I was quite a creative kid really .... and yes I mean the creative underwater macrame sort of kid ... well, not quite that but I did try out quite a few different things. Some of these really came about because of my hobby explorer father. Dad didn't settle for just one hobby all his life, although he does have some consistent life long passions, he has also tried out quite a few other things along the way. An engineer by trade, I guess as well as designing mechanical things, he really likes making things as well. He'd either always had an interest in something, or he'd go and read or see something and think ... I give that a go ... And he really was pretty good at the things he did do. An incredibly handy man - Jack of many trades ... or hobbies. I actually still own some of the things he's made for me ... bellows for the fire complete with wood-work, leather and metal, a personalised leather folder, and a wood turned canister, as well as some weaving looms. And in many of these projects, we kids participated, or at least observed a lot!
Lapidary was when I was quite young, as was enameling (which is also a dead giveaway as this was really quite fashionable in the 70s). Winemaking was a more long standing hobby ... but I'd say beer making was less so. I had no interest in the end products of these hobbies, but I didn't mind his ginger beer! When it comes to food products, Dad also got into breadmaking for a while ... I can still remember his hot cross buns ... I was so impressed and I guess I still am now because I'm writing about it. As an engineer, Dad has always had metal work machinery in his workshop, but there was also a wood tuning stage and many renovations. There was also a stage where woolcrafts were in vogue. And I mean from the skene to yarn to knitting or weaving. We got a spinning wheel, and Dad made some weaving looms, one for braid and one for cloth. Mum wasn't really into knitting, sewing was and still is her forte ... however she got into the mood as well. My grandmother taught me to knit and crochet, however I've never been that great at big projects ... they can end up as UFOs (Un-Finished Objects) as my friend calls them.
I've got lots of UFOs! And yes I have good intentions for them ... one day.
I so love that term ... it was introduced to me by my friend Miss G, who is really quite a crafter herself, and has a blog all about it (see it here). She's an inspiration for me to get into some of those projects ... or would be projects. In the past ten or so years I've scoured many an Opp Shop for bargains and found some great old craft book gems. Gems partly because they share at times crafts that are becoming quite old fashioned and rarely talked about, to some of the most amusing retro photography and stylings. I had thrown out a number of my crafts books from my childhood in my early adult years, only to go and actually re-purchase in one case at least, the exact same book ... in this case, I'd actually regretted throwing it out and snapped it up when I saw it in an Opp Shop.
Speaking of UFOs ... I've been finishing off some ceramics ... I'll post some images here soon.
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