Extremely Thankful

To everyone who has already offered to donate to this project............  

I really appreciate all of your support! The project is still in the preliminary stages, but I will post the list of supplies I'll need to put the kits together next month.  

Yarn Please!

I plan on creating 20 kits to distribute to patients at Siteman, but I need help! I'm looking for yarn donations, preferably multiple skeins of the same color because the scarf project requires 2 skeins of yarn. If you have spare yarn, please let me know!

Craft #3: Bright Yarn Lei

 Bright Yarn Lei

My mom during chemo, happily making her lei

I walked my mom through making craft #3 during her chemotherapy treatment today so I could write down all the instructions and make notes about the questions she asked. It was a pretty successful craft, since two nurses commented on the lei (one even said it was "cuter than a button"). It took 40 minutes to complete.

My mom made a great suggestion, that patients could donate the finished leis to the Children's Hospital next door. Love it!

Craft #4: Band Aid

Pattern & Materials for Band Aid

Finished Band Aid/Pretzel/Canoe

My pattern for the stuffed band aid (complete with tiny pocket for a healing message) started off well enough, but upon completion I was told it looked like a pretzel and my grandma told me it looked like a canoe. I'm tweaking the pattern so it's a bit more recognizable. Will update this week.

Updated Project Overview

Topic:

Craft as a Therapeutic Tool

(Previous topic: Art vs. Craft)

Rationale:

When originally choosing a senior thesis topic in September, my objective was to explore the argument of art vs. craft, immerse myself in the indie craft culture, create and sell my own crafts for further investigation and create branding, packaging and a catalog of my process. After sitting with my mom during one of her chemotherapy treatments at Siteman Cancer Center, I realized that I could integrate my thesis topic with her treatments by using the physical act of creating crafts as a therapeutic tool for cancer patients. Art activities are offered in the waiting room at Siteman, but most patients only spend a short period of time in the waiting room before treatment. Upon leaving the waiting room, patients are ushered back to a chemotherapy “pod,” which is a small room lined with chairs and beds, where they spend up to 8 hours receiving infusions. There are usually 6 people in each room (each is allowed one visitor). I have spent the past few months observing how patients and their visitors pass the time. Most watch television, read, sleep or talk with other patients. I plan on providing a way for patients and their visitors to productively entertain themselves during the patients treatment. 

Objective:

The final product will be a craft kit targeting women undergoing chemotherapy treatment or their visitors. The kit will include materials and illustrated instructions detailing how to complete five different craft projects. Each of the five projects will be color coded and ranked according to their level of difficulty and physical energy required to complete. The use of the kits will also promote camaraderie among patients and nurses by encouraging the patient to give the craft as a gift upon its completion. After the kits have been created, I plan to set up a blog where patients can share their experiences. The blog will feature videos with step-by-step instructions for each craft, in case a patient prefers video instructions to the printed instructions. 

Preliminary Craft Ideas, currently being tested:

Origami Paper Wallet

Decorated Paper Gift Box

Bright Yarn Lei

Fuzzy Pom Pom Caterpillar

Overstuffed Band Aid with pocket (to include a healing message)

Cozy Knitted Scarf

Evaluation:

My project is a success if patients enjoy creating the crafts and sharing their finished projects with their family, fellow patients or nurses, while creating a sense of community within their chemotherapy “pod.” 

I learned to knit at Steak 'n Shake

My wonderful friend Miranda taught me how to knit last week at Steak 'n Shake. I can safely say we were the only knitters in the place. I was apprehensive about learning, but the lesson wasn't nearly as painful as I thought it would be.

You can see below, my first attempt was with smaller needles on the left (size 8 needle). My second attempt was with larger needles (size 13), shown on the right, so I could determine the best needle size for beginners. I found that it was a bit easier with the larger needles and more satisfying. For the kit, I'll probably go with size 10 or 11.

Additional information gleaned from our knitting session: it's easier to knit from a ball rather than a skein of yarn, learn to accept imperfections in knitting, include instructions on how to drop & add stitches.

I hate to admit it, but I actually like knitting.

Interwoven

I chose the name Interwoven for the organization that will distribute the craft kits. The name was taken from a combination of two ideas: 1. Using craft to build fellowship and 2. the tactile quality of crafts. The first draft of the logo, finalized color palette and color coding system for individual crafts are below.

