The Crafting Era
My Sister, the Crafter
Have you ever heard of taking junk and making it into something or take plastic and other objects and recycle them into crafts? That is one way folks are getting things accomplished through crafting. Many years ago, crafting existed and in the last 20 years it has been revived. The crafting era has been coming alive.
Take my sister, for instance. She began crafting after our Mother died. Mom would take pieces of wood, nails, hammer and saw and turn it into flower boxes. She loved it. She would cut quilt pieces and have them ready to sew together when she did not have anything to do. Mother’s great piece of work was an old black Witch she had made out of throw away items. She made a large one with a large pointed black hat to sit in a chair on her front porch just to capture the look on the children’s faces on Halloween night. Her house was located close to a highway and you can just image the talk about this old witch. Ever year she would place the old witch in the chair. It soon came alive within their minds and our Mother became one that the kids looked up to.
Soon after her death, my sister took up the art. She could do woodworking, needlework, cooking, everything that you could imagine. Her husband built a small workshop within their home for her special work. She would have family members in on holidays. They could not take their eyes off her wood handiwork. She had pieces displayed all around on her furniture. It was amazing at the talk, compliments, and the warm feeling you would get just by visiting her home.
More and more crafts were in the making. A large set of wooden shutters was affixed over her bedroom windows instead of window treatments. Villages and cities were handcrafted to the look of the creativity in her mind. Each building seems to have its own personality. As the year passed, before Christmas, work began on items that would be sold. Santa sleigh and reindeer, the nativity sets would get sold along with orders that would come in from schools, as well as family and friends that wished to have things especially handmade. I remember a large garland that was made by tying strips of white garbage bags onto a string until it was long enough to go all the way around her roof. Wood mittens tree ornaments were designed to from used sheets of plywood and painted to specifications. Numerous wooden items would be handcrafted for her tree as it stood in the corner of her living room, during the holidays, lavished with her handiwork.
After the holidays were over, more work was still in the making. More patterns had to be searched out on the internet and revised for the work. Things like, 2 feet high door stops made from cotton material with batting that was made from strips of old recycled clothing. Faces were drawn on them. Wall hangings were produced from old worn out windows. The clear panes were reproduced to look like doors open to a room or just plain beautiful printed backgrounds on them with just a little creativity to dress them up.
Crafts were so numerous in her home, she was inclined to bring in and set up her workshop. It would contain saws, sewing machines, and multiply working tools, including large and small machines and hand tools.
The crafting era was just beginning to boom. More craft supply shops were opening as well as more craft shops that sold individual crafts. The internet had become a great source for information, patterns and shops to sell your wares.
Paper crafts were getting popular. Quelling, calligraphy, and Iris Folding were being brought back from past eras. People were turning out scrapbooks from the use of paper materials and family photos instead of the plain scrapbook folks used to make. Hand made greeting cards came into existence.
More tools were being manufactured to use for this type of work. Sales were booming in the supplies area, as well as the craft shops that sold their items. You could buy and get ideas from yard sales, craft shops, the internet, and others that were in the vending business.
Some were growing corn for corn husks dolls, gourds for making birdhouses. Crochet and knitting made its comeback.
Included, in this article, a few samples of work did by my sister, just to show you just what you can do if you set your mind to it.
GO CRAFTERS!
