Crafts As Meditation
I think it’s reasonable to feel like meditation as we’ve been sold it isn’t accessible. We’ve all heard and probably made every excuse around it but I want to offer the idea of meditation about being able to drop into a flow state. This can happen when we’re cleaning, driving, dancing, walking, and also creating.
And you might be like “oh but Forest I am not creative!!!!” uhmmmm fucking bet! We are all creative, but even more so I don’t necessarily feel like crafts are about being creative so much as listening to our creativity.
If you have ever meditated, you know there is a place you can get into where you are listening. Noticing. Sort of above all the things we take for granted as truth and allow yourself to really see the different voices in your head. It allows you the space to unknot and untangle things. Crafting can be so much of the same.
Now, I really just genuinely love making things. I find it deeply relaxing and satisfying while also being low pressure - it’s okay if I don’t come back to it. It’s okay if it doesn’t turn out the way I want it to. I think there is something precious and essential about this sort of non-attachment that makes a craft a lil different than a DIY. It allows you a lot of the same flow state as doing mundane tasks, gets the same part of your mind working, taps you into that inner child energy and can be satisfying. You work through challenges and solutions, it gives you a good dose of dopamine, and you can also do it amongst friends or while watching/listening to something if you’re an “I need lots of things happening” kind of person.
Why Crafting
Okay so the real, actual cognitive function of crafts are really cool. I mentioned a few above but the flow state, the parallel play opportunities, the creative power, and the problem solving are really what we’re looking for. It allows your brain to create and reinforce neurological pathways that can be incredibly powerful for bigger life situations, especially by using creative solutions. It allows you to focus on something that doesn’t have the weight of responsibility but also isn’t “nothing” or something internal like a traditional meditation asks of us.
There is real science behind doing things like laundry and driving that gets the main cogs going so that we can do the more fine tuning things, but what I love about crafting is that it’s easier to access from a pleasure perspective (aka dopamine!) and also as a parallel play/ executive functioning hack because you can call your pals over to make things together.
This is genuinely healing for your brain, it helps regulate your nervous system, it helps you connect to your inner child, and is also a really fun way to make your environment around you more representative of you. This is some big Artist Date energy (iykyk, and if you don’t join The Artist’s Way Portal) which at it’s core is also about healing the inner child.
I personally think the best part of this is that it doesn’t have the same morality attached to it as meditation does. It’s okay if you don’t craft for a day, it’s okay if you want to spend a couple of hours doing it, and you can also bring it anywhere with you. Now that summer is upon us park and beach hangs are abound and it’s so easy to go hang out in the sunshine with a yummy drink and some snacks and a simple portable craft.
Crafting requires no real skill - it is the ultimate practice in surrendering because you might not get it right or it might not turn out the way you want it to. You have to be willing to try, be willing to fuck it up, be willing to try fixing and also know when to leave something. It really allows us to be more attuned to how we are feeling about something, practice how we want to respond, and ASK FOR HELP! Oh my god this really can’t be under-rated especially when you’re doing things with friends. Sometimes you will get a knot in your string or have made a mistake you don’t know how to fix or will need someone to hold something for you. And once again, it’s low stakes. Even something as simple as asking for the scissors can feel really challenging for some people -
It’s also sustainable! Crafting so often uses things we already have, can thrift, or can use in a creative way. You do not need to go and get a bunch of fancy, expensive shit to craft (but you also can if you want to!!!). Especially when doing it in a group setting often people have different things laying around and y0u can all call upon each other to add something to the mix.
Some Stuff To Know
And maybe you’re like okay well Forest what the fuck do I make, what supplies do I need, isn’t this expensive? Many questions!
First - so much of crafting is just using stuff that you have. If you have a hot glue gun, glue stick, some old magazines, scissors, beads, etc. you’re probably in good standing. You’d be surprised at what you can make with things you find in your junk drawer or that box of art supplies you’ve been hoarding for a few years.
Second - not everything needs to be extravagant. Crafting can be as expensive or DIY as your heart desires. One of my favourite things to do is to go to the dollar store with $20 and just let myself get whatever piques my interest. This can be part of the fun! What are you called to? Instead of figuring out what to do and getting the things, get the things and then figure out what to do with it.
Third - there are so many places to find inspiration. pinterest! reels! the world around you! I think crafting is a really easy and accessible way to up-cycle things, to make what you need, to customize your home or car or whatever it is. One of my favourite crafts was using an old dollar store vase, rocks and shells I had collected and some wall putty hole sealer stuff we had an abundance of in the basement closet and I just covered the vase in the putty and stuck all the rocks and shells on it and let it dry. I use it for incense now - I had everything laying around and the whole thing took less than an hour. I took something ugly I wasn’t using anymore. It was satisfying to make (the texture of the putty and getting a thick layer of it on the vase was sooooo good) and then evenly dispersing all these found objects around it was delightful. I originally saw the idea as a several hundred dollar vase and I was like I want that, I will never buy that, how can I acquire this with what is laying around?