Serious Research

It's actually a bit difficult to find crafts that require few materials, can be completed in small spaces, don't require pieces to dry and aren't boring or lame. I've been searching through craft books to get inspiration, while reviewing instructions and illustration styles. 

Reading Material

Crafty Superstar

Subversive Cross Stitch

Stitch 'n Bitch Nation

Handmade Nation

Stitch 'n Bitch

Simply Sublime Gifts

Simple Sewing

The Paper Bride

Sew Retro

Free & Easy Stitch Style

Martha Stewart's Encyclopedia of Crafts

   

 

Interview at Cranky Yellow

Back in September, I met with Dan Shinn and David Wolk at Cranky Yellow, which is a web and graphic design group, junk shop, performance space, gallery and publishing house. I spoke with them about the generational gap in craft and what type of crafts are considered masculine vs. feminine. The average age of chemo patients is about 60, so I didn't want to exclude men that age by only offering knitting, sewing and crocheting crafts in the kit. David suggested including games, memory tests, clay and photo frames as possible craft options.


Thank you to Dan and David for taking time out of their day to meet with me!!

http://www.crankyyellow.com/

The Tiny Cake Fiasco

On a recent visit to Chicago, I came across a small kit at The Paper Source called The Softies Kit which contained patterns and instructions to make tiny stuffed creatures. I bought the kit so I could see how easy the instructions were to follow, plus, I wanted to make a cute tiny cake. The kit included materials to make one softie cake, with whipped cream and a cherry, instructions to create 15 softies, patterns and a booklet explaining different types of stitches.

Materials included for cake project: 

white & pink felt, white & pink thread, needle, tiny pink pom pom 

Materials not included, but needed: 

fabric pen, ruler, straight pins, scissors

The Softies Kit

The Instructions (and my critique of them)

The Process and Final Result

Critique of Instructions:

This project was a mess for me. I watched TV while working so I could recreate the kind of distractions a patient might encounter while in the hospital, so it took me 3 hours to finish the damn tiny cake!!! 3 Hours! 

Negatives:

1. I had to cut freeform circles, 3 inches in diameter, which is a tricky task

2. No images were included in the instructions. The only image I had to reference was the photo of the finished cake on the front of the instruction booklet. When describing how to assemble the 5 whipped cream triangles, an illustration of how to stitch them together would have saved me a lot of time.

3.  To stitch the french knots on the side of the cake (which I forgot to do) I would have needed to reference a different booklet to learn how to create the stitch. 

4. The beginning of the instructions didn't say to put aside some of the fiberfill for the whipped cream top, so I forgot to do that and had to use cotton balls as filling.

5. Final task of stitching the whipped cream on top of the cake was poorly described, and I tried to do it, but couldn't figure out how to hide my stitches so they didn't show......so I gave up and pinned it on.

6. Size of type on the instructions was very small and would be difficult for people ages 50+ to read

Positives:

1. The photo on the front of the finished cake was lovely

2. Descriptions were good, but really needed images along with them

Takeaways: 

I created a pattern for a band-aid softie to include in my craft kit, with a small pocket on the front for patients to store healing messages. To make the process as easy as possible, the fabric pieces will be pre-cut, each step of the instructions will be illustrated, and type size will be large enough for patients to read. 

Prayer Shawl

Pocket Prayer Shawl

This pocket prayer shawl was given to my mother by members of her church and she proudly displays it in her car. After seeing this miniature knit "shawl" and the effect it had on my mom, I realized that when hand-crafted pieces are given as gifts, they can create a pretty strong emotional bond between the crafter and the recipient. The gifts become an extension of the crafter and show the amount of time, energy and love they are willing to pour into a project. One of my favorite Christmas gifts is a beautiful scarf my friend knitted for me, because it's original and lovely and I know how much time she spent custom-creating it for me. So, based on these observations, I've decided one of the main focuses of my crafting kit is to encourage the gifting of the finished piece to nurses or fellow patients.

Interview with Sarah Colby

On Monday, September 27 I met up with Sarah Colby at Siteman Cancer Center to discuss my thesis and get her feedback on art projects and crafts that the patients might enjoy. Sarah is the Arts Program Coordinator at Barnes–Jewish Hospital and started the Arts + Healthcare Program for patients. She showed me her office at Barnes and some of her previous projects, including potholders, mosaics, colorful mandalas, beaded prayers, magnets and collage.

