Setting up for crafting
Setting up for crafting can sometimes be a bit of a journey, both financially and mentally. The scroll frame in this photo for example has a decent structure, but for some reason they had added loose PVC pipes as their method to ‘hold’ the fabric. I found this both frustrating and comical… As the structure is good I then ordered a wood stapler (which will be handy for other projects in future) and attached a multi-layered fabric I had hanging about to make this work properly. It now works, and I have a large scroll frame to work with!
If you’re starting a crafting hobby or just simply looking into different ways to build your skills, it can be daunting. You just need to take things step by step, start small, get a good feel for the skill and tools involved, then move on to larger projects. My embroidery skills are improving rapidly so I decided it was time to move up to a large scroll frame in addition to my hoops.
Luckily this wasn’t too much of an expensive purchase, but some crafts can hit the wallet quite hard. This could either be related to the materials, the tools, or both. I could invest in an embroidery machine in future for example, which is a rather big purchase, but I’m on the fence at the moment for a few reasons. Hand made items tend to have a more rustic and unique feel, you can tell someone has put the effort into them. As a witch it also gives me the opportunity to weave spells into my items as I go (don’t worry, the items I sell here will not have spells linked to them unless specifically requested during the crafting process, if you purchase something from me it will be neutral by default). Larger projects which need symmetry or repeated patterns may need the machine in future to save time (e.g. cloaks), but we’ll see how I get on with things for now.
I’ve been looking at other crafts and materials to work with, some of which are very pricy to start. I’ll plan and see how things go to start – hopefully it won’t be long until I can expand into these other areas, and share some wonderful items with you all.
