Quantity over quality is a bad habit I developed from growing up poor. We never had a lot and money was scarce and so it became normal to pick cheap versions of items or food and just keep buying that when needed rather than investing in one single, good quality item. There’s interesting psychology behind this but let’s save that for another day.

To combat this, I have tried to indulge myself in skills that are sustainable and help me create custom items that eliminate the need to buy cheap items. I’ve picked up sewing, knitting, crocheting, embroidery etc. as I do enjoy all sorts of crafts and practical skills, but the problem is time and still money when it comes to this. These types of practical skills are either low-cost and time-consuming or quick and high-cost. Sometimes they’re even a bit of both. I also need to learn to invest in good quality materials for better outcomes but the problem with this is that I often jump from project to project and so I often sink money into a skill hobby and move to another without reaping much from it.

For the upcoming turn of the wheel, I really want to work on this. What I need to do is start small. I have incredible amounts of fun designing craft projects and always get carried away beyond my means and skill. This means that projects either end up being much longer than intended or poorer quality than intended. This is where we need to remind ourselves that everyone must learn and practice! Not getting it in the first go is fairly normal. I often impress myself in the first run and feel that I fail to meet that same standard in the following ones; but I’m comparing never having done something to having completed it the first time. The first time will often feel like the greatest improvement initially.

Starting small, I want to work with little clay pieces. I tried to think of something practical to make as I learn to work with clay again. I’ll save making cute and intricate pieces for when I’ve improved my skills.

I’ve worked with clay before but have always used air-dry clay over polymer clay. Polymer clay is often regarded as the better choice, especially for designs with detail, but I think one bad experience with it as a teen left me thinking that I’ll only ruin all my work once it gets put in to bake.

I have had success with air-dry clay but those projects were bulkier and not what I’m hoping to achieve when learning how to make small practical items like magnets and earrings.

Armed with a basic design for a pair of earrings, materials that have been kicking around for years and some YouTube and Instagram tutorials, I will begin my journey with clay.

Stay tuned if you want to see how it turns out (ᵕ ´ ∇ ˋ ˶)