What Are You Working On? is for all things hand-made, home-made, and creative in a variety of mediums.
Do you knit? crochet? sew? make jewelry? do metal (or other) sculpting? build furniture? create with your hands and heart?
If you do anything 'crafty' please consider doing one of our Sunday afternoon/evening diaries. You can volunteer by replying in the comments or by sending me a Kos-message.
I do a lot of different arts/crafts. I write, knit, embroider, quilt. Other than basic embroidery which I learned when I was about 12, all of these other arts/crafts I’ve had to learn. I assume I learned the embroidery from my mother, but I really don’t remember.
There are obviously different ways of learning. I’m a scientist by training. Scientific training relies, at least initially, on book learning. Rote memorization in some cases. Learning arts/crafts is different. Science is mostly in the mind. Artist endeavors are more mind and body. You can learn how to knit from a book, but you can’t knit until your body knows the motions.
In this modern age, there are more options for learning artistic crafts. You may be able to learn from looking at diagrams in a book/website. (I always have to refresh the order of the stitches for the Kitchener Stitch.) For most people, it is easier to learn while watching someone do the craft in question. In earlier times, to learn a craft, a person might apprentice themselves to a master who would teach them the craft, or a girl sit with her mother to learn knitting or soap making. If they knew how.
These days we have TV shows devoted to crafts like knitting or quilting, and there are many, many Utube videos that can help with nuances of some particular aspect of a craft.
And then there are in-person classes and conferences. I’ve taken a few of these. The work at the top of the page is one of several I did at a quilting conference focused on non-traditional quilting. My favorite thing is the pink jelly fish done with some interesting “thread” sewn down around and around and finally left dangling. This piece needs more work and as I’ve learned more, I have a better idea how to finish it.
I am just back from the National Embroiderer’s Guild of America conference in Chicago. I took 3 classes and learned a lot. I’ve done crewel embroider for 40 years, I’m at an intermediate stage, but I learned things in the crewel class I’d never done before.
I wanted to learn goldwork embroidery and took a class in that. The teacher was wonderful. Still working on that project. It was tricky doing the gold cap on the acorn. I had to miss the second day of class as I sprained my wrist in a revolving door. The design is from an architectural detail from a medieval building. The center rose is done with silk.
Earlier this year I took some classes at a sewing conference. I’d always wanted to learn Heirloom Sewing. I made this in the class. Christening cap. I doubt I could have learned this through Utube videos, but maybe I could.
The point of the diary is to think of additional ways of learning. I work best with in person instruction. Other people might not. In addition to conferences, there are also guilds that can help with in person instruction.
One of the things I like best about conferences is the camaraderie of like minded people. The informal exchange of ideas. Some conferences and classes are expensive, some not so much. Conferences just might be something to add to your repertoire of learning.