GetCrafty Craft Facts

Q: I am very new at this new interest of mine and I am also very excited about it. I am having a hard time finding people who want to help though. I have been to a couple of classes which taught me a few techniques but after the classes I am on my own. Today I went and purchased $75 worth of books hoping I can learn from them. Did you all just pick up this hobby without any education or by going to Walmart and buying a few packs of beads and begin beading.? Please answer, I am interested in knowing.

A: I taught myself from my mom's old Campfire Girl manual (~1940 or so--it was rather old, but full of great crafts) at least at first, and did loom work on card stock or lightweight cardboard. Eventually, I was given toy bead looms, and later on, made my own. I had a hard time finding beads or other supplies but it's so easy now, and I have an actual income, it's difficult not to buy them all! Oddly, I don't know. Or, more accurately, I just don't remember I started when I was really young, going around taking apart beaded stuff and re-doing it, buying little packets of seed beads from Lewiscraft (Canadian chain craft store), collecting here and there. I recall that my mother had a bead loom she let me have at and it just sort of went from there. My grade four report card says something like `Kia would be an excellent student if she would only leave her books and beads at home.' I've never taken a class, and it wasn't until very recently that I really picked up any books on the subject. I also did a lot of sewing when I was a kid, so stuff like peyote stitch came pretty easily; I think it'd be hard to pick up much off-loom anything if you didn't have at least some skill with a needle and thread from sewing. I wish I had a better answer, but so much depends on your learning style . I spent my childhood taking stuff apart to see how it worked. Beading (and other weird ventures, like electronics) came to me that way. Manuals usually bore me to no end, even though I've probably wasted a lot of time by avoiding them. Finally picking up some books was a combination of `Oh, my, I didn't know other people were doing this, I thought this `stitch' was just as inate as sewing on buttons,' and `good god, I am a moron; obviously my [x] turns out so messy because I never figured out [y].' Being on your own, as you put it, isn't a bad thing at all. It may take longer to figure stuff out, but when you do, it'll be yours. I prefer non-bead sources for inspiration; don't limit yourself to issues of `Bead and Button' etc. Pick up some architecture magazines and look for cool shapes and some fashion magazines for nifty colour combinations.