Arts And Crafts

If you don't have a material or don't want to follow a technique exactly, wing it. Use your imagination. There are no rules in art!

Books

The American Girl Crafts series of books, added 9/12/23 - surprisingly informative, useful, and interesting
Klutz (Scholastic imprint) books, added 9/12/23 - classic, and for good reason
365 Days of Creative Play by Sheila Ellison & Judith Gray - for little kids
The Organic Artist: Make Your Own Paint, Paper, Pigments and Prints from Nature by Nick Neddo
Fun With Chinese Knotting by Lydia Chen
The Complete Book of Home Crafts, edited by Carine Tracanelli
The Complete Book of Nature Crafts by Eric Carlson
Nature Smart by Gwen Diehn and a lot of other authors - DIY nature-themed projects
Glorious Country by Tessa Evelegh, Liz Trigg, Stewart & Sally Walton
Knit, Hook and Spin by Laurie Carlson
The Victorian Book of Lavender and Old Lace by Deborah Schneebeli-Morrell
Victorian Flowers by Pamela Westland
Stencilling for the First Time by Rebecca Carter
The Illustrated Guide to Crafting With Tin, Wire & Foil by Simona Hill
Weaving Without A Loom by Veronica Burningham
You Can Weave! by Kathleen Monaghan
Kids Learn to Crochet by Linda Guy
Crocheting by Gwen Blakley Kinsler
Christmas Naturals by Carol Taylor
The Mudpies Book of Boredom Busters by Nancy Blakey - for little kids
Newly Revised Recipes for Art and Craft Materials by Helen Roney Sattler - contains a large assortment of really cool recipes for DIYing things like fixative, paint, colored fire, crayons and more
Kids Weaving by Sarah Swett - demystifies it and makes weaving accessible on pretty much any budget
Soapmaking by Joe Rhatigan - melt and pour soap crafts of all sorts. Wildly creative and wildly fun. Highly recommended.
Candle Making in a Weekend by Sue Spear - has the basics but also a bunch of other interesting stuff. Like soap, candles are something you can really play with creatively with a whole lot of different techniques, and this is a good place to start and also branch out a little

Online Resources

Handmade Charlotte
Watercolor Painting Tutorials on Instructables Frankekka
Art subsection on Instructables Instructables
Username Sunshiine on Instructables Sunshiine

Some cheap materials

Crayola colored pencils, crayons, markers
A whole bunch of printer paper
Cardboard and cardstock, reused
Paper towel tubes
Elmer's plain glue
Clear packing tape
Literal clip art; get some stacks of old magazines and catalogs and some scissors
String, thread, ribbon, embroidery floss, yarn
Any fabrics that were headed to the trash anyway, such as worn-out clothing or sheets
Whatever you rescue from the recycling bin
Yarn, or even fabric yarn cut in a loop shape from an old sheet or old t-shirts
Crochet hook and darning needle or yarn needle
Natural materials obtained with permission from the landowner and with respect for nature - aka don't overharvest anything and try to use Leave No Trace principles, seen here: LNT

How to creative collage

This may help with mental health. You can make collages with themes in mind, such as the seashore, or a color, or with life goals, or as an attempt at self-expression, or an attempt to figure out what's going on inside your head.

Get a whole bunch of printed media - magazines, newspapers, catalogs, wrapping paper, whatever. Acid free lasts longer. Get some tape, mod podge and a foam brush, or acid-free gluesticks and some acid-free paper or posterboard. You'll also need scissors. If you really want this to last a while, use clear packing tape and lots of it. Now just cut stuff out and tape or glue it on there however you like.

Art Appreciation

Much like English, music, and poetry, art has suffered from a serious deficit in originality because people will gladly pretend to like the traditional and popular mediocrities instead of supporting true talent, usually until the original artist is dead. Vincent Van Gogh is a good example of this. Therefore, either great original artists tend to be dissuaded from art as a true career path or are doomed to obscurity. So it takes a heck of a search to find good art. Another wrench in the mechanism is that art is highly subjective and tastes are personal. To find good art that you personally love, it requires a labor of love on your part to find good artists. Supporting excellent artists with your word of mouth and with your money is generally speaking a good cause. Cause frankly, the dead artists don't need your money, so why pretend to like them when most of them are so thoroughly meh?
Here are a few artists you might wish to look into to start your search: Jean-Michel Basquiat, mural artists and graffiti artists in general, and if your local high school, university, or community college ever has an art exhibition advertised to and open to the public, show up and see what is there.

Ways Learning Or Making Art Can Help You, section added 10/11/24:

Well it could certainly make your living quarters more to your liking. Same deal for your stuff and your fashion sense.
This is going to sound strange but I believe that any kind of art is therapeutic as long as the person making the art finds it therapeutic. Maybe I'm wrong, but see for yourself.
What's really neat about art is the sense of infinite freedom and possibility that's in it. You can do pretty much anything you want in art. There are no rules, and there's no risk of harming anyone with it unless you're say using some of the really old fashioned oil paints and paint thinners or thinking that the lack of rules for artistic expression means you can do anything you want on a mundane level. This is, unfortunately, one of the reasons why art is not respected, because it attracts the worst as well as the best. There's still some good stuff in it.
Of all the disciplines you could learn this is one that ties into the emotions. Feeling them and not being ruled by them can be liberating.
Every kind of art - visual arts, dance, music, theater, etc. - is its own language as well. Some things just can't be said using language or taught with words. Art helps a lot. If you have ever had your life changed for the better by a work of art, and movies and video games count, then you understand why this is important
This is one of the delights of life whether you are making it or buying or appreciating something that makes you happy. Not everything has to be productive or lucrative to be important.

Big Brain Time

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