Truly? It's a lot of things, but one biggest part to art, or really anything for that matter, that many people overlook is quite simple!

Dedication

That is really the biggest, most important part of creating art- and it's both the easiest and hardest!

Dratini is my latest Pokemon, and one of the best I've made! Compared to the second item I ever made, a seal.

A new version Vulpix with the third item I ever made, a lion.

Some of my newest items (as of Jan 2017) and my VERY first item, a rather beat up hippo.

So for real, how long ago did I make these? I started around 2004 and took a two year break from 2013-2015.
As of this post, I have been dedicated to the crafts for around 11 years! To be honest, I was mostly doing so many different crafts and never really challenging myself, that I feel only in 2015 have I really tried to improve. In 2015 I dedicated myself only to crochet and to improve my skills.

My adorable Dratini is the latest item I've finished that really showcases my changing skill.

It’s hard being an artist, of any kind. There are many factors that keep people from doing it, and those that do struggle every day.

Artists have to be creative, and not just thinking up ideas. They have to have ingenuity, be able to see ways to do things. How to work with what they have, ways to get an effect without really knowing how to do it.

It costs lots of money…lots. Most of the time they buy all their supplies and machinery out of pocket, they become hundreds or even thousands of dollars in debt. They hoard pieces of scraps just because they may be able to use it later…ten years down the road they may still have it just because it would be a shame to get rid of it and need it even later down the road.

They struggle trying to be seen at all. They’re in a flood of other artists with more experience, greater ideas, better looking products, or people with access to machines or supplies not even available to the general public. They try to keep their head above the tides and appeal to people, but sometimes they can’t compete at all, they want to share their soul but it’s not as pretty as someone else’s work or it’s too weird.

And most people don’t appreciate the work they put into products, whether it’s not as pretty or weird or doesn’t speak to them personally.

For hours on end most artists brainstorm, they spend days thinking up ideas and talking themselves out of things or beating themselves up over what they can’t do. They create something and it doesn’t turn out the way they want it so they throw it all away, days or weeks, maybe years of work. And the suffering of destroying something they thought they knew how to do or thought was coming out so prefect breaks their soul and their heart but the very thought of looking at something that ISN’T what they wanted hurts worse.

Then most just give up, they appeal to the masses by simply copying what is already done or straight up stealing work and they become famous. Or rich. And those that have integrity are yet again under the water of those that don’t care about being an individual artist, or don’t care about creating their own special work.

And those that keep to their own work and try their damndest to create their own visions and their own work get told by others that don’t make anything that their work looks weird or doesn’t look like anything at all or is way overpriced or they could do that themselves. Without a single thought of what that artist might have gone through just to make that piece.

That is why most artists are depressed, have anxiety, are tortured and feel like giving up every day. What they love is ground into the dirt and the days or weeks of work they put into something can be dismissed by a simple, "that’s overpriced."

Please appreciate artists…even if it doesn’t look nice, even if it’s overpriced, and even if others could do it better. That artists isn’t them and won’t be. That artist probably took twice as long or longer to make the item and it didn’t turn out as nice but they still took the time. They still had a vision and tried to share it. They still wanted to create.

Creating something with their own time should be acknowledged. They could be another person just sitting on the couch entertaining themselves. Instead, they’re trying to contribute a piece of their time and heart for others to see and maybe own. If anything, please appreciate that.

I actually don't have any tips for making cool, original stuff, or how things are supposed to look, or really much of anything. What I learned when making my own items isn't how to make the best stuff, it's how to make stuff using my own creativity and my own ideas.

It's important to know that everyone starts somewhere, and every single person has their own creativity.
I started by working on pre-made patterns and learning exactly how I crochet as a person.

Every person makes items differently, based on their tension (how you hold the fabric/yarn), what hooks/machines you use (they're all slightly different), how firm/soft you want the stuffing (some like squishy some like firm), and how you want it to look.


Guides and tutorials and DIY can help you learn the skills and techniques, you also need to learn your own personal quirks (i.e I hold yarn really tightly) and work with it to get the best outcome. Sometimes you won't have the correct machine, or the correct hook, or you hold the yarn too loosely, or you have different stuffing. It's all about getting creative with what you have and what your quirks are.

I'm a meat popsicle that makes stuff some people like, with a lot of different mediums, and I spend way too much time doing it- so I figured I'd open a project blog to have a designated place to dump info.

The purpose of my "Not About Me Section" will be to post about projects, ideas, and do a little bit of showing off. Maybe more than a little, but then again that's probably why you're here, maybe? :)

I took up crafting hobbies to combat the intense gaming situation I found myself wallowing in. I love gaming way too much. I can sit down and play almost any game for 10+ hours straight. During my college years in 2005 I started feeling like my whole life was centered around work. I'd work, come home, drown myself in games so I didn't have to think about work, sleep, and do it all again the next day. So one day I was surfing Google (cause you only Google one thing and five hours later you're the expert on three different topics) when I came across various DIY projects, and a small adorable yarn doll. That was pretty much it, I clicked on the picture, saw I could make it myself, and set out to do just that.
Starting on one crafting project set me on a path of overtaking way too many craft projects afterwards, so I also dabbled in jewelry making, clay sculpting, painting, and baking. Eventually I spent way too much money keeping up on all of them and settled for mostly crochet, with a bit of jewelry making on the side.

I am a gigantic Geek, but I have been ever since it was very, very uncool. Back in the early 90s in my area, you were considered a complete loser for liking video games, anime, and reading books. Now it's more accepted and 'trending' (at least some of it haha), but I spent most of my life hiding what I truly loved and was passionate about because I was teased so much in school. Now it's everywhere! I focus mostly on geek related items, and my favorite things to make are Pokemon items.

Really that's all there is to me. I make stuff, you can look at the stuff and buy the stuff or you can ignore the stuff. I make items when I get the inspiration and only when I get the inspiration, so there are no commissions from me. I am always trying to improve and challenge myself, and one day I hope to be so amazing I can do this as a full time job, going to conventions and always having my shop well stocked.