Craft projects

There are several good sides in being back in Finland. One is that I have so many more clothes. (Nope, they're not that important, but try to live out of a suitcase for 10 months... I didn't foresee that It'd be THAT difficult to buy fitting clothes from Japan - plus the fact that all my money was used on books *g*)

The other one is that I have all my handcraft materials, well, at hand. I just finished cleaning the chest where I keep all my wool, threads, beads, cloth, liquid wax etc... And I'm seriously planning to start working on them so that I'd be able to sell some. Until now I've mainly played around, done some indoor decorations for myself and as christmas presents for friends and family, but everytime I speak with my friends at work for example, they're telling me I should try to make some extra and sell them (to them - I've already sold so many projects on the grounds of "if you'd do it, I'd buy it!").

And I love making stuff with my hands, as much as I love research (read: reading interesting stuff and making up things about it - then you have to write your ideas down and voila - there's your paper), the only problem is procrastination. Then again, when I start a project, I usually get so carried away by it that I finish it in some hours or days, depending a bit on the size of it. 2 years ago I started to pain tealight holders for christmas presents, and in some hours I had finished almost 10 of them. The same goes for needlefelting. (try it, it's EXTREMELY therapeutic!) I had put off a dragon project for almost 2 years when I decided to start it - and it was done in 3 days - and I was working all the days at the time, otherwise I might have done it in one or 2 days.

Right now I'm planning to hone my beading skills a bit more and start making earrings and necklaces - you know those airy kinds with more wire than beads and many layers, and some kinds of long earrings that would have an origami crane dangling at the end. Or something that would remind me of Finalnd, like birch- and rowan-inspired... And painting on glass, I prefer doing tealight / candle holders or vases, and all kinds of rustic-looking autumnal decorations to hang on the door / wall, or more needlefelted dragons. You see, my head is overflowing. :)

I should also take pics of my previous projects so that I'd have something to show for prospective buyers.

So, a life as a scholar, with side projects of translation and handcrafts - doesn't sound too bad to me. ;)