Are you a real life Artisan?

[Drucilla]

I figure with the thread about band geeks and Artisan class, as well as the fact we all like the artisan class, the question always comes to mind:

Are you a real life Artisan? What do you like to do?

Myself:

I've been a crafter, sewer, and baker all of my life. When I was 8 I was cutting out dresses for my mom's custom shop, by 10 I was sewing some of them. I've been sewing on and off since them (I'm old!). I also was given cooking lessons at age 10 and I've never stopped baking or cooking. I enjoy "Taste of Home" magazine as it has no-nonsense recipes using everyday items I probably have in the cupboard. About 10 years ago I used to make little Victorian necklaces that I sold in a craft store. When that died down (after about a year), I put aside making anything new. Recently I've gotten away from sewing machine sewing and have leaned towards making beaded amulet bags. My current project is sewing a wizard picture by hand onto a sweatshirt. I also dabble in crochet I've got a scarf started for my brother's birthday....whichever year it's finished he gets it. ;) I've been also taking occasional pottery classes. Here in town we have a small pottery store that focuses on painting pottery, and they offer classes on techniques in assembling and painting.

So, what does everyone else do?

[Grei]

I'm just a dabbler. I've done a little of everything from cooking and baking (unfortunately my current roomies aren't letting me stop cooking and baking now--got them hooked on my chocolate chip oatmeal cookies), to sewing and needlepoint, to blacksmithing (made my own light armor for SCA back when I used to be a crossbowman), to woodworking, to robotics (ok, this is a bit of a stretch--but Lego makes it so much easier now :)), to painting and so on.

Basically if I get interested in something, I try to learn the basics of it. Unfortunately I have a hard time actually staying with a project for long after I've learned the basics. I'm not the most artisitic person in the world, so I don't always get things to look the way I wanted them to, but I like knowing how to do things. And I hate having my hands idle for too long (probably why I have burned through my 5th Rubik's cube (which I've been able to solve since I had the chicken pox as a kid) in the last 20 years just recently--need to get a new one again), which is part of it.

I also get interested in alot of related things too. Such as the differences in swordmaking between European and Asian blacksmiths (there's a panel on metallurgy of the sword at a Con I'm attending this weekend--looking forward to that).

But an Artisan in RL? Nope, I'm not much of one. Started a cross-stitch project 4 years ago that's down to the last little bit of work and just never get around to finishing it. Then there's the suit of chainmail I was working on--but that got derailed because the metal I was using was too soft, so the rings are pulling apart now that there's some weight on it. Then there's the brigadine tunic I was working on using thick leather instead of metal plates (would give about the same appearance, without the weight, and be a bit more flexible), which I completely forgot about until I came across it in my move earlier this month. I probably have a hundred other projects that have been buried as well.

Grei

[Karikaru]

well if web design counts :P

hmm i work in a fast food place, but i wouldnt call what i do "cooking" necessarily... when you make 18 burgers in under a minute you lose some of the quality :P

I have done some wood-working, when i helped build a cabinet-type thing. I mostly just helped, bcause the other guy was the one who knew what he was doing. I just tried to learn from what we were doing.

I have gone fishing, but i suck at fishing and never catch anything. Thats about it i think... cant say that i have fashioned any weapons :P

[Drucilla]

I've never tried blacksmithing but saw pewter being poured at our last Folk Fest.

Grei you are quite the renaissance man!

And ps......I burned through two rubik's cubes in junior high in competitions. ;)

[Inyidd]

I've been cooking in one way or another for a long time now, but I don't do much baking. I've done basic sewing, leatherwork and chainmail. I haven't done any blacksmithing though, but I'd like to, eventually.

--Inyidd, the Untouchable
Nothing like Danny Devito

[Grei]

My sewing skills are about to get a workout again this week since I plan on going to Kumoricon as Miroku from Inu Yasha. On top of beading (gotta restring a few strings of beads to make it look like part of the costume).

Unfortunately, I don't have a lathe...so can't do the staff the way it's supposed to be...but it's cosplay so close will have to suffice. :)

Yes, I'm an anime otaku (fanatic) and I admit it. ;) I'm not much of an artist though--try as I might, I just can't seem to draw anything but landscapes and make it recognizable.

Alot of my crafting hobbies have come out of such things though, either the various medieval and renaissance events or the various sci fi and fandom conventions. Blacksmithing was from a medieval faire--they had a portable forge and I got a chance to play for a bit. :) Sewing and embroidery came from various events or leadup to events--though I did pick up needlepoint and cross stitch when I was younger.

