Creating using one's hands has been practiced for millennia and continues to thrive today with various types of crafts. Indulging in making candles, paper, weaving, needlework, carving, and other forms of creative expression provides a multitude of benefits. Instead of relying on purchasing accessories for your home, why not try your hand at crafting unique collectible items using your hands.
If you are curious about what types of crafts are available to try, it is wise to experiment with a few different ones to find your niche. Many people learn how to complete crafts via books, online videos, or sign up for a local workshop. To help you find your niche, we have a curated list of 25 crafts that are excellent choices for beginners and more adept hand-workers.
- Basket Weaving
- Candle Making
- Ceramics
- Crochet
- Decoupage
- Doll Making
- Embroidery
- Felting
- Ikebana
- Knitting
- Lace Making
- Latch Hook Rugs
- Leatherwork
- Macrame
- Make Miniature Models
- Make Beaded Jewelry
- Mosaics
- Origami
- Paper Making
- Printmaking
- Quilting
- Soap Making
- Stained Glass
- Weaving
- Wood Carving
Continue reading to discover wonderful crafts to delight your senses and pass the time.
The Ultimate Crafts List
Crafting is a great way to relax and stimulate the imagination; it requires a little bit of patience and ingenuity. The world of crafting is similar to the arts. However, there is no requirement or demand that anyone engaged in crafts commit to expensive college courses or undergo rigorous study under a certified master artist. Let's take a closer look at some ways that you can bring crafting into your day-to-day enjoyment.
1. Basket Weaving
Typically, basket weaving requires the use of plant fibers, grasses, or even synthetic materials to create sturdy, three-dimensional baskets, mats, furniture, and bags. Small baskets can take a few days to complete, while larger ones can take weeks.
You can weave baskets with a lengthy coil of seagrass, bamboo, or synthetic rattan. It is wise to have tools like sharp scissors, a packing tool, needle nose pliers, and clamps to work. Prepare to spend anywhere from $30 to $60 for tools and weaving material.
2. Candle Making
Making candles is not an expensive craft or hobby, as you can ascertain the necessary materials via a kit or individually for an average of $60 to $100. You can use gel, beeswax, soy, paraffin, or another substance for the candle base.
Container candles can be made with mason jars, found items from thrift stores, yard sales, or purchased from craft stores. Prepare to gather candle molds, wick material, a scale, double boiler for melting wax, a thermometer, and add-ins like essential oil, dried herbs, and coloring agents. Depending on the candle base, it may need 24 to 48 hours to cure before use or up to a week for best results.
3. Ceramics
Learning to create beautiful ceramic plates, bowls, vases, and other forms of pottery is modestly priced. If you wish to take a class, the average cost to learn this art and craft is $20 to $40. Prepare to spend between $300 to $1,000 for materials, access to a kiln, and an average class of eight weeks to learn techniques.
Making ceramic pieces that are functional and decorative takes a bit of practice to get the hang of things. You will need tools like a potter's wheel, clay sculpting tools, glazes, and a kiln to fire and finish the piece. A small, simple project like making a plate, mug, or bowl may take a few days to complete before it can be used.
4. Crochet
Crochet is similar to knitting but only requires one hooked needle to create afghans, hats, sweaters, and baby toys. You will need yarn, crochet needles in different sizes, scissors, a tape measure, and a stitch counter. A yarn needle may also prove helpful to finish ends. Prepare to spend around $10 to $30 for bare-bones supplies, and classes in crochet may cost between $30 to $100 an hour.
Average-sized crochet projects may take two hours to a day to complete if you are adept at basic crochet stitches and work quickly. Beginners to crochet may need up to a week to complete a small to medium-sized project.
5. Decoupage
Using an adhesive, cut paper, and your imagination, you can create artful designs on pieces of wood, found objects, glass, stones, and fabric. Prepare to experiment with tissue paper, construction paper, cut magazines, and different types of Mod Podge depending on your work surface.
You will need scissors, a craft knife, clear wrap, and a foam brush to work cleanly and ensure your elements fit neatly on your medium. It is important to work carefully, avoid getting fingerprints on your project, and take your time to create a share-worthy craft. Prepare to spend around $30 to $40 for supplies to make this craft.
