It's never really finished until it's out the door
Hello. My name is Sue and I am a re-crafter. In my world there is no such thing as a finished craft project. There is always something I can tweak, one more line I can adjust, another bead I can add. I once took a framed pencil sketch of a moose off the wall of my mom's house two years after I had "finished" it to add some shading to an ear. I have been known to rip apart half an afghan to change the color of a row of stitches. It's not that I am a perfectionist...not at all. I am the first to admit that I don't turn out perfect projects. They are, after all, handmade not machine made. But I always look at something I have done and think "what if I added..." and unless you actually take it out of my hand, I will do just that.
Sometimes it goes horribly wrong. Like the time I repainted a wooden Santa because I didn't think his face looked jolly enough. Instead of a happy smiling Santa, I ended up with Santa's evil twin...a scary looking troll with squinty eyes and a lopsided sneer. Or the time I added so much embroidery to a guest towel that my son accused me of wanting to make sure our guests never, ever washed their hands at our house again.
But sometimes it works. I am new to Etsy and have been building up my inventory for the past month. Each time I have added a finished bracelet to my store, I have felt this amazing sense of pride that something I made is being viewed by someone in Alaska or Kansas or England. So this morning I was completely taken by surprise when, as I sat reviewing my store, reading emails, browsing Treasuries, drinking coffee, I was suddenly overcome with the urge to rework a bracelet. I thought I would maybe add a bead or two, tweak a link. Within minutes I found myself completely dismantling it, shortening one chain, adding to another, taking out some beads, adding in beads I had thought would be in other bracelets. The result is similar to the original bracelet, but cleaner, sleeker and I like it! I may not be finished with it...but right now, I like it.
Sometimes it goes horribly wrong. Like the time I repainted a wooden Santa because I didn't think his face looked jolly enough. Instead of a happy smiling Santa, I ended up with Santa's evil twin...a scary looking troll with squinty eyes and a lopsided sneer. Or the time I added so much embroidery to a guest towel that my son accused me of wanting to make sure our guests never, ever washed their hands at our house again.
But sometimes it works. I am new to Etsy and have been building up my inventory for the past month. Each time I have added a finished bracelet to my store, I have felt this amazing sense of pride that something I made is being viewed by someone in Alaska or Kansas or England. So this morning I was completely taken by surprise when, as I sat reviewing my store, reading emails, browsing Treasuries, drinking coffee, I was suddenly overcome with the urge to rework a bracelet. I thought I would maybe add a bead or two, tweak a link. Within minutes I found myself completely dismantling it, shortening one chain, adding to another, taking out some beads, adding in beads I had thought would be in other bracelets. The result is similar to the original bracelet, but cleaner, sleeker and I like it! I may not be finished with it...but right now, I like it.
Hello. My name is Sue, and I am a re-crafter.