Now I'm sure people are starting to wonder if I'm really a guy. ;) And while I do wear a skirt (actually it's a kilt, but you'd be surprised at how many people just call it a skirt) from time to time, I'm really a guy. :) Here's a relatively recent pic of 'Sir Grei Lar of Dunsmuir and his noble steed Hobby' from a few years ago. :) Not the best picture of me, but it's the most recent one of me in costume that I can find online.

http://britomartis.com/%7Egrei/Grei1.jpg

Grei (and Hobby) :)

[Niami DenMother]

I *used* to be an RL tradeskiller ... does that count? ;)

I came from a large and active 4-H family, so starting at age 9 I was learning cooking, sewing, macrame, etc. Add in string art, decoupage, ceramics, gardening (top teen gardener in my county 2 years running), a bit of paper making, embroidery (separate from cross-stitch), kitting, crocheting, etc. I think my first yeast breads were made from scratch when I was 10. I even learned a bit of fly tying, though all my fishing was done with live bait, not fly fishing.

Baking was my favorite (desserts and the like, as opposed to cooking meals for a family of 7, which is something I was doing as a teen as part of my "chores"). Unfortunately, my allergies hit in a big way. First the pollen allergies and many raw veggies, fruits and such, which put an end to the gardening, then later in life, a lot of other nasties, including a wheat intolerance that pretty much put an end to my baking.

My last knitting experience was about 15 years ago - one of those ginormous multi-color Dr. Who scarves.

Over 10 years ago, after spending one weekend working a booth at a Ren Faire doing a lovely celtic knotwork design on the front of my cloak, I finally admitted that my embroidery and cross-stitching days were over, as my tendonitis was in full flare-up and has never fully recovered, probably due to the amount of time I live in front of computers.

I've always had a hate-hate relationship with my sewing machine. My gown for my senior prom was hemmed up about 10 minutes before my date arrived ... a Gunne Sax with loop buttonholes, 3 different widths/types of lace, pleated bodice and the works. Drove me totally berk. Oh, maybe I was insane well before that? ;) Every once in a while, I begin to think that I'll get back into sewing, and work on garb for the Ren Faire, or something simple like a pair of pants or a shirt or something, only to have something go awry ... generally the sewing machine deciding that huge thread snarls on the underside of the seam will be "fun", etc., etc. and I give up again for another few years. :)

The rest of my family makes up for my current dearth of tradeskilling, though. ;)

One of my sisters has a degree in Fine Arts, and her senior show contained some really lovely pottery. These days, however, due to her clay allergy (!), she mostly does beadwork, which has been featured in galleries in several states. Her health isn't that great these days, so she doesn't do much anymore, but she's a very talented woman. My eldest sister is now also into beadwork, as well as other crafts. My younger sister does beadwork, stenciling (she's done a lovely job on the inside of her house), and runs a lovely party decoration business, not only making/selling party decorations, but actually going on-site and doing the decorating. ... I've always felt particularly untalented in the crafting arena when compared to any of them, though when I actually read through the list, I guess I held my own better than I thought. ;)

[Drucilla]

a Gunne Sax with loop buttonholes, 3 different widths/types of lace, pleated bodice and the works.

If this was back in the *cough* early 80's *cough* I was avid wearing Gunne Sax too! Totally into Gunne Sax. :) My mom lived in Pasadena and we'd hit the outlet in .....Montclair? Somewhere like that.

Your family sounds like mine. Two sisters and mom all talented in many facets of craft work. I do pretty good but I hate the comparison.

And yes, 'used to' always count. I often wonder about people that enjoy tradeskilling and if they either enjoy it RL, can't anymore therefore enjoy it in-game, or never did get the knack of it in RL and this is their outlet to do so. :)

[Drucilla]

Grei I love that pic. Awesome!!

[Niami DenMother]

If this was back in the *cough* early 80's *cough* I was avid wearing Gunne Sax too!

Yep! Now, don't let my father hear that cough of yours! {eg} He might try to feed you some home-brewed yarrow tea. Vile stuff {shudders} Truly vile. Great for a fever/cold, but .... ugh.

[Drucilla]

Yep! Now, don't let my father hear that cough of yours! {eg} He might try to feed you some home-brewed yarrow tea. Vile stuff {shudders} Truly vile. Great for a fever/cold, but .... ugh.

I haven't had the pleasure of trying it...... :D

[Niami DenMother]

Be glad. Be very very glad, if you've never tried it. Old herbal remedy that works very well, but even drowing it in honey wasn't enough to make it tolerable. I can still remember that taste, 3 decades later, and it still makes me want to shudder.

