A student draws with markers and pencils while taking a study break. Photo by Grace Hensley.
MEGAN DRAKE | OPINION COLUMNIST | medrake@butler.edu
Painting, embroidery, crochet, making friendship bracelets, sewing and DIYs are just a few of the crafts someone can construct. Crafting is deeply underrated, and I am here to inspire your next cool creation.
Crafting allows you to bless the general public with your creative prowess. When they see you strutting around campus in your handmade sweater, or see the original art on your bedroom walls they’ll all say “I want to be just like them.”
I love to craft. My craft of choice is almost always crocheting. However, I do enjoy any DIY. To me, crafting can be anything artistic and the possibilities are endless.
Crafting is universal. It can be done by anyone who has a little time and patience, which is one of the many reasons I love it.
Lily Wann, a senior criminology and psychology major believes anyone can craft, regardless of talent.
“It takes a lot of practice,” Wann said. “but like talent-wise, I feel like you don’t need necessarily a lot of talent [to craft].”
Crafting is something anyone can do. It does not matter if your craft looks amazing — you should be crafting for yourself not anyone else’s opinions. Even as someone who is relatively creative and constantly creating things, a decent amount of my projects do not turn out to be earth-shatteringly gorgeous. That is what makes crafting so cool. It does not have to be amazing to still be cool.
Junior biology major Lydia Sarver talked about how she loves to craft for herself.
“The whole point is that it’s for you,” Sarver said. “So if you like it, then you should do it.”
One of the coolest qualities of crafting is that it allows you to walk away with something awesome. Something that you made. Something that you put time and effort into.
Wann talks about how she likes crafts because she loves to showcase what she creates.
“I’ve gotten to wear [my crocheted sweaters] to class and around my house,” Wann said. “Everyone’s just like, ‘Oh my God. Did you make that? That’s so cool, I love it.’”
Everyone loves a compliment, and receiving compliments on something you worked hard on is even better. Also, how cool is it when you get to say “I made it” when someone asks you where your shirt is from?
Crafting can also be so beneficial for your mental health and people who take care of their mental health are cool. I think crafting can be the epitome of self-care. A nice evening in, watching “Survivor” and doing a little crocheting can really turn my week around.
Crafting is the break that a lot of students need. Taking time to create something can be really rejuvenating to your mental health.
Abigail Brown, a sophomore music performance major, discussed how although she does not craft frequently, she still finds it beneficial for her mental health.
“It’s very relaxing,” Brown said. “I know when they have [crafts] in the Reilly Room with tote bags, and we did canvases once … it’s relaxing and gets your mind off of things.”
Spending time to work on a craft even if you do it infrequently, is a great way to practice self-care. You do not have to be the most artistic, creative or talented person to craft. All you have to do is take some time for yourself and prioritize your mental health.
I have spent many hours on something that turns out to be extremely ugly, but I still love the process. It still is calming, and at the end of the day, I am more relaxed because I spent the time crafting. Being relaxed at the end of the week because I crafted throughout the week to take a break from academics makes me a pretty cool person.
Sarver said she likes crafting because it gives her the opportunity to participate in things other than academics throughout the day.
“The thing I love most about Butler is that I get to do art and STEM,” Sarver said. “It’s so good to be able to use all the different parts of your brain.”
When I say cool people craft, I’m not suggesting you change your major to art, but I am suggesting you incorporate a few crafts in your weekly routine to break up the monotony of your academic life. Spending some time to do something creative will help you in the long run by alleviating some stress.
For those of you saying that you can not craft because you are not artistic, stop making excuses. Just because you might not love how your projects turn out does not mean it can’t be fun and relaxing.
Take this as your motivation to go buy a crochet hook and some yarn or paint a little picture. I do not care what your craft is, but I wholeheartedly believe that if you craft you are cool.
