What Are Your Functional Arts & Crafts?

I paint ceramic statues, knit scarves, slippers, hats, etc..., do paint by #'s, rug kits, sew, etc... I'd actually love to have the tools to build furnature though. I'm gathering tools every year slowly but surely.

I make stuff, have made stuff, dont think Ive ever sold stuff though.
Who says you have to be talented? Have you seen some the artwork in museums????
Im sure there is something you could do, with little encouragement, really, its just about the basics. I believe in ya Sug....you can do it..give a table a try. You of course might want to start with like a small side table or something but, you could do it.

Quinn, you made me laugh out loud! Waddya mean by that!??? I thought all hand-made things needed to have at least one mistake so we'd know it wasn't done by a machine? I make sure that all mine do!

I am an amateur wall & furniture painter and refinisher. I love trying new techniques. One of my best efforts was tortoise-shelling the tops of a dresser and a table a few years ago. (Totally cool.) I just enjoy painting, ragging, glazing and figuring out what in the world to do with metallic paints. Have dabbled* in stencils and I've been planning a wall mural since last summer. I am lazy and slow about preparing my surfaces and take forever to decide exactly what to do, the color and finish. Still it is LOTS of fun!

A project I've been wanting to do and haven't started yet is an antiqued checkerboard border somewhere. I've seen it done on stair risers and on the edges of kitchen/dining furniture. I'm so happy when I'm painting but admit I'm terrible about cleaning brushes and often just buy new ones.


*a small pun

I am always making something.

Just this morning I made a very cool curtain for my guest room. I hate spending money on boring home decor crap when there are so many beautiful textiles out there waiting to be made into something.

Like Piffka, I love painting with glazes and have some lovely experimental walls throughout my home.

I also make props and backdrops for my photo studio. By far the coolest is a copper wall made from copper leaf all kind of cubist and crumbled over a red oxide primer. It has a kind of Asian feel, a textured minimalism. It took forever to make but people flip over it and nobody else has anything like it.

excellent idea for the backdrop...and yes, something unique...lovely!

Talent is in the eye of the beholder is all Im saying Piff--glad it gave you a chuckle however...I believe many things are done with less than perfection to get across just that point, and it should be continued.

If it can be done with paint or a glue gun I've probably tried it. I can sew, crochet, cross stitch...I'll probably never finish that needlepoint project because I find it (needlepoint) tedious.

I've never sold any pieces but I often give them away as gifts.

Sug--most crafts are much easier than you think they are. Pick one you'd like to learn and just try it. Start with an inexpensive kit for beginners and work your way up from there.

Terry Dolittle is absoultely right. I can't think of any major project I've started on that hasn't had at least one big gut clench somewhere in it. Everything is a process - look and question and adapt.

I had never sewn a stitch until I bought a sewing machine a year or so ago after becoming disgusted at the price of simple things. After thinking "I can make that" about a million times I decided to try.

My biggest trick is to "look shop" through the hardware and art supply stores. I poke around and look at dinky screwy stuff I don't need. Eventually I'll be inspired to make something and remember seeing the perfect thing that I need to make it work. Or, I'll see some unusual thing and think about what it could be used for.

You learn through failure. If you don't try, you'll never know.

The best thing about a project failure, at least in painting, is that you are free to try again. I redid the tortoise-shell table top at least five times before I was satisfied with the look.

Sewing however is hard. For me it's stitch and rip it out, stitch and rip it out. I don't do much sewing anymore, but I did make some fabulous Christmas stockings (well, 2 out of 4) using velvety upholstery fabric and some glittery embroidery pieces.

If you're interested in small furniture finishing, Sugar, buying some of the inexpensive wooden pieces at IKEA is a great way to start. They're already prepped... all you have to do is use your imagination.

I'm really fascinated with Boomerang's copper backdrop too. Have been trying to figure out where I might incorporate that in my house. Dark red flat paint and glued-on copper sheets? I could do that!

I don't have a photo of the wall but I have a photo using it as a backdrop - I was trying to figure out how to post it here so you could get an idea but I can't seem to manage it.

Once I figured it out it was pretty easy. Because I like to rotate things in and out of the stuido I did mine on the back (smooth) side of a large sheet of vinyl flooring. First I sprayed with red oxide primer, then I glued the squares of copper leaf on, next I burnished all the copper and coated it with several layers of amber varnish which helps to give it an aged look.

Gluing the copper on and letting it everything dry between coats is what made the project take forever - it was only about a 7x10 foot wall and it took me about a week of nearly full time work.

does gardening count as a functional art &craft?

There are some great ideas here!

I have a book shelf (boring press-board) which I fist painted in faux terracota tiles complete with grout and patina. It was pretty cool, but I tired of it and ended up using clumpy old paint for good use. I had some good purple and blue paint and some old half-dreied white gesso. I mixed them together, but not completely and then painted over the old tile-paint. The effect was of periwinkle raw silk.

Isn't amber varnish great? This sounds like such a cool project... I'm really trying to think of someplace I could try it. Maybe in a bathroom behind a mirror? I'm thinking the copper would make skintones look awesome.

See, I'm the type of person who procrastinates, then gets up the what-for to start something and then I never finish. Not to mention that if I can't figure out how to do it right away and it's not absolutely perfect, well, I'm not very forgiving.

So, I have arts & crafts books, decoupage glue, half finished needlepoint, have finished knit scarves....I have no idea how to do any of these things so I get irritated and leave it to gather dust.

I always see these great things and say - that looks easy! I want one! I can make one! pppbbbbttthhhh

Maybe when the boy and I buy our house I'll have my creative friends here over for cold beverages and an 'idea party'. Because, ladies, whatever room I'm putting the bar in has to look good.

