To start a hobbies thread....

[Welikebeingcosy]

I had a look and couldn't find anything so thought I'd start one!

Maybe we can ask MNHQ to move it once it gets some traction...

I just thought it would be nice to have a place where we talk about our hobbies and what we've done on our hobbies that day...

As full on as mum life is, I never value the time on my hobbies properly and I'm sure there's plenty of other out there who could do with a bit of a sharing space also...

@Badbadbunny - that sounds amazing, I’d be useless at anything like that.

Have you ever been to Bekonscot Model Village? Went there recently and the attention to detail is amazing.

So cool! I absolutely think you should still do it, loads of people go to cons and dress up in their 40s, 50s etc (even if they don't have anyone with them).
Also, you win the prize of Big Whoop- well done x

Thankyou - it's honestly pretty easy to get started - basswood or limewood, available on amazon, and a set of whittling type carving knives, safety gloves and a sharpening stone (and probably some sandpaper and so on)... One of the cheaper things to get started on.

There are loads of youtube videos that are helpful (though you'll crave a scroll saw, band saw, sanding belt and more, but I do everything by hand as I have no space for such things and they scare the absolute crap out of me).

My best tip - don't try to start with really fancy hard stripey wood... thats how you lose blood - basswood is fine, cheap and easy to carve!

I'd like to see your vinted bargains @RainbowZebraWarrior

A few people have posted that there are designated boards for most hobbies. We can all use those boards for hobbies we already have. I think this thread serves a different purpose. I'm finding it inspiring and I'm learning about hobbies I didn't know existed. Plus the enthusiasm is infectious.

Perfume, although I have a very profound connection to it, and I regard it as much more than a hobby.

Totally agree.

Can my new hobby be reading about other peoples hobbies 😅

I took up pottery a few years ago after watching the Great Pottery Throw Down during Covid. I love it. I'm not brilliant and rarely make anything I'd be happy selling, but I'm good enough. I get so much pleasure from using the mugs, bowls, vases, etc. that I've made! I'm always trying something new, it makes me look at everything around me differently.

I think I need to get some whittling knives then and look up some videos. I have all those other tools at work that I can use - I made a heart out of pine using the band saw when I was bored one day, put it down as band saw practice (being trained in the carpentry side of things at the moment). I'll ask our carpenter where I can get some basswood, I don't really use Amazon, takes forever to deliver to Finland anyway.

@BakingBreadInRome Pottery is the thing I'd most like to get into and I've been pondering it for too long now. Can you give me any tips on starting up please. I don't know if I should go for some sort of beginners package or try and buy something second hand. What did you do? TIA.

@Natsku - definitely available pretty widely for carving with, in various sizes of chunk/block/lump, you can absolutely avoid Amazon!

The fat cartoony pony is basswood and the only addition to the basic kit was the use of a dremel for some of the rather tight corners and tricky sanding, and woodglue - he's glued and pegged together.
He was made from three sections (head and neck, front legs and half his belly, bum and hind legs and tail) because I wanted the grain of the wood running in the right direction for strength (and ease of carving), but thats vertical for his legs and horizontal for his head/neck!

Then painted in acrylic and finished with a microcrystalline wax.

I'd like to make him a friend but they do take me a while and I've got a big illustration job coming up and feel a bit wobbly about risking my fingers before I've done that!!

@AppallinglyReheated Makes sense to do it in separate parts to have the grain running in the right directions for the shape. I have a dremel I can use too. Getting quite excited about this!

Crown green bowling.

I went for a course at a community studio and then another course, and then another course and eventually just joined as a member. So I haven’t set up my own studio (and I don’t know anything much about firing, which is a complex area). Having fellow potters nearby is a big bit of why I enjoy it. Always some experience you can turn to when things are frustrating and everything you need at hand (not that that stops me buying too much paraphernalia for my self!). This is probably the best way to start if you can. Would love to set up my own studio though, but currently renting and it isn’t feasible.

If you have to do it yourself, you’d need a kiln and a safe space to do it. The kiln gives off toxic fumes and the clay dust is also bad for you, so doing it inside your home is a bad idea. Well ventilated shed or garage (with good seals round internal doors) is what most people go with. You don’t actually need much else to start if you go the hand building route. A solid table. Maybe a rolling pin and some spacers for making even sheets. A cutting wire. A few cheap sponges and shaping tools. A couple of glazes and some brushes eventually. Ideas! Get a good book, join some online forums and watch a lot of youtube, would be my best advise. Then you can build up as your interest and competence grows.

It really is so much fun, though. Playing with mud!

Urbex photography - I particularly like hospitals and asylums.
Watches - I've been a collector and fettler for 29 years, but now I work in the industry so don't do it as much in my spare time.
Carryology - I collect and trade backpacks and EDC pouches and am on a permanent quest to find the perfect EDC and travel set-up. Its an overly nerdy hobby but i think not doing watches so much, i needed to find something equally geeky to satisfy my lizard brain.

I do (whispers) Tai Chi out on my deck every morning and in winter I get up early and do it in the sitting room. I'm not very good at it. Also - container gardening and painting.

Me too.

I love a good rummage around a thrift shop myself.

Might have a go at pottery too because I found several big boxes of clay, tools, and a kiln at work that no one ever uses.

I'm intrigued by your languages hobby, OP, as I'm a languages teacher. Which ones?

My hobbies are knitting, crochet and spinning (on a traditional spinning wheel). I also do yoga and pilates and am about to rejoin a choir. I love learning new languages too, but I haven't really got time at the moment!

Madurodam in the Netherlands is also worth a visit.

Same!!

Now Urbex photography absolutely fascinates me and I own an SLR. I got in to photography years ago but never got very good. How do you find interesting places to photograph?

I’ve just started out pen-paling really enjoying it so far.

My hobbies are mostly musical. I sing in a choir and play flute in a concert band and an orchestra. I also walk rescue dogs and am in a book club.

I love photography but that's tailed off a bit since last August when I learnt to crochet, I'm now on my 6th blanket.
I spend a couple of hours a day doing that while listening to podcasts.

I also love my VR headset, I've always been a gamer but for the last 4 years I've used my headset daily.
It's great for all sorts of things, there's an App on there called Wander which is basically Google maps but it puts you floor level so you feel like you're there.
I've researched holidays and properties on there and often travel the world seeing the sights from the comfort of my settee.

I join a group of adults ranging from 20 - 70 from around the world most evenings and play games, at the moment we're playing a Fortnite style one where you team up, fly down, grab a gun and it's first one to kill the other team, it's great fun.