Saturday, February 13, 2010

Tools of the Trade

There was a time when I was younger that tools were the last thing on my mind. I did not grow up being crafty and I wasn't considered handy by any means. Over time I acquired a desire to create and to make old things look like new. Slowly but surely this desire turned into a passion. It started out very primitive by me just doing repairs around the house. Then it grew into taking on more ambitious projects like building furniture. I built all types of tables, shelves, chests, etc. and during that time I realized that you are somewhat limited by the tools you have. The first dozen projects or so the only tools I had was a jig saw, circular saw, a few hand tools and I picked up a used router to make my furniture look more complete. As time went on I found myself becoming obsessed with tools. I wanted tools for every aspect of the building process. I bought a table saw, a bandsaw, another router, sanders, drills etc. It was getting to the point that with the tools I had bought and the jigs and fixtures I had built I barley had to touch the wood anymore. I also began noticing that I was enjoying it less and less with every project. I was always looking for ways to make the process faster, more accurate, more detailed. Where is the fun in that? I enjoyed doing more hands on than automated but furniture building doesn't lend itself to minimum shop tools being a positive. Then I discovered rustic furniture. You know, the kind built with twigs and branches and stuff like that. Now were talking! I could build a table with a camp saw, drill and a few wood screws and the branches I used had more say in how it was going to turn out than I did. The only problem was finding others that appreciated the pieces I built when they were finished. I did sell a few pieces but the fact that the pieces were pretty much in the raw as far as finishing went, most pieces looked like they belonged outside so my enthusiasm was somewhat dampered. My next big interest was airbrushing. Someone I knew taught me how to draw a pretty sweet skull ,which I never considered myself artistic until then, and since I was an auto painter by trade airbrush seemed a natural choice. I put out some pretty cool stuff but it was very easy to mess up a couple hours of work with one spit of the airbrush since I was working on hard surfaces so I tried airbrushing t shirts. That was going pretty well as far as hobbies go but I still felt like I didn't have enough control over the situation. The air brush was always a couple inches away from the surface and if you made a mistake the shirt was trash and you had to start over. I also found out that even though I was a painter for so many years I didn't really care for all of the bright colors involved with painting t shirts. I took a stab at wood carving and except for a few wood spirits and a couple failed attempts at bird carving that never really went anywhere. Then, last Christmas I got a scroll saw. This is, for me, the one most creative tool I have ever owned. I can make endless amounts of different styles of art with this and it is a very cheap hobby. I paid less than $200 for the saw,the blades run about .20 cents each if you buy in bulk and the projects are usually pretty small so that means a low material cost. Another advantage to this type of art is that it is shipping friendly so you can sell your work online. So looking back I have spent quite a bit of money on tools to get to where I am at but a lot of them I rarely use if ever. I would conclude this post by saying that if you are interested in crafting there are a lot of ways to craft with little or no tools. Having every tool you think you may need can actually take you further from your craft and closer to maintaining a lot more tools, a bigger space, a lot more noise and a lot less fun. I like dabbling in several different crafts so it doesn't hurt to have some tools of the trade but I know that you can do a lot with a couple saws and a few hand tools. Remember this: Use your head before you use your cash!

Friday, February 12, 2010

Do something that you love!

When it comes to your free time, you know that few little hours that you get between your job and your life, make sure you are doing something you love. That is what arts and crafts is all about. You need to be proud and happy about the finished product but as they say life is a journey, not a destination, so you need to enjoy the process of creating the product or your crafting hobby will be short lived. Do you like being detailed or do you prefer to the bulk of the work out of the way quickly? Do you like to make useful things like furniture or jewelry, or do you like to make things that are looked at and admired like drawing or painting? Take your time and try several things. Heck, try everything! I have made a lot of different types of crafts and have slowly whittled it down to a few things that interest me on a pretty regular basis. I still like to try new things but a few just keep coming back time and time again. Do not spend your life's savings on one creative outlet. Dabble in a little bit of everything and the few things that you are truly interested in will rise to the top, then you can spend your hard earned cash to expand your resources in just those areas. In closing Explore your talents to find what fits. Oh, and along the way, let me know how it is going and don't forget to have fun!

Be creative with your materials

Now more than ever it seems that money is tight and people are looking for ways to save. Well, when it comes to arts and crafts there are a lot of ways to do it for next to nothing. Every time I run out of my materials of choice I am usually able to come up with something to use that is very inexpensive or free. Hear are a few ideas for you. First, twigs and branches are very useful and almost everyone has access to them for free. I have made a ton of rustic items out of twigs and branches. Another method of saving money is yard sales. They are a great place to find old items that may end up in the trash unless you snag them from the claws of death. A Few things to look for are dishes, old hand tools such as saws, old clothes for the material etc. I bet you can think of several other things if you let the creative juices flow. I like buying old handsaws to paint on. What kind of things have you came across that would be great for arts and crafts? Don't forget about thrift stores, flea markets and items that you already have that just screams "make me something beautiful!" I look forward to hearing what you have come up with. Remember , the world is a canvas waiting for you to personalize it.

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Welcome!

Welcome all to the beginning of Akers Arts and Crafts. This blog is purely devoted to arts and crafts of any and all kinds. (Family friendly of course :) Feel free to comment at will on any and all subjects discussed on this blog. I plan to have photos of work I have done along with how to videos and articles so check back often to see what is new. If you have a craft that you would like to share let me know. I would live to have other crafters how tos on here with mine.I look forward to learning a lot from you all and making some good friends along the way!