(formerly arts and crap)

I don’t consider myself an artist. I love art, and I love crafts. Do I consider myself a crafter? I don’t think I’m really good enough at it yet to be throwing that on the “skills and qualifications” portion of my resume, but I’ll happily stick it in the “hobbies and interests” section.

I don’t have any education in these things. Bob Ross taught six-year-old me how to paint in oils, not that I remember how. My bestie/two-time-roomie taught me how to knit when I was 25. The rest is stuff I just sort of see whenever I compulsively walk into Michael’s and whip out a sale coupon.

I honestly think that as long as you’re enjoying what you’re doing and loving the process of it, that love will show in the final product. Sure, you might not be pro, but the clearer a vision is, the more heart goes into its execution, and the better it turns out in the end.

So, like, here’s some crap I made.

fibre arts

(fancy term for knitting and crochet)

Most of my stuff is on Ravelry but I’ll try and post any new stuff on DWAM going forward.

paper craft

I like making cards for people I love. Typically, I don’t bother posting photos of them anywhere because they’re pretty intimate, but now and then there’s a fun fan-art component I just can’t help but share.

acrylic

I’m not even going to pretend I know the first thing about painting, but I am really happy with the few pieces I’ve created. Super Friends (kinda) I initially started by painting these 5×5 hero icons for Nightwing, Batgirl, and Supergirl with my boyfriend, myself, and my bestie in mind since those are the characters we most relate to. But then, my bestie mentioned that upon learning more about Power Girl, she found that she did carry that semi-crazy evil streak that sets her apart from good ol’ Kara. The problem is, Power Girl didn’t have a symbol on her chest.

So here’s the full set together. I’m not including the Super-S since it honestly turned out like crap.

More recently, I needed a break from my other projects and just started messing around with a spare 10×10. I came up with this, based on one of my favourite artwork from Neil Gaiman’s Sandman comics.

world of woodcraft

I recently got sick of having to chase after dice and deal with the anxiety of potential damage to my expensive, fancy, shiny, super awesome stone D20. Being a compulsive problem-solver, I started making custom dice trays, as you may have already been aware. Those were just the first two though. I am happy to say, I’ve gotten progressively better at making these.

I shifted from using paint to using wood stain on my second attempt, and to great success.

My third attempt was the best one, and the only one I collected any coin for. A friend of mine volunteered to be my first commission, and I got to try making something based on someone else’s vision for a change.

All in all, the four look pretty okay together, but you can see the definite learning curve progress through the set of them.

If you’d like one, please leave a comment below! Each one costs me about $20 and a couple of days to make, so I might actually be able to fulfill the odd order for anyone interested.