6. Doll Making
Creating dolls from fabric, yarn, wood, using custom-ordered plastic molded bodies, or found objects is a fun pastime. Design unique dolls to enter into contests, make gifts for loved ones, or have fun expressing your fashion concepts on a miniature model.
You can snag a doll-making kit to create a simple doll made from fabric for around $30. Or, spend $150 or more for designer doll forms, clothing, eyes, hair, brushes, needles, and other necessary items. Making a doll is a labor of love that can take a few days or weeks to complete.
7. Embroidery
Upgrade and transform a plain tablecloth, napkin, sheet, shirt, or hand towel with elaborate embroidered designs. Plan to spend 10 to 12 hours to complete an average-sized project and do take breaks as needed. You will need to use an embroidery hoop if working by hand and not using a sewing machine.
Spend time planning out your embroidery designs and select thread weight and colors, scissors, needles of different sizes, and a thimble. You can get started embroidering onto a scrap or purchased piece of fabric using one learned stitch. The cost to create a basic project should run between $10 to $30.
8. Felting
If cute, fuzzy miniature animals and fanciful creatures have caught your eye, it was probably created using felting. Picking up felting techniques and completing a beginner project can take an hour or two. More experienced craft lovers may take 50 hours or more to felt a very large project. You will need tools such as a felting needle, a felting mat, a felting pen, thimbles, and sharp scissors.
Felting is relatively inexpensive, as the cost largely rests on the type and quality of wool you choose and a project's complexity. To felt an object, you will either use a needle or a wet method to create the desired texture and compact the material. Prepare to spend a minimum of $20 to $30 for felting supplies and a few hours to get the hang of things.
9. Ikebana
The Japanese have gifted the world the art of floral arrangement. Learn how to artfully arrange flowers using a vase, sharp scissors, and a kenzan to keep plants upright. Start out with learning simple arrangements before moving on to larger, more intricate displays.
Prepare to spend a minimum of $50 to get started and cover the cost of flowers and necessary tools. The art of arranging flowers is a meditative act and adds beauty to the world. The time needed may take around an hour, more or less.
10. Knitting
Learning how to knit has wonderful practical applications like making a sweater, socks, hats, scarves, and blankets. To get started knitting, you will need yarn, knitting needles in different sizes, sharp scissors, a yarn needle, a gauge or stitch counter, and a tape measure. Prepare to spend a few hours learning stitches and pay $10 to $30 for basic tools and supplies. Expensive yarns add to the cost. Even an experienced knitter may take a few weeks to complete a project, depending on their speed, size of the project, and weight of the yarn.
11. Lace Making
Making lace or tatting is a delightful way to embellish sheets, pillowcases, and towels, or add accents to clothing. In addition to using a shuttle to create lace, some lace is made using a bobbin or crochet hook for doilies. You will need to have a tatting shuttle, extra-fine thread, scissors, and tatting patterns to guide you. It is about $20 to $40 for supplies. The designs you choose may take hours to complete or days.
12. Latch Hook Rugs
Make a fun rug for your kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, or entryway using the latch hook method. You will need a day or up to a week to complete a project if you work quickly. The tools needed include a gridded latch hook canvas, a yarn needle, a latch hook tool, yarn, and rug backing. The average cost is $30 for supplies.
13. Leatherwork
Creating items from leather is highly versatile and may require stamping, dyeing, carving, painting, or etching to make a decorative item. Depending on the approach, you may need acrylic paints, a mallet, sculpting tools, and dyes suitable for leather. The complexity of the craft project determines the required time, ranging from a few hours to a few days. Expect to spend an of $200 to get started.
14. Macrame
Creating a macrame wall hanging is inexpensive and under $20 when you use found sticks and different weighted yarns or rope made from cotton or hemp. The learning curve to pick up different decorative knots and loops to make macrame is easy, and projects can take a few hours or weeks, depending on the size. You will need scissors, beads, a measuring tape, cording, pins, mounting rings, and a board to work.
15. Make Miniature Models
Taking the time out to create miniature models of real-life landmarks, people, objects, and dollhouses is an art form in and of itself. Piecing together a delicate model that is a fraction of its normal size using everyday items around the house, such as paint and tweezers, miniatures require loads of patience but can a relaxing form of stress relief. Expect to spend a few hours or days engrossed in creating model ships in bottles, dioramas of towns, or recreating historical figures for fun. The cost varies between $50 to $60 on average for supplies and tools.
