Friday, March 1, 2024

Ruminations on Motivations for Crafting

Ruminations on Why We Craft

My rendition of Choly Knight's owl pattern


I've joined several Facebook crafting groups lately, and one of the more frequent topics is some iteration of "how much should I charge for X?"
This morning's variation was a photo of a particular handcraft (fair disclosure: of a particularly vintage style that I don't personally find attractive) with the question "Will these sell?"
Before I knew it, I found myself writing an essay. I have preserved and polished it here:

"Will I don't know if "will they sell?" may not be exactly the right question. Perhaps a better one is "will they sell at a price that justifies both the materials and time?"

In my personal experience, pretty much Nothing hand-made sells at a profit-making price for the vast majority of us rubes who show up at a craft fair or three each year and just want to make people happy with our cute / useful / clever and amusing wares.
I walked through one of those crafting co-op shops last week, and it was full of everything from (beautiful) pot holders to (terrifying) crocheted dolls to customizable birth-announcement plushies, plus the expected share of antiques and memorabilia. Most of it was priced to "compete with China:" $15 screen-printed T-shirts, $10 crochet items, $5 machine-embroidered zipper pouches. Even the lady re-selling zipper pulls and similar notions was probably spending far more time packaging and labeling her wares than the $2.50 price justified.
I sincerely doubt that one handcraft booth out of 10 was making back its booth fee on an average month. And if we want to be really mean and talk about *profit,* I'll bet there aren't any.
I follow one lady on Facebook who seems to be managing to sell a steady stream of small, hand-made plushies (from her own patterns) at prices upwards of $75/each. I applaud her, and I want her to teach a master-class on how to gather the sort of following that understands that "handmade" = "expensive" because Time Isn't Free.
But on the other hand, when I examine my own motives for crafting, they aren't profit-oriented. I just love to craft! Thankfully I am not in a position where I need my crafting to contribute to our income; I really don't even need it to pay for itself. My husband, bless him, understands that crafting is far cheaper than therapy. And so do I, even as I occasionally throw a few items out there in the hopes I can make back a little something.
(And I am sorry, fellow crafters who Do need to make a profit: people like me don't help when we drive down the prices people are willing to pay by selling at a loss!)
If I Did need to contribute to our income, I would have to either chose a completely different craft - one that could be turned out in large quantities for low materials cost with very little actual Time - or I would have to go spend a good deal of time learning about marketing and figuring out how to recruit and advertise to a population that understands a hand-made plush takes at least 3 hours, and should therefore cost at least $75.
To sum up, there's every chance you will move a few of your lovingly created tissue box covers. Someone will love them. They probably won't love them so much they will pay what they cost you in terms of time. But maybe that doesn't need to matter to you. Maybe you just want to make people happy. Be honest about that, and then Go for it! 

--------------- 

 

(Above photo is my rendition of Choly Knight's Dragonite pattern)  

There's a frequent poster - we'll call her Gladys - on one of my other FB groups that focuses on hand-made plush toys from a particular pattern maker. She obviously loves to sew plushies. She does several of them a month. But - please excuse the judgement here, but I just can't seem to help it - they look Awful. And not in that cute "distressed," "vintage," or "ugly/cute" way, either. They're often made from quilting cotton or other random fabrics instead of fleece, minky, or fur. They bulge where they shouldn't, don't stretch where they should, and the stitching often shows. The appliqued features are poorly cut and messily hand-stitched. By any objective standard, not to mention the standard of others who post their creations on this page, they are absolutely "cringe" (to use the my tween's vernacular.) 

I am pretty sure Gladys doesn't know this. I think there's also a pretty good chance Gladys doesn't care. And I can't figure out whether to feel sad for her - "oh look, here's someone who thinks she's really good at something but actually is terrible" - or really, really, respectful - "oh look, here's someone who is really enjoying herself with a craft that she loves and the fact that her end product kinda sucks just doesn't bother her, even if she's noticed it. She's doing it for the love of crafting!" 

I'm not sure that Gladys and I are actually from the same planet. I am a perfectionist with high personal standards. I'm an engineer who can't always turn off that calculating side of the brain that says "Why did you agree to 'sell' your acquaintance a hand-made plush that took you 3 hours for $15 again?" And it's easy for me to forget for a while the reason I actually craft. 

