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Hobbies: Crafts

Older adulthood is sometimes called the "creative age," and vision loss does not have to put a stop to your creativity and artistic expression. The artist Georgia O'Keefe, famous for her paintings of flowers and the American Southwest, turned from oil paints to clay sculptures, watercolors, and pencils in her 80s as she began to lose her vision.

With a few simple changes, you too can continue to enjoy crafts and other artistic pursuits. Here are some ideas to get you started.

General Crafting Tips
New Ways to Do Classic Hobbies

General Crafting Tips

• Stick with arts and crafts that are familiar to you.  If the medium of your chosen craft is too difficult to see, or some tools too difficult to use, find something about that craft that can be adapted.  For example, if you made furniture with detailed carvings, try wood burning, hand carving wood, or refinishing existing pieces. You are still working with wood, but in a different way.
  
  
• Use contrast.  Your working surface or work table should contrast with the object you are working on, and it's helpful if tools contrast with your canvas. For example, if you do needlepoint, use a dark-colored needle and thread against a light canvas, or use a light thread against a dark canvas. Marking the tip of your tools with contrasting paint may also be helpful.
  
  
• Add overall lighting to rooms where you do your crafts, and direct lighting onto your work surface. Full spectrum lighting is often best for crafting.  Colors are most true.
  
  
• Use a medium that is tactile: beadwork, clay, dried flowers, soap, or balsa wood carving are all good options.
  
  
• Enlarge materials, tools, or your medium: larger mesh canvas, larger crochet hook. Look for projects that allow you to continue to do your chosen craft, but on a larger scale (e.g., crochet rag baskets instead of doilies).
  
  
• Enlarge directions or record them on tape for specific projects.
  
  
• Try out foolproof mediums, such as collages, decoupage, faux finishes or abstracts.  These crafts do not require detail.  Many famous artists worked in these areas as they began to experience vision loss.
  
 
• Use simple, non-detailed patterns for latch hook rugs or needlepoint. Instead of hand painting details, stamp or stencil them.
  
  
• Projects that can be completed in a short time are best when you are first learning a new technique or tool. Short-term projects (crocheted yo-yos or granny squares) allow you to see results quickly and work on your adapted techniques or correct mistakes more easily.
  
  
• Projects with found objects are tactile and do not require detail to follow a pattern; shells, decorative pinecones, pressed flowers, river rocks, or other objects from nature can be used to make pictures or mosaics.
  
  
• Helpful adaptive tools include over-the-neck magnifiers with a light, double gooseneck clamps (one end is attached to a table surface, the other holds a magnifier), headborne magnifiers or lights, or gooseneck magnifier/light combos. Tinted filters (especially yellow) worn over your glasses may help with contrast. Go to AFB's Product Search to look up these tools.
  
  
• If you're considering using magnifiers, you should get a low vision exam so an optometrist or ophthalmologist specializing in low vision can prescribe the specific strength and type of magnifier best for your needs. Your vision loss is unique to you and should be treated as such.
  
  
• Learn a new skill or try a new technique that can be transferred to other projects once you are comfortable. Recent studies show that exercise for the brain as we age is just as important as exercise for the body.  Activities which are novel and complex and involve the hands are important. Learning a new craft or an adaptation to an old one is certainly a mental workout.
  
  
• Find a source where your materials are readily available.  Many large craft supply chains now stock a wide range of materials. Many, if not every, supplier has a web site that describes its products, including prices, and provides a way for you to order online for home delivery.

New Ways to Do Classic Hobbies

Here are some more ideas of ways to adapt a few popular hobbies:

Needlecrafts

Whether you're making scarves, sweaters, or afghans, knitting and crocheting require almost no modification at all, other than taking a bit more care with needles and perhaps asking someone to help you choose and organize colors. In addition, well-known yarn company Lion Brand has specific instructions on its web site for viewing and printing free knitting and crocheting patterns in large type (and if you register with their site, you can also download the free patterns as braille files). Needlepoint, embroidery, and sewing require more precision, but you can continue doing them by using adaptations such as large needles, thimbles, special threading devices, enlarged patterns, dark pattern lines, and a stand magnifier. For machine sewing, needle guards can ensure safety and accuracy.

Meet Debi Williamson, contributer to AFB's Just for Fun section of CareerConnect. Debi has been an avid knitter all her life. Find out more about Debi's hobby by visiting CareerConnect.

Pottery

The tactile nature of pottery makes it an ideal activity for anyone with vision loss. If you've enjoyed working with clay in the past, there is no reason to stop now. If you've never tried and want to learn, the techniques of using a pottery wheel aren't difficult for a person with vision loss to learn.

Woodworking

Yes, you can still create practical and attractive wood pieces for your home. Of course, the necessary hand and power tools you'll be using require some added safety precautions:

• Always wear protective goggles.
  
  
• Show where cuts are to be made using a black marker on light color wood, a white or yellow marker on dark wood, or contrasting tactile markings.
  
  
• Apply braille labels to both tools and their location on the tool rack so you can safely organize, identify, and return them to their proper place.
  
  
• Get training from a craftsperson skilled in woodworking so you can relearn basic skills from your new perspective as someone with vision loss.

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