16. Make Beaded Jewelry
There's nothing like the pride of showing off handcrafted jewelry using fascinating glass, wood, ceramic, or seed beads in various styles and sizes. Depending on whether you use beads made from semi-precious gemstones, synthetic, or natural materials will impact the cost. Prepare to spend anywhere from $5 to $50 for inexpensive cording, wiring, needle-nose pliers, and a menagerie of beads that fit your personality and aesthetics.
17. Mosaics
Take inspiration from the ancient world and delve into making simple or ornate mosaics. The cost to startup may range between $30 to $100. Everything depends on how complex your design is and whether you are using glass, ceramic, stone, etc., creating the work. Prepare to spend days working on a project until completion. You will need to use a strong adhesive for the pieces and a sealant to finish.
18. Origami
The joy of folding beautiful washi paper or origami paper of different sizes is a pleasure. Plan to spend anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour learning simple to complex origami forms. Origami is a fun craft that is perfect for beginners and experts to paper crafts alike. Enjoy folding paper into cranes, flowers, boxes, and even make a chess set. The cost is relatively low, starting at $5 for basic paper and up to $20 for specialty origami paper.
19. Paper Making
Try your hand at creating your own paper using paper you already have around the house or making your own pulp base. You will need a simple wooden frame with a screen, or you can shape an old wire hanger and use pantyhose to create a screen. Consider investing around $100 for a mold, deckle, blender, and a vat to complete this messy but fulfilling craft or get resourceful. It may take handmade paper a few days before it is fully dry and ready for use.
20. Printmaking
The easiest and most inexpensive way to engage in printmaking as a hobby is to use a sponge or potato as a base. Carve out a design on a found object or spend $10 for a linoleum block for relief print projects. The cost of carvers, a brayer, a burnisher, inks, and paper may require spending upwards of $40 to $60. The most time commitment is carving out a design in a few hours or days. Afterward, inking and rolling out an edition of printed images on paper goes quickly.
21. Quilting
Getting into quilting can become fairly expensive, thanks to the cost of yards of fabric, a sewing machine, needles, thread, batting, and a stretcher. You may find yourself spending a few hundred dollars to complete a quilt with elaborate, meticulously stitched designs. Prepare to spend weeks to finish a reasonably sized project or a few days for a small baby blanket or pillow.
22. Soap Making
The craft of soap making is highly rewarding beyond the practical application for hygiene. The cost of making soap is typically between $50 to $100 to get started, no matter if you are using a cold or hot process. Prepare to wait for a minimum of six to eight weeks for the soap to begin curing before first use. You will need to invest in soap molds, lye, a crockpot or bucket, scales, durable containers for mixing, goggles, a mask, colorants, and scents.
23. Stained Glass
The art of making beautiful stained glass sun catchers, windows, lampshades, and other artful pieces requires spending a few hundred dollars on getting started. You will need pieces of glass, cutters, protective gloves and goggles, flux, solder, foil wrap, and a safe ventilated workspace. It can take a few hours to make a simple design or weeks spent on a cathedral-sized piece.
24. Weaving
Have fun for hours or months completing a rich tapestry woven from plant fibers, yarns, or cording on a professional-grade loom or a simple loom made from sticks. Weaving looms can cost $100 or $1,000, and the learning curve using different techniques varies. You will need good lighting, a loom, a shuttle stick, a shed, and a yarn needle.
25. Wood Carving
Enjoy carving out walking sticks, furniture, and art objects from wood using chisels, mallets, sculpting tools, and a quality piece of wood. Learn techniques from books, online videos, or sign up for classes and expect to spend a minimum of $100 to $150 to get started. Wood carving may take a few days to weeks to complete a project.
In Closing
We hope after reading this article that you feel confident about trying out a new craft project. Indulging in a craft can become a beloved hobby, transform into a source of income, or become a way to bond with family and friends. Try out a few different crafts to figure out which materials you like to work with best, don't overspend on materials when first starting out, and most of all, have fun!
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