Today I’ll share something personal. I’ll tell you about the moments that originated my love for my crafts.
The origin of my love for stories started when my dad used to read me before bed. I liked them so much that one story a day wasn’t enough! Soon I delivered a taste for reading. First comics, then moving on to short novels. R.L. Stine Ghoosebums series were some of the first’s ones. Also Stephen King.
But the true origin of my writing happened one day at my grandmother’s house. I was playing in the living room and in one of the little doors in a bookshelf I discovered something wonderful. An old typewriter. For some reason, it was the most fascinating thing in the world to me. The tap tap tap zzzip ding! sounds coming out of it were a thrill. I started typing my name, then, an idea occurred to me. Inspired by the comics I read, I wondered if I could make up my own. So I started creating. I typed stories maybe only a paragraph long, about talking bunnies or policemen capturing thefts. Or little kids running away from haunted houses. I was around 8 years old at that time, and I never stopped. I used to create little comics (with my own illustrations) at breaks at school or at home, and share them with my classmates.
I think I always was a storyteller. When I played as a kid, I would create elaborated plots for every game session, as though there were episodes of a series, continuing the next day with another adventure.
The origin of my love for costume designing and sewing was more recent. It began almost 6 years ago. I was visiting my soulmate’s college, and I got involved helping out backstage for one of the theatre performances.
It was “Alice in Wonderland”, and what draw me into it was seeing how everyone was having so much fun. I started helping out the actors with their make up (basically just cleaning brushes and things like that) but that make me get involved in the next show, and the following after that. I helped building sets, painting, working on lights….
One day, a production of Hedda Gabler (which whole set was going to be made of fabric) required someone to sew huge panels of silver fabric. I decided to give it a try, but I had no idea how to work a sewing machine. . So I went online and found a youtube video. That’s how I learned to set the thread and sew a basic stitch. After so many hours of sewing so many feet of fabric, I got the hang of it. And through the next months, I slowly learned different stitch sizes and shapes, how to make curves, buttonholes, hems… first I was terrible at it, but I kept learning, and getting better at it.
Everything I know about sewing I learned myself, through videos and online courses. Is amazing the amount of resources we can have access through the internet. My first assistant designing experience was for a play called Nothing Serious, a series of vignettes where I had to help building around 50 costumes that varied from a wedding dress to a goat costume. I fell in love with the idea of telling stories through costumes since the very first moment.
I think the way you can recognize a love for a craft, is when you feel like you are playing. I wrote stories for fun, and I didn’t realize it was a craft until way later. To me, it was my moment to have fun after a long day of school. It was my playground. When I get frustrated with any of my crafts, I should remember the origin. Maybe that way it will feel again like a game, more than work.
What is the origin of the love for your current craft? I’d love to see some origin stories :)
*****This month I’m participating in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge. My theme is: Writing Through the Needle’s Eye. I will write posts about Costume Designing and Writing.
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