I've also been having to think outside the proverbial box when it comes to earning some more money recently. The type of 'regular' part-time work I've been looking for is either non-existent or if I do find something, the part-time hours are fixed more or less and rule me out due to childcare commitments with B. Not having another parent in the house to take up the childcare slack, as I've blogged before, is a major stumbling block in the search for work.
So while I have a little bit of redundancy money left over to top up the meagre income I am earning, I have been starting to wonder if I could perhaps try to combine the yearning for a bit of artistic creativity with earning a bit more money. I realise this idea is a medium/long-term one, it's not going to make me money overnight, but if I could make some money from doing something I enjoy and actually may be good at, we all dream of turning a hobby into a job, don't we?
So I've been thinking of crafty ideas or projects I could try, get a feel of, dip my toe in the water, as it were. And I found a two-day course in silver jewellery making on in town last weekend, and signed up for the last place.
I had no expectations really, how I was going to get on, if I was going to like it, or be any good at it. But I really enjoyed it. There was a lot to take in, all the different tools, types of silver, soldering, pickling, mandrels (sic) etc etc. And it surprisingly required as much logical thinking as it did artistic ability, to make sure the soldering didn't burn the silver, to strengthen the silver once soldered, etc.
But with a little bit of help from our fantastic teacher, we all managed to make a bracelet and a funky ring at the end of the course. Not perfect, but given it was the first time I'd tried anything like this, I am well-chuffed with the results.
It has definitely given me a hunger to try some more of the same or something similar. It has confirmed what I knew that it is a commitment, an investment of both time and money, and so I need to be sure I can commit and will be good enough to maybe make a little bit of money out of it in the future.
But I've definitely unleashed the creative bug and so will need to quench its thirst again soon!
