Virtual Craft Club

Monday mornings were usually filled with the gentle hum of chatter and quiet industry. Since lockdown, there has been only silence. I miss my craft club and I miss my friends’ company, but not all has been lost. Creative thinkers (and doers) that we are, we have found a way to continue via social media. Though I hope we shall be getting together again in spring, we still have many cold, dark weeks to get through. Till then, craft club will exist only in the virtual realm.

Keeping momentum

The craziness of this year has made it very difficult to keep any sort of momentum for our activities. However, for our sanity’s sake, we must. Structure anchors us and a diary containing entries is far healthier for us than a blank one. Mine is filled with virtual encounters, but they are no less enjoyable for that. Craft club met on Mondays, so that is the day scheduled to chat with those friends. Book group has gone to Zoom and volunteer meetings are held via conference calls. I have never been so grateful for my laptop!

With the ability to post images of our work, our craft club has been supporting each other via WattsApp. Crafting is, after all, a sociable activity Perhaps we want encouragement for a work in progress or congratulations on a job well-done. Either way, these interactions reward us for the long hours spent crafting and encourage us to do it again.

Show your love

You may well ask why bother at all. You can buy almost anything on-line and it seems almost perverse to make it yourself. In a way it is – but if you have a creative itch, you have to scratch it.

But there are less selfish reasons too. In making homemade gifts we are given the opportunity to show that we care. As we are making the gift, we are imbuing it with our affection. While making the quilt for my granddaughter, I thought of each stitch as a little kiss. I can’t give her them in person, but I can send them via my work.

In a world of mass production, handmade gifts can be tailored to the recipient’s interests and make them truly bespoke. Jane Belcher’s picnic quilt below was made for a friend who is part of her quiz team. It’s a little joke about his (lack of) geography knowledge with world maps to improve it. The man is, of course, brilliant in every other way and the quilt a humorous memento of quiz nights.

Jenny’s son is a biologist with a particular love of butterflies, so what better gift to send to him abroad than a beautiful embroidery of Sussex butterflies to hang on his wall? It is a reminder of home and of how much his mother cares.

Express yourself

Just as we might use our creative gifts to please others, we should also use them to please ourselves! Creative activities like painting are simply good for us. They challenge us intellectually, improve our mental well-being and help to hone and maintain our fine motor skills.

Sharing our beautiful work with others, like Jane’s gorgeous picture above, extends the pleasure. I can’t help but smile when looking at this!

Share your talents

Since March, Penny has been unable to attend her pottery classes regularly. The up-side is that she has had even more time to work on her already impressive baking skills. These were made to celebrate a friend’s birthday.

Finding some Christmas spirit

Since August, my crafting time has been somewhat diminished – puppies and crafts are like oil and vinegar – they don’t mix.

However, Christmas is not Christmas to me without at least some attempt at personal gifts. Since I can do stuff in the kitchen (my puppy can’t reach the counters just yet) I thought I’d make soaps. My first attempt was a bit of a disaster, but the second went to plan. Adding a little flourish with the wrapping, I had at least one little handmade touch to add to my Christmas presents.

Not everyone wishes to do Christmas cards anymore, but I never feel in the Christmas spirit till I’ve made mine. This year, I’ve made origami and calligraphy based ones and I hope that the friends gets as much pleasure from receiving them as I gained from making them.

Experiment, explore, enjoy

The joy of arts and crafts is that there really is something there for everyone. Above is a tiny representation of all the things my friends and I do. I confess to being the least proficient of the group, but I try to make up for that with enthusiasm.

It doesn’t need to be perfect (machines do that), and it doesn’t need to be a competition. Craft club is about encouraging and inspiring, laughing at our mistakes and misadventures and rejoicing in our successes.

And if you don’t have a craft group or want ideas on how to start or good instructions, YouTube has the solution. I regularly consult it for new origami patterns and a good friend became expert at crochet with only YouTube teachers as her guide. A note of warning: there are so many wonderful instructional videos out there that you may never leave the screen to do them!

While our lives are a little in abeyance, it is a perfect opportunity to explore our creative side. Post your results to friends or better yet, give them as gifts. And with the brilliant news about a vaccine, we will soon be able to craft together, in person. And I suspect that when we do, that morning will be very noisy!