Years ago I became attracted to the beautiful line art that I soon learned was produced from the "Zentangle" method. Zentangle is, first and foremost, a process-oriented art method rather than a results-oriented one. It's all about the lines, drawn carefully and deliberately, one stroke at a time. Of course people do create beautiful and impressive art using this method (I have myself!), but with its mantra of "No Mistakes," the artwork at the end is deliberately secondary.  I believe there's wisdom in this approach.

Don't get me wrong: I believe in absolute truth, objective standards of beauty, externally-evaluated craftsmanship, and always doing one's best.

 But crafting IS, even for me, mostly about the process. A process in which we exercise our roles as little-c creators as an expression of our Imago Dei. 

At this point, my essay is not only getting long, it's getting reasonably repetitive. I wrote extensively on a similar subject on my "Philosophy" post more than 10 years ago.  

I hope Gladys will forgive my judgement. I have a different skill set and a different standard, but I think we probably have the same fundamental reason for crafting: it's fun. It's relaxing. And creation Feels right. At root, it's a way to get in touch with our God-given creative natures. And that's always worth doing. 


 My rendition of Rustic Horseshoe's "Charismatic Cat"

Thursday, February 8, 2024

Rough Waters With Rays of Hope

 It's been a rough season in the Collins household. I'm being pulled a lot of ways, and often school feels like the last thing that's getting my attention. I feel defeated just trying to get my teens out of bed in the morning, or away from the video games at bedtime. The middle kid is really struggling with her anxiety and emotions and I've had to give up on having her "in the classroom" with the other two. My youngest is truly getting the short end of the stick with her fun co-op days constantly being cancelled for one reason or another, group work become unpredictable and often skipped, and Mom somehow never available to help her with her math and science and then riding her case when she's defiant and rebellious right back to me.

But God.

In His faithfulness he is allowing me moments of genuine connection with my struggling middle child. Spontaneous discussions where it's clear that she is applying the Christian worldview we've made central to our family to the secular media that she consumes, and doing a very good job of it. He's let me see her compassion and desire to help a friend who is struggling in her home life. He's sent adult friends to help her brainstorm ways she can troubleshoot her academic troubles and anxieties, and a grandma who is happy to have her hang out at her house for a few hours every other day or so and work on school in a quieter environment.

He's allowed me to see my oldest get really excited about his martial arts training and slowly take up some responsibility for the steps required for black belt testing - even writing a really very decent "personal perspective" paper, which is way outside his wheelhouse. He's let me see signs of growth in a bunch of areas, academic and personal.

He's let me have some good times with the youngest, who gets So Upset when she doesn't understand or think that it sounds worth while, but is so fun to work with when she can get her attitude in line. He's let me see her demonstrate that she can absolutely synthesize information from adult sources and put them into her own words, and that given patience and practice she's going to be a perfectly good writer after all. He's reminded me that listening to "Freakonomics" podcasts on the way home from dance and talking about the info Totally Counts as school, and the fact I never, ever call it that is just a bonus (to her!)

When I look back at the last week I can see all these little rays of light He's sent that say "This may be hard, but I've got them" and remind me I can release the end results to Him.
And I am so grateful for that.
Because tomorrow will be another struggle. I'll probably end up in another shouting match with one of them, make the middle one cry, and make a bad time compromise for the third, who will also find a way to drag out 10 minutes of math practice for 4 hours.
But it's still good. We're still on the right track. And He really does have them.

Tuesday, December 26, 2023

Memory Bears

 I spent many (mostly) happy hours this December sewing 11 memory bears from some of Dad's shirts. (Dad was, somewhat surprisingly, rather a clothes horse. He rarely bought new, unless it was from someplace like Old Navy or Target, but he had a huge collection of mostly thrifted checked shirts to go with his coats and baseball caps. Given how unpretentious he was, this always makes me laugh.) In any case, I raided his closet after he was gone and picked a few I knew he'd worn frequently and made these bears from a pattern by Fostering Sewing Designs.  (Buy it here. It's well worth every penny!)