Ah...more than happy to help with the bar room...could come up with endless possibilities Im sure...heck..event that gent Jerry could come up with some fabulous ones as well.

I have that whole set of drawers filled with misc stuff picked up here and there for different little projcts and in the end it really does come in handy with other projects. I dont think I could be happy not knowing I had a glue gun close by...although through experience Ive found that using a glue gun to make hanging decoratvie lamp doesnt work the best..lamp heats up, everything starts to slide....trial and error, better luck next time...just odnt turn the lights on...you know...its okay. Give yourself some room to breath and make mistakes because you learn from them and yeah, most of the time you can go back and fix, try again, etc.

I too however have a great deal of cross stitch and such like items half or not done....I got rid of lots finally in a yard sale but, still kept a few just in case the need came upon me.

What exactly do you want to try...what would you like to give a good shot at? Thats usually a basic starting point, that and those places around that can help, getting lots of ideas, trying in small scale or experimenting....experimenting comes up with some good stuff.

Trust the woman with the black thumbs....Gardening is truly an art. All I've ever been able to grow is herbs because you can't kill 'em.


Piffka--I s'pose I'm just a natural with a needle and thread. Grandma taught me to hand sew when I was about six, then I took a machine class at twelve. I hate to do it, but it's definitely a useful skill. In fact I taught my former roommate to sew so I wouldn't have to. He's the one who made my kitchen curtains!

Littlek, I missed your post. Interesting to hear about the pressboard desk since my daughter asked me yesterday to help her with one. (She said she wants it "Just plain, Mom, OK?" -- See, she knows me.) It is a good design but has a crummy vinyl finish. Did yours have that? I'm thinking I'll have to sand this a bit to make it accept paint. Y'know, this would be a nice place for the checkerboarding...

I think gardening should be considered a high art. It is creative and productive. I especially love growing herbs. They do behave better than most.

Terry -- Clever to teach somebody else how to sew.

I've done needlework but it's been years. I don't mind taking direction though (Here, glue this).

Oh yeah, speaking of glue - I did a photo album for my Mom's 70th birthday this year. It was a standard album, but I found stuff on the 'net which I printed and cut out for each page (flowers, books, birds, that sort of thing).

Gardening is definitely an art.

Boomer, ya old dog, glad sewing is going so well! Knew it would! (That was you, right? Old dog/ new tricks/ sewing?)

My ambition is larger than my time/ follow-through. I have made silk sari curtains that I'm really happy with, but my idea to paint the hutch on my desk enamel red (kinda Chinese) with gold designs using Indian henna patterns never happened. I got the red paint and everything. Have had the henna patterns since L.A. They're super cool and I keep thinking I have to do something with them.

I'm making a birdbath in my pottery class starting Thurs. (Yay!)

I stole a ton of copper foil (well, hubby asked around and nobody seemed to want/ need it) from hubby's office and have done this and that with it, nothing major yet. I made a mobile for my dad with ceramic leaves and glued the copper on the non-glazed side, etc.

The little bathroom downstairs has an absolutely horrid wall -- When Home Improvement Projects Attack -- it's a mottled red with bits of turquoise and is vaguely menacing. It's only about 8 X 8 (just the one wall... the rest of the bathroom is white) and I keep thinking I should do something with it but can't decide WHAT. Now Boomer's copper wall is giving me ideas... hmmm...

Gardening is most certainly an art. My garden is frightful, but blooming. Of course, living in Oregon all you really have to do to get something to bloom is throw it at the ground.....

Your bookshelf is my kinda thing, little k! It's evolution reminds me of my bedroom walls. They started out a very vibrant blue. I got tired of that after a week so I glazed them over with yellow to make a kind of green. That was better but I wanted them a little browner so I glazed them with a a real weak brown using a rough wallpaper brush. That was better so I kept adding coat of this weak brown color until after about 9 coats I ended up with this cool golden toasty color with green and blue undertones and this rough texture. Maybe there was just so much work involved but to me it has a very sensual feel.

Piffka, I couldn't live without amber varnish. Another cool aging coat is a Ralph Lauren thing called "Nicotine" or "Tobacco" or something to do with cigarettes. They don't advertise it anymore but my Home Depot has the recipie on their computer still. It makes things look kind of leathery.

Like quinn, I have a bunch of misc. stuff waiting to be used. A bar room? I'd love to help! I'd paint everyone's house given the opportunity. It would be totally fun if you could post a photo and let us come up with ideas, Terry Doolittle! Still, if you are good enough to teach someone else to sew you probably don't really need any help.

jespah - Since Little Mo moved in I've been learning hand sewing from kits - I'm working on a crewel pattern right now that I think would make a great pillow thing (although I'm not the pillow type). It's really nice to have something that you can pick up and put down so easily. I'm really thinking that hand sewing is a lost art.

Sozobe, yes, the sewing is going great - I'm happy with my progression. The curtain I just made is very cool and I designed the entire thing myself. The room gets a lot of light and with the curtain up it comes in with this wonderful butter feeling. This old dog is mad for her new trick.

If you or Piffka decide to do a copper-type wall I'll be happy to offer my advice. I'm still trying to figure out how to add a photo to my post so that you guys can get an idea of how mine turned out.

After reading about everyone's ideas and projects I'm feeling very inspired. Thanks, Sugar, for posting this thread.

I agree that the copper wall idea is awsome! I keep wanting to rag-glaze the kitchen (bright, deep mango) with a watered down metallic gold or light ochre paint to soften it a bit. Maybe some copper leaf art would then be a nice accent.