In our family, I have only a younger brother. He is 8 years younger than I am so for 8 years, I learned to keep myself busy without a playmate in the house. Even though I had friends in the neighbourhood, I also learned to be on my own.
Crafty
I always was the kind of kids with crafts projects. I always loved working with my hands, doing collages, knitting, sewing, and embroidery, even when I was quite young. Everything to do with crafts was interesting me.
An old encyclopaedia
My mom had an old encyclopedia. Even when I was young, the information seemed outdated. I think it might have been from the 1950’s. I remember that this series of 20-some books had various sections, like poetry, science, kids stories, history, geography and crafts! Yes, they had various craft projects that a kid could do.
Drawing, models, and more
I remember that there were several craft projects to make a miniature village, complete with the plans that needed to be copied onto heavy paper or thin cardboard, cut and folded along the dotted lines. Interestingly, I didn’t know about scale so I would just copy the drawings as is and I could not figure out why some pieces were way too big, and why the houses were generally so small!
Miniature furniture
One other craft that really caught my eye was a set of miniature furniture made mainly from brass wire. There was a set for the livingroom, complete with the couch, chairs and coffee table. And there was a kitchen set with the table and chairs. There was even a bedroom set complete with a full double size bed with a canopy, a rocking chair and a bassinet for the baby.
I saved my money and went to the hardware store to buy some rolls of brass wire. With patience, I made all those furniture. I bent all the pieces according to the plans, added some pieces of fabric for the sofa, the bed, the canopy and the bassinet. For details, I added cardboard for the tables and chairs. I was really proud of my set. Too bad I never had a picture of it.
Did you have some hobbies when you were young and completed projects that made you super proud of yourself? Share what it is. I think every kid has his strengths and many were crafty when young, only to gradually abandon those hobbies over time. But some will keep it! What about you?
2 thoughts on “Remember when…? – Crafts”
My sister trained as an Occupational Therapist, which naturally involved a lot of crafty things. I was only 8 or 10 at the time and vividly remember trying to impress her by learning to do what she was doing: cane baskets, felt animals and all sorts of other things. She told us a story of her first attempt at using a potter’s wheel: she was very proud of the vase she made, how tall and round it was, until she stopped the wheel to take it off and the whole thing collapsed! She is in her 70’s now and her favourite craft is card-making the traditional way. In fact it was her talking me into making a card for my niece that starting me digitally scrapbooking – all the time I was cutting, peeling, sticking etc I kept thinking “surely I can do this on the computer?” and I was soooo right!
I loved all things crafty and this prompts me to several stories. We had a neighbor when I was ten that took me under her wing and taught me to crochet. A very fond memory. Also my mom had a very nice sewing machine while I was growing up and I had permission to use it once I completed a home economics class. I got my first opportunity my freshman year of high school. To this day I love to sew. Thank you for the prompts.