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...

I watch a man on YouTube who makes wild pottery. He finds the clay and sand in the wild, and processes it and makes cups and pots and bowls and fires them on a real camp fire. Absolutely amazing and I imagine our ancestors didn't have kilns; they probably made stuff this way. I will try to find him.
Eco friendly to the next level and Absolutely amazing. Perfect for a history nut as well as a crafty nut!

This sort of thing is fun and great to see and try but firing on a camp fire is unlikely to fully vitrify the clay, which means potential problems especially if you’re going to use for food.

Oh this sounds like my crowd!

I...in no particular order, at various times. Needle felt, crochet, paint (acrylic and water colour) chain mail (jewellery mostly), cook, bake (including wedding and novelty cakes), make my own artificial flowers, sew, circus skills (staff and poi spinning), digital art and 3d digital modelling (this is now a small freelance business). I'm also writing a fantasy trilogy, 60k into novel one, want to finish the three book manuscript by the time I'm 40 in less then 2 years.

Love the idea of Tai Chi. When I have early appointments at the Royal Victoria Infirmary here in Newcastle, I pass through the university grounds where there's always people practicing.

Thanks for that info @BakingBreadInRome I had a Google, and there was a chap popped up in the next village to me who does group Pottery lessons at £25 for 2 hours. He also mentions how to avoid exacerbating the clay dust issue. I'm definitely signing up as I have something specific in mind that I want to make, and he posts videos every week of what his pupils have made post-firing.

I'm also into photography and mainly photograph birds at my local nature reseeve. Nature is probably my biggest passion and my Dad is a beekeeper, so I love using the wax for candles and soaps. I've also just perfected balms after about 30 years of trying. I've been making propolis tincture too, which is amazing for all sorts of ailments as it's anti inflammatory, anti fungal and has many other properties.

Perfume is an interesting one. I dabble in aromatherapy as I mainly like to use natural scents.

@letsgotoletterland could you share any links to the socials of the chap who does wild Pottery please. That sounds really interesting.

This thread is amazing for ideas. I used to do a different night class every year to learn a new skill. It tailed off a bit in the past 10 years or so as I'm a single parent to an Autistic child, but I popped into my library today and found that they do a creative writing course that might fit for me.

Typo

I’ll join; my hobbies have practically taken over my life tbh. I picked them both up a couple of years ago and am now thinking about going part time to accommodate them, especially one in particular.

Ive been doing car photography and getting fairly (ish) good at it I think; I drive all over the country now shooting, and have started doing motorsport photography which is really fun (long weekends standing next to a track waiting for cars to whizz by is apparently the best fun a woman can have 😁).

I have a few hobbies. I love to read, I’ve just finished Other People’s houses by Claire Mackintosh.
ive also just finished a painting I’ve been working on of a canal and houses surrounded by forests
And I enjoy cross-stitch and crosswords

As well as learning to crochet, I paint. I go to an art group run by MIND every week. It's an essential part of my week and I never miss it. Painting brings me real peace of mind

I love my crafting hobby and I have a large crafting room with one side set up with my cutting machines and everything that goes with it, I also have a heat press and loads of vinyl, I do T.shirts and anything else I fancy. The other side has my 2 knitting machines and linker. I spend most days in there and I love it, my husband calls it my happy place and it certainly is. I don't make anything to sell, it's purely a hobby. I do like to make people's wedding invitations and I make all my own Christmas cards etc, I started my Xmas cards 2 weeks ago and have done loads. I've been doing it for years now. I'm fortunate enough to have retired early (due to ill health but im a lot better now) so I have plenty of time to enjoy it. I also have two lovely cats who have their own chair in there with me!

I do Tai Chi too! I taught myself a routine from YouTube during lockdown and do it most days. I often do it in the kitchen while I'm waiting for my tea to brew

I'm on a lot of groups and forums so sometimes you get a "heads up" but I also keep an eye on the Scotland "Buildings At Risk" register as that's where I'm based. Found a few good spots after scouting that!

There are lots of hobby pages on Facebook that are specific to each hobby. I don’t know
if you’re on Facebook but I use it purely for the hobby pages/groups now.
mI’m on a diamond art one amongst others, it’s nice as you can post a picture of your current project and people comment, you can then comment on other peoples posts.

mums-net is quite hard to use for that purpose I’d imagine

Can you post a link to the YouTube channel you use? Thanks.

I couldn't even hold a crochet hook at the start of this year but I started evening classes and now can't believe what I can do. I'd really recommend a course with a good tutor, it makes all the difference having someone there to advise when it (frequently in my case!) goes wrong.

Yes, I use videos by Peter Chen. I learned the 24-form sequence. He has videos of quite a few different versions of the same 24-form tai chi sequence - a slow, step-by-step one with full instructions, a front-view version, a rear view version etc.

https://youtube.com/@peterchentaichilife?si=H4xLMvvmTfv9QBo1

How did you get into enamelling and was it easy to find someone to teach you?

Sorry I forgot to attach to your comment - how did you get into enamelling? I’d love to try it

Asa continuation of the silversmithing.
I go to a; evening class so I can try techniques without having to buy all the stuff first.

I found it hard to do hobbies during the summer with wanting to be outside more. I'm getting back into learning Turkish now and starting Tumblr again as I find it's like being on the old Instagram before they filled the feed with rubbish. Hoping to make some doodles or do some photography to put together some posts for myself for inspiration.

I also bought a new baking dish so I can learn some new recipes like potato gratin.

Wow that sounds so much fun.
I've just started to learn to drive this summer and I didn't realise how suddenly.passionate about cars and driving i would feel.

I'm always promising myself I'll learn Arabic. I've started several times over the years. I have no connection to the region, but always found it a fascinating language. I'd also love to learn Korean.

I started an evening class on Monday - wood and metal work, so I can learn the proper ways of working with wood and metal. Starting by making a coffee table. There's a woodturning lathe there so I'm going to have a go at that too.

wow straight into making a coffee table is some feat! looking forward to hearing how you get on and seeing some pics!

oooh do it. it's always good to just jump straight in. i wanted to learn welsh for a while with no reason to, and then i said to myself 'why am i waiting for an opportunity?' and just started doing 5 mins a night before bed. i think i'll get back on that also.

Oooh nice to see this thread pop back up.

Current hobbies du jour - watercolour, soft pastel, and fiddling about with mixed media, adding texture to watercolour, adding gold leaf (imitation!) and sparkly paint etc.

Fun! Messy though in some instances. Just done an illustrating job off the back of the simpler line and wash watercolour stuff so thats nice (or it will be when I get paid).

Shall definitely post pictures! The teacher is very keen for everyone to get stuck in right away. He's also my DD's woodwork teacher so I know he's a very good teacher. I was amazed though at the woodwork/metalwork facilities in the school. It's a primary school and it has everything you could possibly need - table saw, thickness planar, lathes, band saw, a whole room full of different sanding machines, gluing room with clamps, painting room, several different kinds of welding machines, melting furnace, metal cutting tools. In my secondary school all we had were workbenches and hand tools, the biggest machine was an electric sander! Wish I could have gone to school here.