Angie Stump McKibben

Name: Angie Stump McKibben

Age: 44

Location: Ohio, USA

Profession: Graphic Artist on Hiatus

Craft(s) of Choice: Cut Paper Collage, Knitting, Crochet, Sewing, Painting, Etc.

Blog: http://stumptious.wordpress.com

I grew up with artists and crafters on both sides of my family, so creativity was always going to be encouraged in my life. One of my earliest memories with my maternal grandmother was making crepe paper roses that she would dip in paraffin for stability. I thought it was the epitome of fine art back then, even though it was a throwback to my grandmother’s Appalachian heritage. Crafting turned into more of a therapeutic necessity, rather than recreation, when I was around age 12 and this grandmother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease. As her disease grew, I longed more and more for the days when she could engage with me in the fun of crafting. Today, my own mother now has the disease. She is the third known generation in our family with Alzheimer’s. Crafting keeps me grounded in those good family memories, and is a therapeutic release from the bad. Whether a technique is from a modest cultural place or from a fine arts master, they are both of great value. May we never lose these beautiful crafting talents!

Beverly Army Williams

Name:  Beverly Army Williams        

Age:  39

Location:  Granby, CT

Profession: College freshman composition professor and fiction writer

Craft(s) of Choice: Knitting, spinning, weaving, embroidery, crochet

Blog: http://www.wbnm.typepad.com

My Gram was an avid stitcher.  She and her four sisters loved to crochet, although only one of them could read a pattern.  Aunt Franny would find an afghan or layette that she liked and teach the pattern to the other sisters, who would make endless items from memory. 

At nineteen, I decided I would use the road trip to our family reunion in Ohio to learn to crochet from Gram.  We worked with a small crochet hook and fine thread.  Gram wasn’t much of a teacher; she would rather rip out and fix my mistakes herself than show me what to do.  Somehow, though, I created my first doily—a bit wonky, but clearly a finished project.

It would be a few years before I taught myself to knit, but once I did, I was enamored. Until I moved to New Mexico for graduate school, I knit by myself.  Once there, though, I found a community of knitters, several of whom remain dear friends, despite my move to Connecticut.  We met every Tuesday night, and those gab sessions were my respite from academia.  My skills developed, and I found myself taking on more challenging projects, knowing that I had a posse of knitters ready to help me if I got stuck.  In the same way Gram learned from her biological sisters, I learned from my “knit sibs.” More than the product or the process of my creativity, it is my crafting community that means the most to me.

Christine Blystone

Name: Christine Blystone

Age: 26

Location: Portland, Oregon

Profession: Web Editor at an Alt. Weekly Newspaper

Craft(s) of Choice: Sewing & Embroidery

Blog: http://flappergirlcreations.wordpress.com

My first memory of sewing is from when I was around eight years old. My best friend and I were really into troll dolls, and we decided we were going to make wardrobes for all our trolls. We started off sewing all the clothes by hand, but one evening while accompanying my mother to Best Fabrics at the mall (which later went out of business and became a JoAnn’s), I spotted a children’s battery operated sewing machine in the bargain bin for $5. Through a combination of begging and sweet-talking, my mother bought it for me, and I was ecstatic about my new treasure, undoubtedly glowing the entire car ride home. Throughout the next few weeks, many-a-troll-doll got new duds. Then Barbies got new custom pillows and blankets. My new-found creative outlet really kicked-off from there, and that little bargain bin sewing machine got so much use! Sewing had officially entered my blood. There was no stopping it, even after I outgrew the toy sewing machine. From there I went back to good ol’ needle and thread. I altered my own clothing at 16. Reupholstered my drum throne and made a drum stick carrying case at 17. And as soon I got my first real sewing machine as an adult, I’ve been knee-deep in sewing projects, learning new sewing tricks, sewing more projects, learning more new sewing tricks, sewing more projects… well, you get the picture.

Christine Hmiel

Name: Christine Hmiel

Age: 24

Location: Albany, NY

Profession: I just finished my Masters degree and now work at a nonprofit organization.

Craft(s) of Choice: Sewing, crochet, embroidery, block print… anything new I can learn!  Oh and baking too!

Blog: Unspeakable Visions

Growing up, my mom encouraged creativity at every turn– craft-themed birthday parties, homemade jewelry, DIY projects around the home, etc..  It wasn’t until I started my Masters degree in Public Policy that, ironically, I reclaimed this craftiness and passion for the “domestic arts”.  The more involved I became in the professional world, the more I turned to sewing as a creative outlet and reprieve from daily deadlines and pressures.  In my graduate classes we learned the value of analysis, careful decision making, and thorough planning but in my little world of sewing, I threw all caution to the wind.  I started with simple clothing patterns and soon began tackling every project in sight– no matter how complicated or time-consuming.  In a world that can seem unmanageable and impersonal, sewing allows me to take a few quiet moments and to make things with my own hands and mind.  For many crafters, the creative and professional parts of life can seem contradictory or incompatible.  I don’t see it that way.  I think you can be a strong woman and still adore frilly details on vintage aprons; you can command respect in the board meeting and still return home to decorate cupcakes and cookies; you can have professional ambitions and still take time to enjoy a small herb garden or the warmth of a handmade scarf.  For me, crafting provides the perfect balance to our fast-paced, hectic world.  I am proud to be a new-wave seamstress, crocheter and all around crafty lady.

Claudia Dunitz

Name: Claudia Dunitz

Age: 55

Location: Santa Fe, NM

Profession: Maker (of Natural Skin Care Products and Graphic Design)

Craft(s) of Choice: Knitting, Freeform Crochet, Art Quilting, Baking, Mosaics, Beading, Sewing, Embroidery, Surface Design, Painting, Printing, Fusing, Burning, Yikes – I can go on and on!

