Why did we all become crafters?
My story
Did you ever hear these words: “Start working at what you love, and you will never be working”?
After long years working as a TV “personality”, spending every day and many nights in an environment, which became more and more unhealthy, I needed something new. My TV Odyssey, which started as a fun experience and allowed me to meet a lot of wonderful people, learn a lot and create great friendships, became almost a nightmare. Too many competing ambitions, fights, unfair attacks hits and unfair, entirely selfish games. Until one day I realised my health is important, my child is important, and I need a new life.
So, I decided to create it as a professional crafter. Almost from zero. With all the pluses and minuses of a decision like this.
But I did it and for many years I was making enough for a living.
Then step by step and day after a day my creative mind started struggling. What was happening? I was a crafty person!? Why was I not so crafty anymore? Where had all my wonderful imagination gone?
It didn’t take me a lot of time to realise that the physical mess in my craft space had started creating a mental mess in my head. All the colours and shapes and elements which I just needed to buy and make something from them were basically someone else’s creativity. I am not talking about the tools, instruments or designer papers or other elements like wonderful wool or great paints. In our work we all need them. I am talking about the craft material pollution, which is coming to us in huge containers, whispering “Take me! Take me!”. And we are taking. More and more.
Hoarding is the ugly reality in a craftsman’s world. A lot of women don’t realise that they have more than enough to create. Actually, they have too much to create. And this becomes a vicious circle. The more we have, the more uncreative we feel and the more new “materials” we want to buy to help us try to start creating again. But buying more and more and collecting more and more doesn’t help.
Our creativity becomes an unhealthy body, but the good news is that we only need a healthy diet and a detox to became healthy and energetic again.
The craft detox
I created my detox after I recreated my wardrobe with the Capsule wardrobe ideas and accepted the idea of Japanese minimalism: When the space is empty, the ideas come to fill it.
Believe me or not, but this is exactly what happened.
I reduced the amount of “materials” to the minimum and started a project to minimize even these minimalised craft supplies. Sharing, donating and sending for recycling were the best ways allowing me to breathe easily again.
Oh, you can’t imagine how inspiring and mind tickling is the white piece of paper on my desk now! So many possibilities sleeping in it!
Why did we become crafters? To create! Not just to glue something on top of other something and connect it to third something. We had to create, as – if you want – God taught us how to do it. From nothing. From the very simple things.
The Capsule Craft Collection
There are some simple principles, which work especially well for paper crafters, but also for other crafters, as I am working with different types of textiles and am also drawing. I’ve also written a book – The Capsule Craft Collection, to share the powerful experience of creating my Capsule Craft Collection, which you can find on Amazon.
- First you have to choose a colour scheme. I chose the white-natural – gold – black one, but you can choose any colours you like. This will boost your creativity.
- Minimize all the rest of the materials you have collected.
- Minimize the tools and instruments you use. We all have these crazy, interesting tools, which we bought excited to try something new. But if something doesn’t work for you, give them to a friend, sell them or donate them to a charity workshop.
- Create!
Keeping the Capsule Craft Collection
So, for myself I created the Chese rules, you will see how amazing it is to draw your own designs. You will learn and invent new techniques. And, most importantly, your creativity will flourish like never before.
For example: Because my style is to use watercolour in my designs, I am drawing some main colours
and (using my lovely Sizzix Big shot machine) cutting the shapes I want.
This is the result – an embellishment I can stick everywhere in my project and it will define my style.
If you feel like you need a craft detox and also feel curious about the principles of the Capsule craft collection, maybe my book The Capsule Craft Collection (with all the step by step instructions) will be helpful for you.
Enjoy!
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