 

I loved this pattern after I got used to its quirks. I reduced it to 75% to make it a bit more manageable. Because I decided to supplement and accent with faux fir or polar fleece, I could easily get 3 bears from each long sleeved shirt. I incorporated pockets and buttons (shirt front and sleeve cuff) wherever I could, moving and adding buttons as necessary so they all looked well dressed. 

 


My favorite part of the pattern is that it had almost no hand sewing: just three small stuffing holes to ladder-stitch shut. Safety eyes and noses were also ideal, and the limbs were even designed to avoid those tiny, tricky, and tedious foot pads. I think by the time I got going I could turn out a bear in about 3 hours, maybe even a tad less when I was assembly-lining the pattern tracing and cutting. 
I adore the Choly Knight / Sew Desu Ne? patterns, but they tend to be super heavy on hand-sewn features, elaborate appliqued eyes, and, yes, even foot pads. :) They are adorable when finished, but I could not have made 11 of them in one month! 

Mom, each of their three kids, and the seven grands each got one for Christmas. I convinced them to pose each wearing one of Grandpa's hats. (The 7th grand is grown and flown, but should receive her bear soon!) Bittersweet, but since we all know that Dad / Grandpa is with his Savior and we will see him again, it is endurable. (See this related post.) 


If you are interested in commissioning a memory bear or bears using a loved one's clothes, please contact me at annetteccollins@gmail.com.

 

Christmas Memories of Those We Have Lost

 


I don't know if anyone else remembers loved ones on their trees like this, but it's become something of a tradition for me since 2011. A friend gave me an ornament in memory of the barely-started baby we lost to miscarriage that year. I see we lost three grandparents in in 2014, David's sister in 2015, and of course Dad this year. I see somehow I missed making an ornament for Grandpa Pete in 2018 (I'll have to check that date), and two of my grandparents left us well before I started these. Thankfully I have more crosses in my stash, so I can go back and fill in those gaps. 

 
It is, of course, bitter sweet to put these up each year, and take them down again, but it's also a wonderful reminder of what this season is really all about. That baby we all celebrate on December 25 came to live, and more importantly, die for us. That sacrifice means that those who believe will not be long separated by physical death.
The back of each cross quotes John 11:25 where Jesus declared:
"I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies."
Elsewhere Jesus promises to wipe away every tear from the eyes of his people, when death itself is finally and permanently defeated.
I hope you too are living in that hope today.

 

Thursday, November 16, 2023

Custom Plushes!

 

Welcome to Tarkheena Crafts! 

I have been sewing plushies using patterns from Choly Knight for about 4 years.

I am available to custom make plushies on a limited basis. My prices are reasonable, and you will love your new friend.

If you are a friend of Encore Performing Arts Studio, be assured that proceeds from sales will be helping defray Grace's Company fees!

What Can You Make?

I can sew anything from Choly's free section, and I own a number of her commercial patterns as well. If you are interested in something from her commercial section that is new to me, the price of the pattern will need to be incorporated into the total. 
Of course the free patterns are typically easier and faster, and therefore cheaper to you. 

Some of my favorites are 

 



If you have a desire for a plushie the does not appear on Choly's site, there is always a chance I could make something happen. I have done a handful of Pokemon hacks, for instance: Psyduck and Rowlet are in my library. It never hurts to ask!

What Will It Cost?

As a ballpark, custom plushies will start at $25 and top out around $65, although I will need to do a custom quote for your project. 

Do keep in mind that complexity rather than size will be the primary driver. Don't be surprised when the pillow-sized Avo-Cat-O runs less than the much smaller Lapras with its many hand-sewn details. But also be sure to ask about quantity discounts: Making 3 of something is much faster per item than making 1!

How Can I Order? 

Please, contact me at annetteccollins@gmail.com. Let me know what you are interested in and a timeline, and we'll figure something out!


Tuesday, August 29, 2023

Off to a Great... Good... Really very Decent start

 

You know you're homeschoolers when ...

