What's your craft?

It's been a good 18 months since I last did any, but I do diamond painting (also known as crystal art). Previously, my main craft was cross-stitch, and prior to that, it was knitting (mainly baby clothes and knitted toys).

I'm not sure if DIY counts, but after moving out of the family home I went through a phase when I really enjoyed painting and decorating and experimenting with different painting techniques. This also included things like putting up wall shelves, laying carpet, etc. 

I restore old apartments - Victorian stuff in the UK and Modernist stuff in Sao Paulo (Brazil).

I'm learning all the trades and have most under my belt now (just working on my first parquet flooring removal and reinstallation now).

Plumbing and electrics much more technical and I'm still learning these too.

The craft is finding the right balance of original style to reintroduce to apartments where original features were removed by previous owners, improving the functionality with modern conveniences and updated electrics / plumbing and then furnishing it with period furniture that I also restore between projects.

It is time consuming and costs a lot, but at the end it makes a lot of profit that I split between me and buying cheaper apartments to turn into affordable housing.

Hello, 

I am a hand embroiderer that specialises in 3 dimensional hand embroidery.

Can find what I get up to on Instagram @handstitcher, I am inspired by quirky oddities of nature.

It's funny, your question really brought a reflection that I need a more construction craft like you, thanks for the idea!

I've made home-made markers from mixing food colouring and alcohol. I made a peach skin colour, since there's not many alcohol type markers that have skin tones that are light. It's a nightmare to find the right shade of colour, so I just made one for myself.

It's also fun to make paper look ancient by dyeing pages with coffee or tea, then binding the pages into a book. I just like binding books to draw and write in them. 

I also love tablet weaving, which is a craft I got into last year. It's tricky, but there's some amazing designs that come from it, and I've found so many uses for the bands/straps that I've created, and it gives me an appreciation for ancient crafts.

I've gotten into knitting this year. I found it useful for keeping warm during the winter months, and I traded a few of my knits for stuffed animals and some other items, so I don't regret learning the craft one bit! 

I learned bobbin lace as well, although I don't really know what to use it for. I like making things that have a function and a purpose, but lace doesn't do anything other than looking pretty, and looking pretty is not much of a motivator for me personally to make something. I wish I had a function for it though, then I'd be motivated to make more of it.

I knit, crochet, cross stitch, and sew by machine. Obviously with my hobbies I'm quite interested in wool- how did you get into dyeing?

Hello jazshanks, dyeing wool sounds very interesting. When I was a child, we used natural things to dye natural fabrics, like tea, and onion skins - I had forgotten about that, until now! 

Hi welcome to the forum. My Gran used to use food colouring to dye different things she made, she was really good at it. 

I do woodwork, my Grandad taught me to do that, I used to spend weekends with him and would help him with his own woodwork. Last year I made a splendid birdhouse for the garden and also a dressing table for my little sister. I love woodwork, it's a fun hobby for me.