Crafting Affordably (from someone who’s often broke)
As we all know, I constantly want to try new crafts and hobbies, and somehow I always seem to choose the craft that requires the most specific and expensive equipment and/or materials. I am also someone who has worked in the arts her entire life, and therefore am always broke (which is a sad statement on the way the arts pays, but that’s a whole other rant). This discrepancy leaves me constantly trying to figure out cheaper ways to start new crafts. I figure if I can try it out at a lower cost, I can see if it’s something I’m likely to continue doing, and then decide if I want to invest more in proper equipment. Here are a few of my low cost ways to try out a craft.
Papermaking seemed cool, and relatively low cost with the amount of stuff I put in the recycling, so I looked into it. Turns out I was going to need a mold and dekkle and a blender. So I made a mold and deckle with some dollar store canvas frames, a bit of window screen, and some heavy duty staples. And instead of a blender I just soaked my paper scraps longer, and pre-tore them smaller. I did eventually get a terrible and super cheap immersion blender, which so far has been working just fine for where I’m at in the craft.
Embroidery looked fun, so I headed off to the dollar store (my favourite DIY supply space) and got a sewing kit. I happened to have some embroidery thread from when I used to make friendship bracelets as a kid (hooray for never throwing anything out… but don’t tell that to my hoarder tendencies that I’m trying to get rid of) and an old hoop from my grandmother that had a crack so it didn’t fully tighten. I used some scrap fabric from an old ripped sheet I had, and began stitching away.
Want to try knitting but don’t want to buy yarn or needles? No problem. You can cut up old shirts to make fabric yarn (which albeit feels very different from actual yarn, but can still give you the sense of what knitting is like), and things like pencils, chopsticks, or even wooden dowels can stand in for your needles. You can also pick up a knitted sweater, shirt, or scarf (or any other knitted item) from thrift shops to unravel and reuse the yarn. And acrylic yarns can be pretty economically priced, if you’re looking to use a specific colour yarn.
Feel like painting? Go ahead and grab your supplies from the dollar store. I’ve made some excellent Bob Ross paintings with only dollar store supplies.
I ended up with whole bunch of shirts from an event I did that were going to get tossed in the garbage. So I obviously took them home. I cut them up to make long fabric sticks and made a needle out of wire and masking tape, and made a knotted rug. You may not have a giant stack of shirts like I do, but you probably have some old clothes and/or sheets that are just waiting to have a new life. And if you don’t, friends family or the thrift store might.
Sewing is a big one that I wanted to do but the equipment was so expensive. But with an old sheet from a thrift store, a ripped pair of yoga pants, a regular pair of scissors, some sidewalk chalk, and a needle and thread from the dollar store I managed to make my very first circle skirt, no sewing machine required.
Weaving also caught my attention, but I had neither the space nor the money for a floor loom. But a frame with some nails does wonders to make a frame loom. You may not be able to do everything on a frame loom you can do on other types of looms, but it’s a great place to start.
I wanted to make some macrame plant hangers, but honestly macrame string was weirdly expensive. So I went to the hardware store and got myself some cotton butchers twine, which so far hasn’t crashed a single plant to the ground.
My newest hobby that I wanted to try was spinning yarn, but between the combs, cards, spinning wheel, and the raw wool itself, it definitely seemed far out of my reach. But then my frugal brain stepped in, and I found a local farmer selling fleeces for super cheap cause they were quite dirty. I got some of those, grabbed some Dawn dish soap and dog slicker brushes and went to town. The dog brushes card the wool, and my homemade spindle composed of a dowel, picture hanging hook, and a model magic disc works just fine to spin the wool into yarn. I also have realized that if you can’t/don’t want to access raw wool, you can take old scrap acrylic yarn and card and spin that.
What I’ve learnt is that with a whole bunch of research and a touch of creativity, you can often find an affordable way in. Sure, things may not come out as slick or easily with the DIY equipment, but at least you can try things out to see if you’d like doing it before you invest the big bucks. I also find that the frugality has had the side effect of creating more opportunities to recycle old things and give them a new and beautiful life. So go on, make your own weird equipment and give that craft you’ve been wondering about a try! A word of warning though, you may find yourself falling down the same slippery crafting slope I did, and I haven’t seemed to stop yet.