0. You've been doing a soft-start to school for a couple of weeks already, especially with the rising 9th grader, but in fact everyone kept up with math most of the summer, the middle kid has been writing fiction non-stop with her friends, and the youngest has been learning lots of recipes.
1. You plan to do your formal start "a little early" this year, and do so, only to learn after the fact that all the PS students in the area are starting the same day.
2. You deliberately don't take pictures on the first day of school because several years ago you made the kids "Not My First Day of..." pictures to color and now they won't have it any other way.
3. When you hand your daughter her "Not My First Day of 7th Grade" sheet, she says "Oh, am I in 7th already?" And she isn't joking.
4. Getting up early for school means breakfast is served at 9 am.
(And it's Hard for 2/3 of the kids to make it! )
5. First day plans to teach outside are derailed by the neighbors' yard-care service deciding to start up their leaf blower at 11 am
6. Everyone (except maybe the High Schooler) is pretty much done before noon.

Seriously, it's going pretty well with 2 days of real school under our belts.
 
 

 
The summer flew by at light speed this year: each kid had a week of camp, Grace had several days of Nationals competition in July, dance and TKD never let up, I'm still on the Family Camp planning committee, and to top everything else off, in late July my parents moved from Gresham to Beaverton after 49 years in the same house.  Shockingly that imagined unscheduled week for curriculum research and school planning never materialized, and the task had to be accomplished in the dribs and drabs of time left over - often while the girls were at dance. As we started "for real" this week I had it driven home that that this meant certain things never got entirely finished on my end. 
 
But let's review the plan of record anyway. 

History

This year we are doing History (Notgrass Exploring America, a high school textbook) and Bible together. Practically that means we read the TTB.org prayer team e-mail together and pray, and work on our Bible memory project. (This year we're re-starting Philippians with some review of chapter 1.) 
I intend to add some Bible study to this time over the next few weeks using resources from Not Consumed, but I haven't done my part on that yet.  Then we read the current chapter of "Exploring America" aloud. Like last year Grace will take notes and Lucy mostly just listens in. James rotates between following along in a second copy of the book and taking notes. Unlike last year I am expecting James to step up and do additional readings, unit projects, reviews, and tests. We'll see how that goes.

Vocabulary

We are also doing Vocab together, using the Jensen's Vocabulary book for the 3rd year in a row, but this time with some serious modifications. While I love building familiarity with Latin and now Greek roots, I was never was fully convinced that the analysis worksheets (where each word is traced to it its exact root and affixes) were adding a lot of value. We also mutually agreed that the 4th worksheet where you plug the week's words into sentences was not great. The sentences could be obscure, sometimes above even James's level, and sometimes even ambiguous. So this year we are doing the following:
Day 1: Match words to definitions as a team
Day 2,3: Write out definitions for 6 words (chosen by Mom)
Day 4: Write 5 sentences unambiguously using one vocab word (assigned by Mom) and turn in
Day 5: Match the 20 vocab words to the sentences written by everyone.
We are also going to start doing a full unit per week instead of every other week.
This means we will run out of units perhaps as early as Christmas, so I will need to find a new Vocab resource for the rest of the year.
 

Foreign Language

We are adding Spanish this year, and have chosen "See it and Say It Flip Flop Spanish," not coincidentally the same resource the Meyers are trying out. It's conversational rather than grammar focused, and theoretically suitable for ages 3 to 93. It's only take 15 mn 3x/week. They suggest that it be recorded as "Conversational Spanish" on a transcript and followed up with their grammar-based study in the last two years of HS.
But we're not starting that until tomorrow! 

Science

Choosing science gave me fits this year. James is sticking with Apologia for the third year in a row, but we are going to go with the mostly online version. (Again, not coincidentally the same route the Meyers took last year.) I am also going to stop obsessing over labs, especially since it's Biology this year and No one wants to dissect anything. He'll do some of them and watch the videos of the rest.
 
But I didn't really want to do Apologia General Science with Grace. I asked her what she wanted to do and she freely admitted that nothing at all sounded interesting. She and Lucy reject entirely any video-based course, which ruled out the easiest open-and-go options I had recommended to me.
I started to get excited about a literature-based (read: Mom spends hours and potentially many dollars assembling books from a curated list) Botany course, but when I took Grace to Exodus Books she unexpectedly got super excited about a biology book. That book was at the HS level and I eventually decided against it, but she accepted a middle-school level biology book as substitute and she remains excited about what she's learning after the first couple of days. There is a lot of fascinating information, but it is decidedly light on tests and experiments, which is exactly what she needs this year. 
Lucy will tentatively read a bunch of the botany books I checked out from that resource list at her own pace: she was eager to start paging through "Wicked Plants" today. Other things she and I may do include planting stuff (herbs?) in our new raised planters, and maybe... maybe! get some chickens. Maybe. 

