end result. When I’m making a piece, I’m focused on the process and I’m thinking, ‘This feels right.’”
Whether we wake to this artful phenomenon in childhood or later in life, it’s never too late to reap the ben- efits. According to crafters from various walks of life, such hands-on experiences help us to enhance our well-being, ground our everyday lives, and give renewed purpose.
Start Today
Lenore Moritz, founder and curator of and blogger at MomCultureOnline. com, took her first jewelry making class when she was single and living in New York City. “I needed something to tether me,” she writes, “and I knew it would get me out of the office at a decent hour at least once a week.” She says that what started out as a whim turned into catharsis. “I loved toting my tackle box of crafting supplies and the act of using my hands to transform a silver sheet into wearable art felt empowering. I became an accidental craftsperson.” She found her best reward in finishing a piece, which she character- izes as, “... a crescendo I never knew in my day-to-day professional life.” She explains, “At the office, my world was nothing but to-do lists and compli- cated, open-ended projects; a sense of completion was rare. But in craft class, it was crystal clear when I had finished a project, and I reveled in that closure.” Jenny Barnett Rohrs spent 15 years as a music therapist in Lake- wood, Ohio, helping people cope with life’s problems. Meanwhile, she loved decompressing at the end of the day by working with polymer clay to make beautiful beads, doll pins, nametags and other decorative items. “I was always a crafty, creative kid, learning
In craft and craftsmanship we experience the development of critical thinking, imagination, the ability to play, a source of pride, even validation of our existence.
~ Suzanne Ramljak, art historian, from an interview with Richard Sennett
natural awakenings September 2011 33
to embroider from one grandmother and how to make seed flowers from the other,” she recalls. “Since both sets of grandparents lived through the Depres- sion, they were always repurposing things, recycling before it was cool.” As she continued to expand her range of crafting skills and interests as an adult, she also started blogging about it at
CraftTherapy.com. “I am a self-taught crafter and never met a craft I didn’t like,” admits Rohrs. “I believe that crafting is an extension of yourself and how you view your world. It’s a way of expressing yourself, coping with life and gaining insight.”
As Rohrs continued to try out new crafts, materials, products and tech- niques, entries on her craft blog grew to the point that she launched a second one at
CraftTestDummies.com, where she shares her evaluations. Earlier this year, she appeared on The Martha Stewart Show.
Regular posts track her adventures with various media, including her recent experiences with water-soluble ink blocks for drawing and painting, and making a booklet from envelopes. Other popular pastimes range from scrapbooking and making home ac- cessories using beachcomber finds to gifting baby garments personalized with fabric paint decoration.
“I believe that creativity is in- nate,” comments Rohrs. “When you tell your inner critic to shut up, you
can have a lot of fun and learn some- thing about yourself. I especially love to encourage folks to try new things and new techniques, and to push their own boundaries.”
It’s Never Too Late
Sandra Palmer Ciolino learned to sew as a child, but didn’t maximize the creativ- ity of her craft until her children were grown, when she was in her 40s. For Ciolino, of Cincinnati, Ohio, “Making contemporary quilts satisfies my desire to work in solitude and fulfills my long- ing to create lasting and beautiful art. Creating quilts for the wall marries many things I love—fabric, color, composi- tion, piecing and machine quilting.” Ciolino fondly remembers her mother’s handiwork. “I have a vivid memory of her taking a navy blue over- coat of my father’s and using it to sew me a winter coat with cranberry piping; I was so proud of that coat.” She began by making doll clothes, and then started sewing clothing for herself in junior high school, doing her own garment construction. “The techni- cal stuff came early,” she says. Later on, busy with family duties and teaching elementary school physical education classes, she didn’t take time to turn to quilting until the mid-1990s. At first, Cio- lino made her quilts in traditional pieced patterns to hang in her house or share as gifts; but then, something changed. “I began to notice in my photogra
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