Hellllooooo! We've been hit with a barrage of unseasonable cool temperatures accompanied by lots and lots of rain so that means I've gotten myself in a grumpy mood where I spend a lot of time and effort criticizing myself for not using all my free time adequately and wasting my summer off, basically beating myself up for not having fun but also not getting a whole lot done.
Awesome, right?
Weather really affects me apparently because this rain is driving me BANANAS. We've gone past the state of "perfect time for cozy indoor activities that I love" and right on into "existential crisis after being confronted with too many of my own Thoughts" territory. I've waylaid this tidal wave of Grumps as much as possible by sneaking out for the occasional walk in between showers and throwing myself into wedding-related crafting to keep myself feeling vaguely productive at the very least. And, as an additional help with keeping the Thoughts at bay, I've gotten into a number of craft-related YouTube channels (as mentioned in my last post) that I will now share with YOU.
Did you think this was the direction the post was going? Probably yes since I'm sure you can already see the rest of this post but I like to think that I kept you on your toes a bit with that intro. Now, without further ado...
Bill Making Stuff - This English dude makes weird, like, post apocalyptical-type robots and spaceships and things out of straight up trash and I absolutely love it. The style of his creations is super interesting and cohesive (everything he builds belongs to the same "world" if that makes sense) and I appreciate the hypothetically low cost of making those things- crafts that require a high dollar buy-in to start bother me. He has a background in video production so his videos are super high quality as well. As a bonus, he has a dry humor I enjoy and he also does livestreams which are great to throw on as a background to my own crafting.
North of the Border - This dude also makes models and dioramas and things based on games and pop culture... see a bit of a theme here? He's like, a next level model maker though, using more pro materials and less trash but he's an excellent sculptor and his discussions of his sculpting technique have helped me a lot in my recent crafts. Basically, he's the model maker I want to be when I grow up. As a bonus, he has that Canadian accent I feel like everyone from the US assumes every single Canadian has but probably doesn't and I very much enjoy that.
Nerdforge - Nerdforge takes on all sorts of crafty projects, ranging from dragon mural painting, to full cosplay suits of armor construction, to tome book binding. Lots of their creations are out of my league and make use of tools I don't have access to but the builds are amazing and it's super enjoyable to watch. Its run by a couple of young people from Norway which makes me feel old, as you can tell from the fact that I called them "young people" but I would recommend the channel anyway.
Black Magic Craft - This dude focuses mainly on making models and terrain for Dungeons and Dragons and similar table top games and even though that isn't my thing (making snap decisions while being "in character" in front of people, whether they're my friends or not, fills me with anxiety just thinking about it), this channel is filled with a lot of great resources for someone just starting out trying to build models or dioramas or something. I've already referred to his channel several times in the course of making my nerdy wedding centerpieces and have always come away with more confidence in whatever I'm about to attempt.
