think about which crafty person in my life I wanted to interview, my paternal grandmother immediately came to mind. Although we have always lived very far apart, and because of that we have not gotten the opportunity to do a ton of crafting together, she has always been an extremely creative individual who is more than willing to share her skills with those that she loves.

My grandmother learned to crochet and sew when she was a child from her mother, and has been perfecting those skills for the past seventy years. Interestingly, my grandma never learned to knit, but because of this class we have had a bond created between us and she has demanded that next time I find my way up to Michigan, I teach her. :) When asked what she gets out of the crafting that she does, my grandmother draws a lot of connections to making friends and family happy with the items that she makes. Whether she is sewing buttons onto a sweater for my grandpa, crocheting lace doilies for her friends, or diligently copying the patterns of American Girl Doll clothing, my grandmother has stated that the backbone of her crafting experience is showing love to others.

Up until the age of eight, my grandma sewed every single one of my halloween costumes. Of course, the majority of those were princess dresses, but nonetheless, she did a fantastic job. :) We still have some of them packed away somewhere in the attic- I hope to one day be able to show either my children or my neices and nephews the fantastic costumes that their great-grandmother created.

When I was little, we lived in Wisconsin, and we would go to a Renaissance Fair in Minnesota each year. It was absolutely amazing- this place was huge and felt even bigger because of my young age and the magic that it inspired. The most exciting part for me was being able to dress up in costume, which of course my grandma made for me. :) The picture is me at age three, wearing a dress that my grandmother sewed.

Rock people

No one in my family seems to be very "crafty." However when me and my sisters were little, wewould go to my grandma's house during the summer. She loved to paint and we loved to get into the paint. After her finding me and my younger sister in the kitchen, placing our painted handprints all over her cabinets, she decided to teach us to use paint correctly. I remember the first craft we ever did with paint: make rock people!

She took us outside for a walk and we searched for the flattest rocks we could find. After finding a few rocks a piece we went inside and sat at the kitchen table. We covered the table in newspaper and got out all the materials. Paint, brushes, a cup of water, a hot glue gun, and a package of small eyes she had purchased from hobby lobby. She told us that when she was little, she used to make rock people with her brothers and sisters. Each day for about two weeks, we would come over and dilligently work on our rock people. We would make indians, cowboys, girls,boys, anything we could think of! We would paint on their faces: hair, checks, mouth expression. When we were done our grandma would let us pick out the eyes we wanted and she would glue them on the rock. When we were done, we had our very own rock people. By the time the two weeks were up, we had a rock village.

The picture at top is one of the last remaining rock people from my childhood. His name is froggie and we have managed to keep up with him for 15 years. He's pretty special.

Lisa Frank vs. the Imagination

As a kid, I was never really the crafty one in my family; that role was mainly claimed by my little sister to the extent that she had all of her craft supplies organized and labeled a label maker. Crafting was not a terribly thrilling prospect for me other than the occasional Lisa Frank craft kit from which I could weave multicolor potholders on a loom or oven melted stained glass window art. My domain of crafting if it could be defined as such was my imagination. My sister and I would envision extremely complex stories for our Barbie games which varied from Oregon Trail to houseboat, but my Barbie houses were always built from different materials I could gather around the house. A simple item such as a contact case could be turned into a food/water dish for a Barbie pet or a swatch of fabric could be cut down into a rug for a room or a bedspread. If I was given the materials my imagination would allow me to craft it into something quite elaborate. When my little brother received some large wooden building blocks, my sister and I used them to build various pieces of furniture for our dolls varying from couches and tables to mattresses and bathtubs.

Not only did my imagination lead to wonderful Barbie games, it could also turn a simple wooden child’s puzzle into a baking sheet covered in a bunch of small cookies which could then be used to create a bakery specializing in cookies or make horrid household chores in to something remotely enjoyable. Through my imagination, I traveled the world and back while accomplishing an astounding amount of feats such as going back in time to the colonial period or rock climbing. Although my form of crafting was not quite as tangible as drawing a figure on paper, it allowed me to do anything I wished.

Turkey Hat!

The first (or at least one of the first) crafts that I can remember making was a Turkey Hat back in Kindergarten.

---- I'm pretty sure they used mine as an example on Google---

The school commemorated, although two months apart, the holidays of Thanksgiving and Grandparents Day on the same day. So, since my actual grandparents were away looking at new homes in Chicago, I brought with me two people who I considered my grandparents. The Stockights were members of my church, and Ms. Darlene had been my Sunday School teacher, and my Nursery caregiver since I was born, so it seemed appropriate to invite them along. I remember thinking of myself as a spy the entire day, because I had snuck in a pair of elderly people who weren't actually my grandparents and I figured no one would figure out. The old "church member" in the grandparent disguise. Needless to say, I had a blast making this craft, and I remember it so vividly. Not because the craft is that great (although who wouldn't wear a turkey hat??), but because of the event that craft stood for when I made it. I think that is the most important thing to to have when you are making something; a purpose. Define a purpose for a craft, such as remembering an event, defining a cause, or celebrating a loved one, and the craft will last much longer than ever before.

