The Crafter’s Box

At the end of last year, as my mind wondered through creative projects and a firm desire to let my creativity roam free so I could see some in 2016, I came across The Crafter’s Box.

The concept for The Crafter’s Box is pretty straight forward – a subscription service of a monthly creative project using different crafting techniques. The idea was enticing and the photos of the first box on Rya weaving were so stunning I couldn’t resist. On Christmas Day, thank you to the advent of the internet, yours truly gave herself the first January box to just see what she thought.

It’s now March, I have received three boxes, and I’ve finished two projects. The service is not cheap and I have had to pay customs (the box ships from the US) on one box. It took me until the end of Feb to start on the first project because the start of the year was nothing short of mental. I may – or may not – be all caught up on my boxes by the end of March. And what do I think?

I think it’s pretty PRETTY pretty cool! VERY COOL, people!

I’ll be honest – I’d been hemming and hawing from the beginning about whether I should keep my subscription or not (it is expensive after all), whether it was worth to play around with different materials and techniques when I have no time nor interest in having yet another crafty hobby, but… when I finally found the time to sit down and prepared my loom and then started weaving and imagined how I’d like my piece to look like, I was hooked. There is an incredible and gentle peace of mind that comes from working on a project just for fun and with no deadline or agenda or recipient in mind apart from exploring that new technique.

When I started on my Rya weaving, I absolutely fell in love with it. The materials for that first box are stunning and the wool provided makes me love the project even more. It also comes with all the tools you need to complete your project and a loom which you get to keep forever. Yep, I’ll be making other weaving panels with this baby!

 

Each box also has an accompanying video tutorial with the artist who prepared the project. Rya weaving is with Maryanne Moodie, a brilliant weaving artist originally from Australia and now based in New York. I followed along the video – pausing here and there, of course! – and it was pretty easy and geared for that sort of watching, even though I’m fully aware is not how you should watch tutorials (as opposed to watching the whole video and then having a go). I really liked how light the video was (see how I’m inserting my little word for the year in there?), and clear and pretty and just lovely! I do hope the next videos live up to my now very high standards.

The project is so easy you can venture into your own style straight away, which is great because you can make your own piece of art instead of the exact same one presented. Mine is a bit different to the sample, even if not wildly different. It’s more me and not only am I enjoying the process, I’m also loving the piece has it’s growing. I’ll share the final work of art (cough cough!) when it’s finished, mainly because I’ll be so proud I’ll want the internet to see (whatever that means!).

The second box is on marbled planters with Emily Reinhardt and the third one is on arm knitting with the chunkiest wool I’ve ever seen, with Elise Blaha Cripe. Watch this space!