# What made you crafty?



## hoggie (Feb 11, 2007)

This is something I have wondered about a lot recently.

I think I have said before that, as kids, we were positively discouraged from anything "arty crafty". My mum felt she was no good at it, and didn't really want the mess anyway. Even now, she is appalled that i let my DD have her paints, or beads, or card making all over the living room, and that I give up my dining table to card making every Christmas.

I always wanted to make things, but grew up believing that I couldn't. As a result, I have always made absolutely sure that DD has every opportunity to make and do. When she was 2 Santa brought my DD a HUGE box of art and craft supplies - some of which we are still using up the dregs of 

But I sometimes wonder - does my desire to do craft type stuff stem from the fact that I was "deprived" of th eopportunity when I was young. Maybe the fact that DD and I do so much craft will mean that she won't value it and pass it on to her kids? Or will she value it because of the time we have spent together having fun at these things? 

Does the desire to create come from within regardless of your upbringing? I have two cousins who are unbelievably clever craftwise. Maybe there is a genetic thing going on there.

What do you think? Are you crafty because it is how you are made? Or were you brought up to be crafty? 

Any ideas?

hoggie


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## AngieM2 (May 10, 2002)

Genetics...

I'm the major crafty person in my level of 1st cousins.
One of my daughters is crafty, sewing, knitting, crocheting -
the other one has nothing to do with any of those things 
and they were brought up the same (as much as you can).

It's just something in some people and not in others.

Angie


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## mammabooh (Sep 1, 2004)

I always wanted to be crafty, but was told that I wasn't. I was the "smart one"...sister was "the artist". It wasn't until my sister and mom were both gone that I was introduced to "crafty" things. I found out that I'm pretty decent at what I've attempted so far.


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## Wisconsin Ann (Feb 27, 2007)

I think it's pretty much "born" in someone, but I think that almost everyone has it in one form or another. Creativity or 'crafty" can be stifled by a parent who simply isn't into it. or thinks that since "craft" is somehow NOT art. (my father's sister was like that with her kids. "you're just dabbling in that paint..you're not creating ART just kitsch") (btw, kitsch is what she called things like painted flowerpots, mosaic photo frames, anything made of polymer clay, etc.). Her kids never did anything artsy or crafty in their teens or adult years. kinda sad.

You can teach someone the techniques of a craft even if they don't have the creative part. I had a one student who could make wonderful enamels, but someone else had to design for her, unless she used the computer to put things together in a program like coreldraw. she could RE-create, but not CREATE on her own. 

most people are creative in some area of their life. If you can relate THAT creativity to an artistic creativity...then you can tap into the 'creative' gene in the person.

For instance, my SO says he has no artistic ability at all. zero. and yet, he can take a pile of gears/machine parts/wires/etc. and just by thinking how to create it, and some trial and error, make a machine that will laser cut any image I give it :shrug: I think that's art. creative art. (haven't convinced him of that yet)

A lot of it has to do with the "I want to create" thing. some people just don't want to create what we consider "crafty" stuff. Maybe in childhood they did something they thought was GREAT and a parent said "you could do better' or laughed at the effort. Sometimes they create in a different way...get creative with their clothes instead of color crayons...etc.

It's the ability to focus that creative spark into something. That's the part that's hard for many people.


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## FairviewFarm (Sep 16, 2003)

Like Hoggie, my mother wasn't into creating something unless she had to. By that I mean she had to when she was den mother to my brothers' Cub Scout troop. Her focus was her nursing career or reading when at home. Cooking wasn't high on her list either. LOL

So when I started sewing clothing, making quilts, spinning yarn, crocheting and knitting she was very appreciateive of the end product but not at all interested herself. She'd tell others she doesn't know where I got the interest or skill from, certainly not from her. (BTW, she said the same thing about my farming/homesteading too.)

But the interesting thing is that her mother was extremely talented as was her older sister. Perhaps because I spent a bit of time with both of them the desire to create and do for myself rubbed off on me. I will admit I'm not particularly creative from the originality standpoint. I usually need a pattern or recipe or seed packet as a jumping off point. From there I can visualize and create something more uniquely my own.


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## RoseGarden (Jun 5, 2005)

I think it must be genetic to some degree. Seriously. There are so many people on my mom's side of the family who are artistic, crafty, whatever you want to call it. But my father's side...no one that I can think of! 

My maternal side, going back like mom, grandmother, great-grandmother, etc are/were all accomplished seamstresses, and quite talented in many other ways. My grandmother loved raising poultry, and I truly think I got that from her, while my mom couldn't care less about chickens. My siblings are all very very talented in some way--one an artist in drawing, another is accomplished in drawing, carpentry, gunsmithing, woodworking, landscaping, all sorts of things. Another is a good musician and his son is already proficient in at least three instruments. I love to craft, knit, sew, do landscaping and gardening, paint in acrylic and oil, and I love to work on the house. 

I also have always been limited in the amount of money I could spend on things, and more often than not was able to make a perfectly suitable home-made version of whatever I wanted.


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## Simpler Times (Nov 4, 2002)

I think Rose Garden hit on an important point...the need to create. Some people are truly artistic and create fine art because of something that they inherently have in them. Other people approach crafts as recreation. Others, however, approach it out of need. My mother was a very crafty person. Once, when her sister had hit hard times, she told her she would help her make some money. Mom drug out all the recycled craft supplies (she was very thrifty and just didn't go buy stuff new for crafts) and began to teach my aunt how to make various things. I was just a child but I was involved in the project too. We molded little plaster Paris plaques in the bottom of a rectangular dish and painted scenes on them. We cut tin cans up into strips and coiled them and arranged them to make doll house furniture, we cut up egg cartons and made flowers, etc. My aunt hit the street with the "creations" and sold them door to door. My aunt had the gift of gab and my mother had the gift of creativity. My mother very much enjoyed making things but mostly she was inspired when there was a NEED to make things. She was too busy working in the factory and raising two children on her own to use time for an entirely frivolous purpose. She was a talented seamstress, for example, and made most of my clothes. That wasn't "crafts to her though. Crafts were cutesy little enyertaining or decorative things.


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