Sarah is an incredibly kind and artistic woman and was very generous with her time. We spoke for so long that I accidentally made her late to a meeting (Sorry Sarah!).

Important points I took from our meeting:
1. Family involvement is important in the healing process
2. A gentle touch of humor goes a long way
3. Patients NEED to have distractions
4. Being able to have a choice is important to patients, since they have so little control otherwise

Sarah in her office

L: my mom during chemo, R: example of a typical chair in the chemo "pod"

Art + Healthcare Cabinet

Examples of art projects: magnets, mosaics, collage

Sarah has a button & magnet maker in the Arts + Healthcare room and patients are invited to create their own message and either keep the button/magnet, or stick it around the hospital (like friendly guerilla art). One visitor repeatedly made buttons that simply stated FML (meaning F**k My Life). It made me think about the limitations on my crafts. Not everyone has the same sense of humor and would want to create a FML button. Sarah suggested that if I use a humorous approach, I should make it lighthearted and appealing to a broad audience. 

Books utilized by the Arts + Healthcare Program

I also need to thank Sarah for giving me the option to test-drive my craft projects within her program. This week I'll be planning out my crafts to include in the kit and will provide samples to her to pass along to patients. Thank you, Sarah, for all of your help!

Mood Boards

After looking through design websites, magazines, blogs and various media, I compiled pages of inspirational color palettes, type treatment, packaging, logos and illustrations.

MOOD BOARD 1

Bright, childlike, energetic, bold, sharp 

MOOD BOARD 2

Home-spun, handwritten, ethereal, hand crafted, imaginative


My Work Station

Work Station

Mr. Teef Exploring Kazakhstan

Jumbled mess of mood boards in class, before editing

The Backstory

The Beginning
Back in September, each graphic design senior proposed three possible topics to explore for their year-long senior thesis project. After their proposals, members of the class and professors voted on what they thought was the most interesting topic or had the most depth. I narrowed down my list of ideas to three: 1. Heroic Produce - portraying healthy foods as superheroes 2. Re-branding Laumeier Sculpture Park and 3. Craft vs. Art and the exploration of the indie craft movement.

Craft was the winning idea and my original proposal included researching what defines art and craft, interviewing local crafters, diving into the crafting lifestyle by creating my own crafts and selling them on Etsy and creating a blog/book/print piece to summarize my crafting adventures. The more I researched the argument of art vs. craft, the more I realized that people had varying opinions of what they determined craft to be, but in the end, no one really cared about the argument itself. I decided, what's the point of arguing about what is art and what is craft? I feared for the depth of my thesis. It was becoming a shallow, albeit entertaining romp through the craft culture.

The "Ah Ha!" Moment
While sitting with my mom during one of her chemotherapy treatments it dawned on me that while she was laying in bed, maybe we could work on some crafts together. It would serve as a mother-daughter bonding activity and it might take her mind off the infusions she was receiving. I thought back to the crafters I had already spoken with and most of them had described crafting as a soothing activity, something they did to de-stress and unwind after a hectic day at work. Then I wondered....could craft be used as therapy?

**Disclaimer** Art therapy is a noble profession and there is no way during the course of one semester I would even begin to understand what it takes to become an art therapist. My project is in no way trying to re-create art therapy with crafts and renaming it "craft therapy." It is simply exploring the possibility of using crafts as a meditative and communicative process.**

New Direction
The art projects offered to patients in the waiting room at Siteman Cancer Center are great, but my mom is only in the waiting room for 30-45 minutes before she is whisked away to her chemo "pod" for 6-7 hours of treatment! My idea is to package several small-scale craft projects my mom and other chemotherapy patients can complete within their treatment time. I am much happier with the new direction of my project for many reasons. 1. I get to spend more time with my mom during treatment (for research, of course) 2. The crafts might provide a therapeutic escape for patients 3. My thesis becomes a packaging & branding project still related to crafts.

Interviews, photos and mood boards (from September, oops!) will be updated shortly. Please feel free to give me opinions and advice, however sweet or snarky they may be. I love feedback and collaboration! Also, please let me know if you have any interest in teaching me how to knit. It's the one craft I'm terrified to learn!

An Intro

The TherapeuticCrafting blog is meant to be a check-and-balance of my process for my graphic design senior thesis. Research, photos, interviews, sketches and prototypes will be updates as they are created to give you insight into my project, titled "Therapeutic Crafting."