Hello and welcome to Floraphine's Creative Madness.
By creating this blog I want to share my experiences in crafting and
creating with you.
As a kid I always liked drawing and crafting although I've never been
exceptionally good. I don't know whether I've been lacking good
materials, inspiration or just talent but I was never pleased with
the results and often didn't even finish my projects. Then came the
time where I was a very insecure teenager and thought crafting is
just for babies and so I stopped doing it. But even then I was
secretly fixing or improving and restyling my jewellery :D.
I lived a long time without having a hobby that really pleased and
fulfilled me until I saw some DIY stuff from a German artist and
children's book author (until then I didn't even know what DIY meant
:D). She made amazing things out of almost nothing and I was so
impressed by her work. She is a really warm-hearted and whimsical (I
don't' even know if you can use this word for a human) person with a
colourful style of clothing and of life and she inspired me to find
my inner crafty girl again and to truly be myself! I think it's also
because of her that I admitted to myself that I have to wear
colourful and patterned clothes and accessories to show the person I
am on the inside to everyone else. And most importantly she showed me
that crafting is not at all “out” or “for children”.
To put it in a nutshell: I think credit has to be given to her. Her
name is Bine Brändle and I'm a huge fan. In case you want to check he out, here's her Website and her Facebook.
So when I regained my craftiness I first started making all kinds of
things and bought all of Bine's books. Then I tried out felting in
summer 2014 and made a couple of felted accessories, mainly flowers.
On the lookout for some jewellery close to nature I first came across
resin. I ordered some but as it was a brand you have to mix 100:60 I
had a lot of troubles getting the mix right. After failing a couple
of pieces you can get really upset with this stuff. It's not that
easy to work with. Apart from getting the mix right you have to be
careful for your health, be careful not to overfill the piece and
what I learned the hard way: seal printed images... I went to the
local craft store to get some advice and try something new and was
then recommended Fimo clay. you can make amazing things out of clay.
As all the products seemed too expensive for a hobby you just want to
try out and one you will probably give up very soon, I used air-dry
clay instead. This is perfect if you are a beginner and want to
practise sculpting and additionally, you get pretty amazing results
if you know how to paint it afterwards.
So I started crafting with air-dry clay and my stingy self was
satisfied. I watched tons of tutorials on YouTube and got really
inspired. But soon I discovered that the uses of the air-dry stuff
were limited and I wanted more. I wanted to make canes and delicate
flowers and for that I needed an oven-bake clay... I did a lot of
research and finally found an eBay-shop which sells Fimo at a very
affordable price. And then shortly before Christmas the madness
started. I wanted to try all the things! :D I bought more and more
tools and materials, got everyone to give me stuff for Christmas,
Easter and my Birthday and I still couldn't stop wanting more.
And that's where I am now: Still trying out everything I can and
still fascinated by the endless possibilities. As you hear almost
every YouTuber who is into clay say: “The sky is the limit.”
When I discovered Pinterest and got even more inspired by all these
amazing creations I thought it's time to share the creativity and the
madness. Everyone around me who got in touch with what I had made
urged me to either start a YouTube channel showing tutorials or go
into selling my stuff. And I kept explaining to them that it wouldn't
be fun anymore if I'd really had to craft and maybe even make a
living out of it. Also I really couldn't be bothered with all the
fuss... keeping up the channel, having to find buyers, the shipping
and finally always looking for new ideas if I don't want to.
Anyway, now I'm at a point where sharing pictures of my work on
Pinterest doesn't seem to be enough anymore and that's why I started
this blog. I want to share my thoughts and projects and experiences
and maybe one day I myself can inspire someone.
Of course everything is still in progress and I'm not sure where this leads to and if at all someone cares and wants to read it but if
anyone happens to stumble across this I would be happy if he left a
comment and told me what he thinks.
Let's see if it works.
PS: Crafting is not my only passion. I also love languages. Therefore, I might bring in some multilingual aspects, too.
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