Fourth - things do not! need to be! Complicated!!!! One of my favourite things to fuck around with are sticky disco strips. You can get these at most dollar stores and they are sooo versatile. I’ve made hanging planters disco and had disco strawberries, I’ve taken old tins and containers and covered them in disco for a funky container for my pens or paint brushes, and you can also get the styrofoam balls and just make actual disco balls to catch the light in places in your house. This is a great way to up-cycle or recycle simple things into something functional fun - and it’s very low maintenance. You can have something funky in under 15 minutes depending on the size and complexity of it.
Five - nature is your friend. rocks, leaves, pressed/dried flowers, even peels of vibrant fruits or garlic cloves can be really useful. I recently made a big magic/manifestation/collage piece for the end of my bed in a giant frame that just had a piece of fabric in it and I literally used ripped pieces of brown paper bag, envelopes, fake foliage, dried bark, washi tape, newspaper and a stapler to make it. It took me maybe 20 minutes to put it together and get the things from around my house and it totally changed the vibe of my room while also allowing me to access part of my spiritual practice that feels really important to me. It was made of mostly natural resources and feels so organic - it cost me $0 to make because I already had everything.
Crafts I Love
daisy chain beads
digital scanner collages
collages in general
disco-ifying things
beaded lighter cases
bath salts/scrubs
dying clothes/sheets/textiles
using air dry or oven bake clay for incense holders
paper mache (great for making funky frames or catch-all bowls)
magnets! Make your own magnets
key chains and lucky charms
friendship bracelets
candle making (great if you have a lot of scrap wax or vessels you want to use)
secret book stashes (you know, when you glue the pages together and cut a hole in the middle and use it to store secret things lol)
Craft Recipe - Magnet Collage Fridge
Things You Need:
magnets (you can buy the plain ones, strip ones, and I’ve also found “canvas” ones you can paint and draw on)
hot glue gun and/or crazy glue
an assortment of objects (I used pins/buttons, shells, disco strips, beads, an old locket, dried flowers, glitter, patches, fringe, small picture frames, crystals, locker mirror, etc.)
scissors
What to do:
Okay personally I’m a vibe-first person. I like to figure out what I want to be doing or what the theme is - you certainly don’t have to do this - but I went for a romantic vibe. My fridge is just love letters and pieces from friends. I have drawings, post cards, actual cards, personalized invitations, polaroid photos, etc on mine and I wanted to play on this vibe.
Once I knew what I wanted to create I went through all of my stuff - I had a bunch of sea shells, crystals, old pins I thought were cute, patches I wasn’t going to use, mini picture frames that were super light, beaded rings that had broken but I kept, some mini-tarot cards from a deck I use for crafting, a costume jewellery earring I only had one of, stone beads and letter beads etc. I just grabbed a bowl and compiled all of these little things that I felt vibed together and really represented who I am but also would look cute together and put to use some of the things I had collected or were laying around.
Then I got all of my magnets and started pairing up objects with magnets that were the right size and weight for the strength of the magnet and glued the shit out of everything. It was really simple, really quick and sooo satisfying. By the end I had gone from a mostly bare fridge (because I had just moved) to a fridge with 20+ magnets on it.
Some notables - I made a magnet sticky note pad for the stove side of my fridge to help me remember ingredients I need, got some clip magnets to hold up heavier things but also to use for snacks and have convenient, I got a locker mirror and added disco strips around it all, and took some prints I didn’t have frames for or were in storage and added them to the fridge collection.
Now my fridge is like a little altar and I’ve made it a habit whenever I see a funky button or bobble that fits the vibe of it to snag it and make a magnet out of it. And now I have the coolest fridge, and the cost of it was just the magnets I needed for everything.
Alt Magnet Idea:
Get an old book and a sheet of thin magnet and an exacto knife. Cut out all the words you want and glue them on the magnet sheet, let it dry and then cut them out with the exacto knife. Now you have your own fridge magnet poetry.
More things you could do:
tufted rug magnet
mini planter magnet (you will need strong magnets for this!)
deck of cards (just glue the magnets to the back and you have it on your fridge for easy access)
polaroid magnets - instead of holding them up with magnets, use the flat sheets and make a magnet out of it in general
lighter magnet
if you have a remote for something add a magnet to it (I did this for my porch lights so that they are out of the way)
hook magnet - perfect for things like bike keys or oven mitts if they are strong enough)
I like this craft because it requires absolutely no skill, is so fun to curate objects, is low pressure and very practical! If you want all glitter magnets go for it! If you want to be extravagant and make little clay sculptures to put on the magnets then go the fuck off! You can do it in one big session, add to it over time, and is easy to do with pals as well.