Blog: http://www.healmyhands.typepad.com

I don’t think there was a time when I didn’t make things with my hands.  In those days we “played outside” until it was time for supper.  We made forts and mud pies and played games with balls and sticks.  As I got older, I made cloths for my dolls, then clothes for myself.   As a young wife, I made clothes for my children to stretch the family budget.  I learned to knit and quilt.  My daughters learned to make what they didn’t have by watching me.  I was the Brownie Leader and we crafted constantly, at our meetings and at home.  We fed ourselves and warmed ourselves.  We baked, canned sewed and quilted by hand.  They made quilts for their dolls’ beds while I made quilts for our beds.

Today, both my daughters are makers.  My eldest daughter designs knitwear for children in addition to raising three, holding down a full time job, baking from scratch and knitting constantly.  She has just taught my youngest granddaughter, who is five, to knit.  My youngest daughter knits, sews, gardens and is a graphic artist.  Making has always been more than a crafty afternoon for us.  It has defined us as women and as a family.  It’s what we talk about on the phone.  What we share.  The first question always is: “So what are you making?”

Claudia Remijio

Name: Claudia Remijio

Age: 33

Location: Santa Ana CA

Profession: Work in the women’s shoe industry

Craft(s) of Choice: Embroidery, some half assed knitting, learning to sew correctly, dying to learn how to crochet so i can do amuriguri 

Blog: http://craftpig.blogspot.com

My mom gave me 3 things in life that I thank her for every day.

#1 she taught me how to make chile rellenos

#2 she taught me how to love books

#3 she taught me how to embroider when I was like 5

I gave it up for a while when I thought I was too cool, then I started going to indie craft shows.  It reopened my eyes to what I had long ago abandoned.  So I started again and it was like me and the floss had never parted ways.  Nowadays, it’s a major feat to get me to put down a project.  

Curln Reed Sullivan

Name: Curln Reed Sullivan

Age:
Location: austin

Profession: artist/writer

Craft(s) of Choice: botanical character studies, illustration, cermaics, collage, embroidery

Blog: http://www.curlinreedsullivan.com/blog

one day, while photographing my new flowergal embroidery kit, my son brought a praying mantis into my studio to serve as model and spokesbug for my art. (see picture!)

Diana Gonzalez

Name: Diana Gonzalez

Age: 32

Location: Brooklyn, NY

Profession: Work at home Mother, baby wrangler, crafter

Craft(s) of Choice: knitting, crocheting, paper crafting, mixed media collage, altered art, embroidery

Blog: http://www.confessionsofacraftaholic.blogspot.com

I started making art and working with paper and such, some time ago, around the time I met my husband. I had a hard time growing up; things don’t always work out as they seem. I started writing, because somehow I always knew I’m a writer. I just knew. And so, I began writing poetry, and keeping a journal about my life, and moods and such.

It started me on a long journey of self expression and self examination. I love writing, and love to be creative.

As years went on, I experimented with other forms of self expression, such as needlepoint, baking, and collage work. At this point, I met my husband.

When I met my husband, I knew that he was meant to be mine. I mean, I knew that I would marry him, from the first conversation I ever had with him. His eyes, his smile….he charmed me. He attended the “Fame” school, and is an amazing artist himself. So I wanted that. I have always wanted to say that I can paint amazing pictures like the ones I see in my mind. Amazing, how that would be. Years went by, and I realized I paint pictures in MY way. In my own unique manner, I do paint pictures. Through my collage work and my poetry, I paint pictures. So for this I am grateful.

I started a few years ago, a spiritual quest to find my own version of Nirvana. Through symbolism and creativity, I find myself melding my spiritual quest and my superstitions with my craft quite a bit.

Most of my projects are inspired by my belief in fairies, or my superstitious belief in cats being lucky.

So I’m crafting, selling my art, and writing about my brand of art, and about my quest for Nirvana through my creative process.

Elizabeth Kalka

Name: Elizabeth Kalka

Age: (cough) 41

Location: San Antonio Texas

Profession : Etsy Shop Owner and WAHM of 4 boys

Craft(s) of Choice: Crochet & Cross Stitch

Blog: http://www.lavenderlizard.blogspot.com

Every Christmas since my oldest son (now 12) was born, I have made ornaments for each of my boys. Usually they have been cross-stitched, but sometimes they are crafted or crocheted. Some of them are personalized. My wish for them is that when they leave our home, they will each be able to take a boxful of their own handmade ornaments for their first Christmas away from home.

Elizabeth Lay

Name: Elizabeth Lay

Age: prime

Location: Orlean, VA

Profession: Textile Artist

Craft(s) of Choice: needlepoint

Blog: http://www.orleanfinetapestry.com

My mother taught me to needlepoint when I was about 10 years old. She had already taught me to knit but there was something about needlepoint; it was like coloring with both hands. I fell in love immediately. There is a tactile joy, a sense of comfort that I have just never gotten from painting. I still get a rush holding hanks of colored yarn in my hands; and it’s a good thing since my passion has become my business. Everything stops when a box of wool is delivered! I can’t wait to open it and sort it into bins of color families. I often stand back and admire the cubbies filled with hues and remember when I once saw a photo of a designer’s studio; it may have been Kaffee Fassett. I was completely captured by the wall units filled with baskets of wool in every imaginable color. I thought; I’ll do just about any job that allows me to have a studio like that! And now, I do.