If you feel compelled to create your own Turkey Hat, here is the link to the instructions!

http://fun.familyeducation.com/thanksgiving/childrens-art-activities/35220.html

Proudest In-process Project

I am not, by any means, an experienced knitter. Before this class began, I had never even so much as picked up a set of knitting needles. To be honest, I didn't have too much of a desire to knit. Since entering this class, I have developed a love for knitting I never thought I would possess. Sometimes I become frustrated with the activity, but I love it. At the moment, I have yet to actually complete anything. I am continuously jumping from project to project, and I can't seem to finish a single one. In my defense, I quit most recent project so that I could focus on my project for CASA. I fully intend on returning to it once I finish my work on items for CASA.

However, my scarf that I am currently working on for the CASA project is a project I am very proud of. While it is rather simple - and definitely still in the beginning stages - I learned a new technique in order to be able to do it. Likewise, I have ripped it out and started it over several times, so I've put a lot of effort into it. I want this to be as close to perfect as it can be, so it's taking me more time. I'm really excited about where it has come thus far! I learned to pearl for this, which I was really intimidated about at first. I didn't even want to try because I thought it would be more difficult than it really was, so I simply... didn't. However, now I am working away at this scarf and pearling like a pro!

The pattern is slip one in the beginning, then knit two, pearl one for the duration of the row, finishing with one knitted stitch. It's relatively simple, but a whole new world for a beginner like me! Here is a pciture of my work thus far.

Proudest Project Proudly Modeled by Domino

I would have to say that out of all the projects that I’ve made since I learned how to knit that my favorite project would be the dog sweater I made for one of my miniature chocolate dachshunds. I had been knitting for a couple of months at the time and I was so excited about having the ability to knit that I wanted to knit all of my Christmas presents for that year. The only trouble was deciding what projects I could make (and more importantly complete) for my family and friends before Christmas morning. I found easy patterns for presents for everyone except my sister, Sabrina. I had no idea what she wanted for Christmas. I spent several days pondering about what to make for her when I got the idea of making something for her beloved dog and call it hers. The weather had gotten really cold and our dachshunds live indoors 99% of the time so they were not used to the cold weather. Whenever me and my sister would take them out to do their “business,” their tiny bodies would shiver the whole time we were outside and we felt really bad for them. We didn’t really know how we could help them except buying warm dog clothes for them, but we could not find any that would fit them. Dachshunds have really long bodies and have keeled, or pointed chest, that made finding store bought clothes that fit difficult. I decided to make Sabrina’s dog, Domino, a little sweater for Christmas and give his sweater to Sabrina as her Christmas present. I found a pattern on Ravelry.com that was worked in two pieces so I could modify the pattern to fit his body shape. I worked on it at night so that my sister wouldn’t see what I was making for her dog. My dad helped me measure little Domino because he got too excited and wiggly whenever I tried to put the half-made sweater on him by myself. The top piece of the sweater was really easy to make and I just added enough rows to the pattern until the sweater was long enough. The bottom chest piece was the challenge. I had never modified a pattern before, so what better place to start? I taught myself how to increase and decrease stitches via several YouTube videos and before I knew it I was inventing a new pattern for the bottom part of the sweater! There were so many time that I messed up and had to redo the entire section of sweater because I had either decreased too little or increased too much and vice versa. Throughout all of these trials and errors, Domino thoroughly enjoyed being the center of attention and model of his developing sweater. I was just starting to doubt that I would ever get the sweater to fit when one of my attempts actually fit him perfectly! I was super excited and my excitement got little Domino so happy and hyper that he started running circles around me and barking! Thankfully he didn’t unravel the sweater while he was running around and only got me tangled in the dragging yarn that was pulled from the remaining skein. After untangling myself, I sewed in the loose ends of yarn, wrapped his sweater in wrapping paper and waited for Christmas morning to see how Sabrina would like her present. She opened the wrapping paper to see what I had made and was so pleased by the sweater that she put the sweater on Domino immediately and took lots of pictures. I was proud that I was able to make a sweater that my sister loved and that helped a beloved pet stay warm. I was especially proud that I was actually able to make a sweater that I initially thought was probably too advanced for me to complete beautifully. Who would have known that one little sweater could teach me so many skills and please other people and animals at the same time?