Too Many Talents

Destination DIY – A Fascinating Podcast March 8, 2011

Destination DIY is a fascinating DIY podcast. It goes beyond the basic DIY of sewing, crafting, etc. and looks at some non-traditional definitions of DIY (or looks at the basic definition, depending on your view).

I just listened to a podcast about DIY economy that looks at non-traditional economies including alternative ways to save money (outside of a bank), alternatives to money (like using time as a currency), and even has some ways to stimulate your own personal economy (by saving money through clothing swaps and other options). There’s also a podcast on the economy of kids and the child barter system.

Of course, the podcast doesn’t just talk about money and the economy. There are podcasts about creating our own traditions and DIY writing.

Penland School of Crafts – A Crafter’s Dream January 28, 2011

I learned about Penland on a TV show the other day and I was instantly intrigued.

I love learning new crafts/skills, but when my local college stopped teaching some of the classes I wanted to take (jewelry making for one) and the local community doesn’t offer them either I have little chance (beside the Internet) to learn some of the ones I’m interested in (jewelry, airbrushing cars, screen printing, Nanjudi lace, etc.). Partly in response to the lack of DIY classes and because I’d love to teach this kind of stuff, I’d love to open a center like Penland (well, my own version anyway).

Penland offers classes in all sorts of crafts including weaving, printing, clay, glass work, and they even have a special class for artistic shoe making (I so wish I could take that one)! Since it’s in a forested area (somewhere in North Carolina) it’s like going to an adult summer camp! (Only people aged 18+ are allowed.) Sounds like super fun to me. Of course the tuition is like going to a community college (i.e. a few thousand for a semester, or up to a thousand for a couple weeks – is that how much a regular summer camp costs?), so it’s a little steep for my blood right now, but maybe one day I’ll save it up. In the meantime, I will dream of creating my own craft center/school.

Thing-a-Day: Encouraging Daily Creativity January 28, 2011

First, apologies for not posting this week. It’s been a long week starting when my Grandma had a stroke (which really shook me up) to the fact that the wireless at work (where I’ve been posting from) has been on the fritz all week. So, here we go:

I found this website called thing-a-day.com that is designed to encourage daily creativity for the entire month of February.

The idea is that you create something – almost anything – each and every day, and you don’t have to complete it that day either. You can pick a larger project and make a daily, weekly, or monthly goal and then make at least some progress on it every day. The kinds of projects can vary widely from needlecraft, sewing, drawing, writing, cooking, crafting, inventing, gardening, woodworking… You get the idea.

This sounds like the perfect excuse to get going on some of my projects, and to blog about them. That said I don’t think I’ll actually sign up (fear of failure I guess), but I will definitely go for it and post the results here.

Now to decide what to do. Maybe a big project like get my book illustrated. Maybe a few weekly projects that have been waiting a while, like my t-shirt quilt (which will probably turn into a month-long project). OR I could get busy and finish a bunch of my waiting projects (like mending, last year’s gifts, etc.). Yeah, I think I’ll do that.

So, go check it out, and if you sign up and post let me know. Good luck!