According to pie artist Jessica, mental preparation before tackling whatever crafting project you tackle is vital. The process can be as simple or as complicated as you prefer. There's no one-size-fits-all approach.
"This can mean something as simple as making sure all your tools, ingredients, instructions, recipes, and cleaning supplies are available and to hand before you get started, all the way to actually sitting down and visualizing yourself going through the complete process of making the dish or craft," Jessica told Bored Panda.
Visualizing is a powerful tool in any crafter or baker's arsenal, and Jessica's a proponent of it. "I’m personally a big fan of taking 5 minutes to picture all the steps I’m about to take before I start baking a new work of Pie Art," she revealed to us.
"I can’t tell you how many times I’ve realized that I’ve forgotten a key ingredient or step in watching myself in my mind go through the motions! And it’s kind of meditative too," she explained that the added benefit is that it puts you into a calm, centered space. That way, you're far less likely to rush about and make mistakes. The odds of you getting hurt are also reduced because you know what you need to do, and what's going to happen.
However, visualizing might not be up everyone's alley. Worry not, Pandas, for there are other ways to get in the 'zone' before you start your next project.
"If you’re not into visualizing, you can get a similar effect by writing out lists of every little step you will be taking in your project, and even making a list of things that could go wrong and what you’ll do about it if it occurs," pie artist Jessica explained that this way you're aware of the solutions to problems way in advance.
#6 My Friends And I Held Our First Monthly #nailedit Competition. We All Tried To Replicate The Middle Cake!
There's always room for experimentation and a 'jazz'-like approach when it comes to making food. But if you're pressed for time and results, then you need to rely on getting everything in order.
"Winging it and diving in can be great fun when it comes to creative projects, and you can learn a lot through experimentation and failure… but sometimes the stakes are a bit higher and you just have to get it right the first time. For example, baking your best friend’s wedding dessert, or completing an expensive commission for a client. That’s when that bit of extra effort upfront will pay off big time!"
The r/nailedit subreddit is practically ancient. Founded all the way back in the late November of 2010, it’s been around for nearly 12 years. There’s only one moderator running the place, but they do use the Auto Moderator for help.
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We firmly believe that the r/nailedit online community deserves a lot more attention than it’s getting because the content the members share is top-notch. At the time of writing, there were 54.2k dedicated r/nailedit fans. Hopefully, the community will expand in the future. The subreddit is too good for it to remain a niche group.
Here at Bored Panda, we’re mega fans of crafting and creativity of all kinds. We love it when people turn their dreams into reality and use their imagination powers for Good. However, crafting of any kind demands patience, precision, dedication, and a willingness to fail over and over again till you get good.
At times, that can be slightly demotivating. Especially if you feel like you’re giving it all you’ve got and the results still end up frightening your neighbors and the internet. That’s when an outside perspective might help reignite your motivation and help you develop your totally rad skills.
On a positive note, the net’s chock full of friendly folks who can’t wait to help anyone still green with their crafting troubles.
One such community is r/crochet, an incredibly bubbly and brilliant online community. Bored Panda spoke to one of the moderators during an earlier interview. In short, if you want to try something with your hands and don’t want to go for cooking, it’s best to start off with a crocheting project. It’s very beginner-friendly (and it’ll give you the chance to make a tiny Baby Yoda doll.)
"Crochet is definitely the most beginner-friendly between crochet, knitting, and sewing. This is because, in part, it’s the easiest to rip apart (called frogging) and go back to fix a mistake," the r/crochet moderator explained.
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"Most beginners often find difficulty in knowing where to place the hook in each stitch and figuring out how to coordinate holding the yarn, hook, and work all at the same time!" they explained that crocheting isn’t without its challenges, despite being quite easy to get into. Though what craft doesn’t have a learning curve? Anything worth doing requires at least some patience.
