ARTS AND CRAFTS

Back in my Snot-Nose Days, I liked Arts and Crafts - the business of creating beautiful things. Or, in my case, Gawd-Awful Eye Cancers.

In Day Camp, we made things like tile mosaics and enameled pins...and, of course, the Ubiquitous Gimp Lanyards. And, as I got older, my modeling talent found its outlet in hobbies like Model Rocketry.

Alas, my Arts and Crafts capabilities have shrivelled from disuse. The last “crafty” thing I did was to write out my wedding contract - ketubah - in Hebrew-Aramaic calligraphy over 29 years ago. The parchment resides in my nightstand, with the illumination half-complete. I rationalize this by saying that my marriage to SWMBO is an ever-evolving, ever-growing relationship, one that will never be “finished” while we both live - but that’s an excuse, and a poor one at that.


Elisson’s hand-inscribed ketubah (Detail).
Click to embiggen.

A few years ago, I did some découpage and made myself a nice Cigar-Box. But that’s about it. A few years ago, we took the Mistress of Sarcasm to a big-league Craft Show here in Atlanta, and you would not believe the stuff we saw there. Beautiful...and way, way beyond the ol’ Gimp Lanyard.


Elisson’s hand-made Découpage Cigar-Box.

The Mistress studied Metals and Jewelry at the Savannah College of Art and Design, and she just called today to say that she just got a substantial order for one of her designs, a Hitchcock-inspired pendant. She seems to have inherited any Arty Talent I may have had, and then some.


The Mistress’s Hitchcockian Bird Pendant.

As for me, I’m tempted to get back into Arts and Crafts, thanks to this site. Lots of creative ideas!

[Tip o’ th’ Elisson fedora to Christopher Trottier of quixoticals for the link.]