#13 Why We Craft

Hello … welcome to The Craft Room Podcast, and if this is your first time listening, a special welcome to you. A few weeks ago I attended The Artful Business Conference in Adelaide here in Australia.  I love this conference … it is for people with creative businesses, and at any given time you can be sitting next to a writer, a jewellery maker, a yoga instructor, an accountant, a business coach, a graphic designer, a bridal accessory designer, a virtual assistant … it's just amazing! While I was there, surrounded by so many incredibly creative people, I thought I'd ask a few of them three simple questions. I had an idea of how this episode would go, but the answers that these incredible women gave me were not at all what I was expecting.  In hindsight, I don't know why I was expecting run-of-the-mill answers … I should know by now that creative people are going to give me creative answers.  They did not disappoint … they actually knocked me back on my heels, and this episode is going to be different, and so much deeper than I had intended!

Craft is seen to be this frivolous thing that women do, faffing about with fabric, yarn and thread.  But that's far from true. First of all, craft is not exclusively for women, and what crafters do is so much more than making pretty things to pass the time. Absolutely we make tangible things.  We can give them as gifts, use them to keep warm, decorate our homes, sell them for some extra cash … and those are all fine reasons to engage in crafting activities.  But the real reason we craft goes so much deeper than that.

Today I want to introduce you to five wonderful ladies who were feeling game enough to answer my three quick questions.  You'll hear me ask each of them …
1. What's your day job?
2. What is your craft / creative pursuit of choice?
3. What do you get from this?
Some of them I have known for a few years, some for a few months, others I just met. Some are older than me, some younger, some about the same. Some enjoy the same crafts as me, others are into things that aren't quite my scene, or that are still on my to-do list. All of them are amazing at what they do professionally, and having seen some of their work in person, it's not surprising that they are great at what they do creatively as well.

There will be a little bit of background noise … it's always buzzing with conversations during break times. I can honestly say that it was worth sacrificing my afternoon cup of tea to chat briefly to these wonderful ladies, and after each mini interview I'll go deeper into my takeaways from these conversations.

I would like to introduce you to Miranda.

1. What is your day job?
I work in social media and marketing

2. What is your craft / creative pursuit of choice?
   I do crochet, weaving and mixed media.
3. What do you get from this?
   I've always been crafty, but especially in last couple of years it helps with my mental health. It's my relaxing time, and it's just fun. But it's a creative way that when people look at you and think you're one thing, and then you show them a quilt you've made or a crochet blanket, and they look at you differently … like OMG!  I like putting colours together.

Summary
I absolutely loved Miranda's answer.  Yes … science is catching up and starting to prove that craft and creativity is excellent for our mental health.  We did talk about that in episode 8, which I'll link to in the show notes. Sometimes we can cruise along and just craft to keep our hands busy, to create a quick gift, or try something new. But sometimes our creative pursuits do more than just keep us occupied … they can seriously support our mental health. It may be that we work diligently on a project to pass the time whilst under stress or going through an unpleasant life event.  It can help pass time quickly and serve as a great distraction to stop us obsessing over waiting for test results, to stop our mind wandering to dark thoughts or inject something beautiful into our lives when things may otherwise be bleak.  I understand what she means about people looking at you differently.  I used to work in a very corporate type job, and when my co-workers would catch me cross-stitching on the train, or would compliment me on my outfit and I would tell them that I made it … it absolutely changed the way they looked at me.  It helped them get to know me, see there was more to me than a great voice on the phone and fast typing fingers. You think you have a person pegged, you think you know what they're like, then you find out they knit jumpers for penguins … whoah … your mind is blown! You question yourself … do I really know them at all?  Have I made assumptions? What else do they do that I don't know about? It sparks conversations and deeper connections with people. And I'm not going to gloss over Miranda's joy of putting colours together.  This