Welcome to Patently Crafty!

I grew up in a very “crafty” environment.  From my early tween years, I spent my weekends helping my stepmother with her craft business and attending various craft shows on the Eastern Shore.  During the summers, my sister and I would visit my aunt and uncle in Virginia, where we would inevitably take a trip to the local craft store to pick out a “20 minute project” that ended up taking the whole week to complete.  As I got older, I even ventured to make my own jewelry to sell in my stepmother’s booth at the craft fairs.  But then I went away to college, moved to DC to be a microbiologist at NIH, and attended law school to become a patent attorney.  There was little time for crafting.

As a patent attorney now living in New York, I work with scientists every day to learn about their new pharmaceutical inventions.  But I missed having an outlet for my creativity.  My husband, therefore, encouraged me to take advantage of all the artistic opportunities that the city has to offer.  So, I ventured out into The City That Never Sleeps to rekindle my former crafting life.  

It immediately became clear that the options for arts and crafts classes were limitless, and I started taking a variety of them at different venues.  However, with so many options, it occurred to me that busy people like myself might want to do something creative but would not know what they would enjoy or where to go to learn how to do it.  It would be great to have one source where people could go to read about the options and quickly determine whether it would be something that they would want to try.

This blog will review both the art/craft and the teaching venue to become a source for those wanting to explore a new art or craft hobby.  To review the art/craft, I’ll consider the financial investment (scale of $ - $$$$), the time commitment (scale of T - TTTT), the space requirements (scale of O - OOOO), and any special skills that are required.  Since I will be expanding my craft repertoire, I will be providing most reviews from an introductory perspective.  As for the venue, I’ll describe the atmosphere, instruction method, costs, other interesting points, and a summary of the pros and cons.  Although most of the venues will be in New York City, I will try to take classes in some of the national craft stores. 

I hope you come back to learn about all that the arts and crafts world has to offer and decide to take a class or two.  You’ll be amazed at the satisfaction that you will feel when you complete your first project and the pride that you will have when you receive your first compliment!  If you do try one of the arts or crafts discussed in this blog and/or know of a place in your area that you would recommend for lessons, please feel free to share in the comments.