Craft as Therapy
Are you a maker? What is your reason?
For me, its well and truly therapy.
I have always been a maker, learning to knit and sew when young. There always must be at least two projects on the go. I find it impossible to sit down in the evening without lifting a needle, currently obsessed with tapestry!
When it came to applying for college textiles was the natural choice, but in a moment of teenage rebellion I veered towards a ceramics course in Carmarthen South Wales. However after returning home in the late 90’s I couldn’t find work experience in ceramics, and starting from scratch was just too intimidating.
Fast forward a few years and life started to throw a few challenges. My husband Peter suffered a severe stroke. He lost all power down his right side and all speech. I was thrown into the world of speech therapy, aphasia, physio, how to explain to two young boys that their big strong Dad needed their help to do the tiniest task.
My saviour at this time was crochet. Row upon row of colour helped me process what was happening to my family. One part of my brain was focusing on the rhythm of the stitches, the other part of my brain was trying to find a way forward, work out what needed to be done next.
With hard work and support from an amazing NHS stroke team and The Stroke Association Peter improved. Stroke has left a lot of problems for him, but you probably wouldn’t realise if you met him today.
Then as life was beginning to settle down it was my turn for a little health drama! I was exhausted, I had stomach pain, bathroom visits were not pleasant! I just was feeling so ill. But the Dr’s were dismissive – it was IBS, I was depressed, I needed to eat better….
My body then was in so much pain. It came in waves, it felt like labour pains, there was blood in the bathroom, I couldn’t eat. Still the Dr’s weren’t taking me seriously. Eventually they x-rayed me. The Dr’s started taking me very seriously. Next morning I was in surgery and had ¼ of my large bowel and some of my small bowel removed. It turns out there had been a tumour in my small bowel, the bowel was trying to get rid of it, the bowel telescoped in on itself, that’s what the labour like pains were.
So yeah, I was 39 with bowel cancer. A disease that has an image of being an old man’s disease, but I know now that I was definitely not unique. Now I had six months of Chemo to look forward to. It was tablet chemo which sounds like it isn’t as bad, but three weeks of tablets, one week break over and over again really did start to grind me down.
To pass the time I was of course crocheting a beautiful blanket. But I also discovered Insta, I was searching pottery accounts and was amazed at what was happening in the world of ceramics. It was wonderful to see pictures of people making, to see the process again.
As I was recovering, I bought some clay to play with, brought my old tools and equipment out and started having fun. I was pretty awful, but it brought me so much joy! Getting my hands into clay, making little bowls and cups, trying to remember all those lessons from college. It was so good to have somewhere for my head to go that wasn’t cancer, bowels or hospital appointments. Wedging clay is a great way to get rid of frustrations!
Clay saved me at this time, gave me something to look forward to, a place to take out my frustrations, something to be proud of. Focusing on how to improve my throwing, keeping practising until throwing becomes intuitive, the muscle memory takes over, a bit like those crochet stitches. And now I’ve made it my job!
I just love seeing other people get involved in craft, and I have plans for that to happen here soon. If you want to get your hands into some clay now though, how about trying an air drying clay kit? It comes with all you need to get started on your clay journey.