Math

Math we are doing exactly the same as last year. That means that Lucy continues to plug along in Life of Fred (current book: Fractions), and Grace continues the "Learn Math Fast" program we switched to for her mid-year. James technically finished the Beginning Algebra LoF text at the end of last school year, but we both agreed that he had not mastered the material and spent some time this summer reviewing. I suspect we will spend at least another 4-6 weeks in review before moving to Advanced Algebra. I'll be honest: this math is starting to stretch me. I am having to learn from the book, and while I am catching on much faster than James, I'm definitely making mistakes too. And yet it's also kinda fun. There hasn't been much cause to really stretch my technical brain for a few years now. 
 

Programming

James is adding Programming as an elective. He identified an online course from Brilliant.com that is not aimed at school kids specifically, but also doesn't assume any knowledge of either programming concepts or coding. It's designed to run 15 minutes per lesson, so he does as many per day as he has energy for. He started it about 3 week ago, and had progressed to Python programming in their sandbox by last week. Today I had to help quite a bit with a program to generate a Fibonacci sequence. Please note that I have never learned Python. This, like the math, should definitely be interesting!

Writing

Writing was another last-minute change. James is not going to have a formal writing program this year, but instead focus on the writing assignments from history and possibly a few additional book reports. (prediction: those probably won't happen. But I hope I am wrong.)
I was going to have Lucy and Grace finish the "Jump In" textbook they all three did last year, but at Exodus books Grace happened across the IEW Narnia-correlated course "Song of the Lion."  She immediately got excited about it, and I was happy to change my plans since I already have some experience with their courses from James's 7th grade year. IEW *wants* to be highly teacher-led, maybe almost scripted. But you can ignore all that and let it be largely student lead if you choose. We chose!  I will also have Lucy do this course.

Grammar

Finally, for the moment we are sticking with Easy Grammar Daily Grams for grammar practice for everyone. That is definitely open to change. I looked briefly into the IEW "Fix It" series, but my gut tells me it will be too heavy. Philosophically I am far more concerned about their ability to write a coherent and well-crafted sentence with good mechanics than I am about their ability to list the 12 helping verbs, 43 forms of "to be" and 87 prepositions. So there's a good chance that I will let even Daily Grams fade into the sunset as the year progresses. If I could find a resource specifically tuned to help students identify and avoid run-on sentences, I would be a happy homeschool mom indeed.

Wednesday, July 19, 2023

On Being Very Nearly 47, and Heaven

I'm really looking forward to Heaven. 

This may seem like a terribly morbid thought to be having the day before one's 47th birthday, but it doesn't really feel that way. I'm not depressed, or especially discontent with the state of my no-longer-youthful body, or mired in frustration surrounding family members, home life, or home schooling. This is, in fact, the easiest time of the year for me to feel happy and hopeful with the sun up a full 15 hours and limited school responsibilities to boot. I'm surrounded with blessings on every side, from David's stable employment to a paid-for house to a loving and supportive church community to my valuable and fulfilling role as a homeschool mom and homemaker to parents who are moving closer in to us to really very good health to income sufficient to support hobbies such as crafting for me and dance and taekwondo for the kids. Life is not always easy, but it is overwhelmingly good. 

But Heaven... sounds really good. 

