Patrick is looking at Grad schools and I'm planning my next step. In moving forward, I really want to find a career doing something that I love. I've looked at Rhode Island School of Design to see if they have a general crafting Master's program, and googled around a few traditional craft programs that aren't accredited. How does one become a Master crafter? Where does Martha Stewart find the people that fold paper flowers and hot glue acorns to wooden boxes? How do I get that job?
It doesn't seem as though there is simple answer. There are very focused programs for knitting design at RISD, we have several glass blowing schools nearby, and I'm terrible at pottery. I was hoping for a craft program with a liberal arts structure; learn a little about everything, decide what works best for you.
As strong supporters of the 10,000 hour rule (10,000 hours of practice makes you an expert in a field), Pat and I decided to aggressively craft as much as we can throughout a year. Easy, right?
Our idea had humble beginnings, but as we planned our idea we found a few kinks. We needed a comprehensive text book for this program that would both inspire us to keep moving forward, fully educate us on the proper techniques, and produce quality end results.
The only answer was Martha Stewart's Encyclopedia of Crafts. After we chose the book, the rest was simple.
-We will be making a craft for each letter present (9 are skipped)
-The letters that are not accounted for will be replaced by an appropriate holiday or vintage craft from our collection of other Martha Stewart books.
-We will have two weeks to complete each craft, keeping this project within the time frame of one year.
-We will share honest reviews of each project finished, and any modifications made to the original directions. These modifications may be made with regard to material sourcing, time adjustments or personal taste.
So that's it. We' ll be self-proclaimed craft masters in one year! See you at the finish line!
The Martha Project: Letter A, "Album" - Specimen Boxes (Page 29)
We love the finished box! Scrapbooking seems so limiting now! When we vacation or go on adventures, we usually take a lot of Instagrams and digital photos but we are not so great about printing them out. However, we do collect a lot of books and trinkets from our travels. A shadow box is a perfect way to display these things and share them with our guests. This project went very smoothly and quickly.
Modifications:
We could not find a place to cut us such a small piece of plexiglass for a reasonable price. We decided to buy a plywood specimen box and to stain it. All others supplies and steps are as instructed.
XO
Robbie & Patrick