There is something powerfully grounding about making something beautiful with your hands, said a number of crafts people at a recent handmade fair in the city.
Working with the hands is good for mind and heart, bringing with it a strong sense of purpose. And it is about sharing something unique and aesthetically pleasing with others, say hand-makers.
When Chelsie Hearn found out she was pregnant she started searching the shops for handcrafted baby things. She came up short.
Hearn was among 20 vendors at the packed Dec. 18 Holiday Vintage & Makers' Market held at St. George’s Anglican Church in downtown Guelph.
“So I started to buy up interesting fabric like crazy and made everything from bibs to pants, knick knacks, and accessories,” said Hearn, who studied fine art at the University of Guelph.
Driven to make things by hand, she eventually had a surplus of newly made baby items, more than her daughter Harper needed. It was time to start selling.
“It’s such a fun thing to do in my downtime,” she said. “Instead of sitting in front of a TV set, I sit in front of the sewing machine making things.”
The more she made, the more she saw she could make. Her output grew, as did her skills.
“It is very grounding,” she said. “I’ve always had a need to make things and be creative. If I can’t do it, I get into a mood. I’m able to express myself through whatever it is I’m making.”
Lynn Pineau and her daughter, Kathryn Galloway, were also vendors at the Saturday market.
“Human beings are all about the creative process,” said Pineau, as she knit Christmas tree ornaments in the busy venue. “I birth things, in one form or another.”
Creative work, she said, is a “moving meditation.”
“It connects me to my inner voice,” she said. “It allows me to bring out the visions of beauty I have within myself. And sharing that seems to inspire other people. It gets them enthused about doing something themselves.”
Siyobin Blanco, 21, is part of a younger generation that has embraced the DIY philosophy, both for the sense of well-being and the economy of it. If you can do it yourself and earn some money from it, you gain a sense of self-sufficiency, pride and accomplishment, she said.
“It is a meditative experience,” said the masterful knitter. “And at the end of the process I’m able to say, I made that.”
Blanco’s hand-making started when she attended the Trillium Waldorf School in Guelph. The private school places a strong emphasis on hands-on learning.
“To make things yourself, and things that last, is a great feeling,” she said. “And also to teach others these skills.”
She added that there is a shift happening in society, where people are more attracted to the uniqueness and durability of handmade items, while “rejecting cheap manufactured goods.”
For Sonali Menezes, the making of things is also rooted in the idea of self-sufficiency. She makes bright, beautiful necklaces, using resin, fabric, and recycled magazine images, all with a “feminist twist.”
“I want to make things that I would like to wear,” she said. “For me, it’s important to wear things that I believe in. But, it is more to make people feel good. And it gives me a disposable income.”
When we support small enterprises like her jewelry making, we show support for “real people in our community,” she added.
Shawna Hilborn has turned the knitting craft she learned from her grandmother into a small business. She sells her winter hats, each one uniquely embellished with the vintage buttons he inherited from her grandmother Louisa.
“I don’t like to mass product an item,” she said. “I like one-of-a-kinds. When I start, it is like an artist working on a blank canvas. I go where it wants to go.”
Making hats, she said, helps sooth her anxiety. But the activity is also fuelled by that same nervous energy.
“I produce the most when I’m under stress,” she said.
As fulfilling as it is to finish something with her hands, it is equally gratifying to see how others react to them.
“When they smile, when their faces light up, that is very fulfilling.”