I have been a bit down this week. It's little stuff, some of it stupid little stuff. Some of it not so little. A elderly and disabled friend who was looking at not being able to take a refrigerator delivery because the company that delivers, installs, and hauls away the old one draws the line for some inscrutable reason at unplugging and disconnecting the broken unit. Another friend who's husband is on hospice but might be taken off because he's not getting worse fast enough and who has to spend 3+ hours on the phone with Medicaid per session waiting for someone who turns out not to know the answer to her question after all. (And knowing in my heart of hearts that they make you wait on the phone *because they can* and demoralizing their would-be customers is good for their bottom line because if you just give up and go away and find some other, crappier solution to your impossible problem that saves them the trouble of helping you.) My youngest who I had to counsel to be far more cautious and careful in how she shares her non-politically-correct opinions with her dance friends. A kid who keeps showing up at the church camps who has all the early markings of a predator, but there's no clear path forward to removing him, so the staff just has to watch him really carefully and we have to remind our kids to be careful and I know we're supposed to love and minister to all the kids, but what about our daughters?! My kids picking on and at each other and not being able to figure out what to do with themselves unless a screen is handy. The pretty frosted-glass window at the nearest bus shelter shattered into a zillion pieces on the ground yesterday morning. The gate at the school who's yard we use as a shortcut to walk to the store being locked all summer because they are "keeping us safe" from the construction going on 50 yards away on the roof of said school. The sidewalk blocked by interminable construction at the other end of the neighborhood so we couldn't even get to the store that way. Getting a cold call (from a human, not a computer) wanting to know if I was interested in purchasing a property in NE Portland off Sandy Blvd. A really great detective novel marred by authorial agenda-pushing. The very real possibility we will not be able to fill some critical volunteer slots at Family Camp next month. Grace's frequent, disabling headaches. My own abnormal fatigue and brain fog this week. Moving my parents out of the home I grew up in. Not being able to go on the church camping trip because that's the move weekend. Dad's thinking ahead to Christmas when my oldest niece wants to visit and making sure I am available as a back-up host for her in case he is "dead and dying."

This world is broken. 

So yes, I'm looking forward to all the things that will be missing from Heaven. The big, obvious ones like sickness, sadness, pain, and death. Fear, loneliness, poverty, want. Anger, violence, isolation. And the smaller ones like pronoun arguments, bureaucracy, and ennui.

But it occurred to me last night that the things that Will be in Heaven are also a really big deal to me. Like the personal presence of God Himself.  I know that the good little Christian is supposed to see that as the hands-down most important feature of Heaven, but God also knows I'd be lying if I pretended that my brain was big enough or my spirit holy enough to imagine incomprehensible, ineffable awesomeness of that fact. Honestly, it just kind of shuts down - even shies away from it. Even after watching The Chosen. But it Is big enough to imagine a lot of other great things. Like reunions with old friends and relatives who left us. Like being able to sing for a couple hundred years in perfect harmony around the perfect bonfire (if we need such things), composing new songs that would make Beethoven weep as we go along. Like spending a few more hundred years learning to paint like Rembrandt - better than Rembrandt! Sculpt, build, sew, tell stories, hear stories, write, read, play music on instruments no-one has ever heard of, explore mountains, forests, and impossibly deep ocean floors that no-one ever conceived of. Run, dance, swim, probably even fly forever. All of this without ever having to question our own motives or anyone else's, because we're no longer able to Have wrong motives or Want wrong things. Being able to grow, to learn, to create without stint or measure. Without time management. Without resource constraints. Without fear. Without "No's." With, in fact, an eternal "Yes!"

And because I can't imagine all that will be without coming back to what won't be any longer, All of this will be without ever having to deal with a glory-hog, a power-grabber, a sarcastic or snide person, someone who misunderstands you or your intents, a womanizer, a man-killer, a pervert, a fool, a petty or querulous or manipulative or distracted or anxious person - even when (especially when) that person is you.  

 CS Lewis says in "Mere Christianity:"

If I find in myself desires which nothing in this world can satisfy, the only logical explanation is that I was made for another world.

I've felt that more and more over the past few years, maybe even especially the past few months. Yes, the pandemic is largely behind us. There's no immediate crisis. We've been given a little space to breathe. But as things approach "normalcy," or what has always passed for it in my experience anyway, somehow the stuff that is still broken seems even worse. I don't want to sound ungrateful for the uncountable blessings I have and am still experiencing here on this earth. But if they're all there is... well, to quote Paul this time "If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men." (1 Cor 15:19)

So I think we're allowed to be sad about what is wrong. I think it's correct to yearn for our eventual perfection. And it's OK to spend the eve of your 47th birthday looking forward to Heaven.