[Grei]

Gaaaaah, I'm begining to hate sewing again. Trying to get my Miroku costume done up by Saturday and of course my sewing coach decided to do something funky with the collar and left it to me to finish tonight.

I'll find out tomorrow whether I totally screwed it up and have to rip the stitches and start over, or if my 3rd messup was due to just being tired.

And I still need to work over the staff tomorrow, on top of getting some more brass rings (the local saddle and tack place doesn't stock them unless someone orders them).

The things I do at the last minute...I'd hate to see what would happen if I ever actually did things with proper planning and plenty of time.

Grei

[Inyidd]

The things I do at the last minute...I'd hate to see what would happen if I ever actually did things with proper planning and plenty of time.

Ooh, ooh! I know the answer! You'd think you had plenty of time and save everything for the last minute!

--Inyidd, the Untouchable
Master Procrastinator

[Ariadne]

I knit, and do some HUGE cross-stitch projects... but not a lot else.. being a mum kinda puts paid to a lot of free time..

[Homeslice513]

Well I can cook in real life but rarely do anything extravagant but I enjot it when I do and like to try new recipes, other than that not much of an artisan in real life.

I just end enjoying the social interaction of crafting in a game and like to help people out when I can. In SWG being in the artisan circle really puts you in with a lot of contacts for people with combat needs to entertaining needs.

All in all just a lot of fun for me :)

[Kroakar]

At one time I used to design and make furniture. I was published in Fine Woodworking Design Book One for a high chair. Although I have not made any in over a decade, we still use some of the items.

I tried making armor during my tour of duty in the SCA, but it was not memorable. After transposing step three with step four, the helmet resembled a mushroom and would only perch comically on my head. I made an elaborate handle for a war axe and a crossbow back then also. At one time I used to make carved boxes complete with secret locks and booby traps. This was in the dark ages, when RPG's were played with dice and paper and not computers.

I guess I can claim to cook - but I am hampered by excessive originality and minimal talent. After being served such delicacies as "Black Bean Chile Oatmeal Prune Surprise" my children stopped sampling my creations. I have thought about writing a cookbook titled "Recipes Best Eaten Blindfolded."

[Grei]

Well, I'm back from Kumoricon. They had a good turnout this year (1251 people at the last count I heard), and there were alot of awesome costumes as well. Soon as I get my sanity back and some free time, I'll be dumping the pics off of my camera and putting them somewhere.

I did manage to get my Miroku costume done, but a day late so I had to go in regular clothes the first day of the con. Even after sacrificing my thumb to the sewing machine to try to appease the sewing machine gods. It came out reasonably well--had a few details that I'll need to finish up for the next con I go to, but overall it was good enough to earn a hall cosplay award. Once the pic for that goes online, I'll post the link so folks can see.

Grei the slightly braindead

[Drucilla]

It came out reasonably well--had a few details that I'll need to finish up for the next con I go to, but overall it was good enough to earn a hall cosplay award.

Grats if that is a good thing! (just in case that means a raspberry award :p )

[Grei]

Grats if that is a good thing! (just in case that means a raspberry award :p )
I'd say it's a good thing, but then I've been a bit jaded towards hall costume awards from previous cons (after all, I'm not female and I don't wear strategically placed pieces of cloth or leather or even tape just to win a hall costume ribbon).

Overall, I'd say they were a bit more interested in the costumes when they handed out these ribbons instead of the person in the costume, so the pictures (once they hit the website) should demonstrate some good costuming.

Some of the best costumes in the actual Cosplay contest (which was seperate from Hall Cosplay) were done by people who had never sewn or did any crafting in their life prior to this. There were costumes done that put my attempts to shame...even costumes that went so far as handcrafted metalworking. One of the more interesting stories that was repeated was that a 15 year old made some kunai (a triangular or diamond shaped knife--the main weapon seen in Naruto if you've ever read the manga or seen the anime) out of stainless steel and not only did they weld it, the end result was exceptionally seamless which is darn difficult with stainless steel.

I did learn more about casting metal at the convention, including how to make your own blast furnace to melt metals down. Turns out it's possible to even melt and cast aluminum, using only charcoal as fuel--something I look forward to playing with in the near future.

I unfortunately missed out on the panel on the metallurgy of the Japanese sword for the second con in a row, darnit, but overall it was a very educational con. They had costuming workshops, in addition to the casting workshop, and a couple of other odds and ends that I sadly didn't get to attend.

Still working on pictures...been having to beat my laptop into submission (as a bit of advice--never, ever, spill Sprite on a laptop keyboard) just to be able to catch up on the forums and post this. :)

Grei