Today, I’m sitting in the coffee shop I grew up going to, where I always ordered a vanilla bean frappe with no espresso because I was a kid and coffee was gross. It’s not gross anymore, and I’m happy to announce I can now enjoy a delightful pumpkin spice latte; hot, because it’s a crisp 57º October morning. The only reason we frequented this coffee shop and not an ice cream parlor like normal kids was because my aunt worked at the other half of the store: the art gallery. At the time, she was the art framer for the gallery and had a massive room full of matting materials, frames, and well, whatever else she needed to complete the fascinating job of art and picture framing. Sure, my being an observational person didn’t come until much later in life, but my aunt Mandy made sure to nudge my brain into the world of creativity as early as I was able to form memories that would last into adulthood. She was always making things, really cool things. She was thrifty. She took us on the most unique adventures. She performed in community theater productions and to me, she was famous. She was, and still is a total, absolute punk. I wanted to be my aunt Mandy when I grew up.
A PSL from Down Thyme Café
What is now Down Thyme Café in Fremont, OH used to be DaVinci’s Gallery and Coffee House. The art gallery was replaced by an event center. I miss it.
Well, I grew up. I went to college for music production and in a panic applied for a sales job in Indiana.
Wait, what?
Sales. I sell music and audio equipment. Instruments, microphones, speakers… I even sell hearing aids for some reason. It’s a good job. I love Fort Wayne. I also love the people I work with. One I love so much I married him. Part of my job is listening to really loud speakers and making critical faces. Another thing I do at work is attend meetings where sometimes my favorite guitarist of all time suddenly enters the stage to demo a new guitar pedal.
Here is the incredible, mystical Yvette Young shocking me to my core with an appearance at a work meeting.
What I’m usually doing, though, is sitting in a cubicle making dozens of outbound calls until the clock tells me I can go home.
Now here’s an unexpected twist: my job leaves me yearning. Yearning for the life that 11-year-old me thought I’d have. When you’re a child you don’t consider the fact that most of your week will be spent at work. Or maybe, you just assume you’ll have a fun job that you look forward to doing every day, like petting dogs, painting, or singing. For most, though, we just get a couple of hours in the evening to spend on the things that we ultimately live for. But, for the past 8 years, much of the free time I could have invested in cool hobbies has been lost to things like social media and various, pointless, scrollings on my smartphone. Even my curiosity has been wasted on Google searches regarding how well cast members got along during the filming of my favorite shows, or when a certain food item ending in -ito might come back to the menu of a particular fast food restaurant.
So, in August of this summer, I got rid of it. I got myself a “dumb phone” and estranged myself from the iPhone lifestyle I was introduced to at 12 years old.
It’s nice to occasionally be bored again. I am proud to say that I can now sit and do nothing! That wasn’t my goal, but it is admittedly a really useful benefit. Now with all this newfound time on my hands, I’ve been exploring crafty hobbies again– summoning my inner aunt Mandy. I did a bit of book binding, had a blast. I also started (and miraculously completed) some woodworking projects. I made two litter boxes for my cat Mochi using stainless steel hotel pans and particle board. Weird, I know, but it oddly instills in me this sense of pride to see her use them. Most recently I’ve enjoyed making a latch hook bed for her. She likes to nuzzle the hook while I work and what other thought could I possibly have but “This is what life is all about.” I can see myself learning to sew in the near future. With all these new hobbies taking over almost every room of our 3 bed 2.5 bath home, my wonderful husband Matt has hastily agreed to help me convert our guest room to a dedicated craft room. Weeeee!
Learning to latch hook
Of course now with a craft room in my future, I’ve now unintentionally but somewhat forcefully tasked myself with the purchasing of items to make the space functional. I’ll need a work surface and storage at minimum. Maybe some decor and a few quirky vessels for storing various crafty items could be helpful as well. Thankfully, like my aunt Mandy, I am a thrifty lady, so it only makes sense to thrift these items and get, well, crafty! In each thrift store I’ve visited the last few weeks I’ve been able to find a few unique pieces to really make my new hobby room special. While I’ve mostly been shopping for the list above, each stop naturally includes what is meant to be a brief visit to the usually quaint arts and crafts section, but ultimately ends up being the bulk of the time I spend in the store. So far I’ve found so many supplies for new hobbies I haven’t tried yet, all sitting there with inviting price stickers under $3. There were little baggies containing glass chips for stained glass projects, embroidery hoops and floss, rug yarn and even a latch hook (these came home with me as I accidentally spoiled earlier.) What I’ve discovered just in the last month is that a trip to the craft section of a thrift store could introduce me to hobbies I might not usually consider trying, and best of all, it makes them incredibly affordable to start. This discovery has resulted in an insatiable desire to sift through bins upon bins of random crafty clutter to sustain my running imagination. I ran into a problem, though. Or rather, I ran out of bins.
I think for many, including myself, there is a big void in what we might be willing to donate to general thrift stores. I find it hard to pass specialty items to a store that might not understand their value or even know how to categorize them. That said, it makes sense that there aren’t expansive arts and crafts sections in the thrift stores I frequent. But, this resistance to donating unneeded materials and tools results in, well, hoarding. I do it. I’ve got so much crafty clutter of my own. Hardware for projects I never followed through with, bottles of paint that are only missing a small dollop, spools of ribbon I have no reason to unravel. A craft hobby graveyard haunting my basement shelves…
And that, dear reader, is why I’ve decided to jump into the world of thrift retail. I think our city will really benefit from a craft supply thrift store and I just can’t wait to make it real. We’re still in what you might call a dream state, but every day is another step toward building an inventory and securing a location. We already have so many cool treasures that we can’t wait to make available to you. If you, too, have a craft hobby graveyard taking up space in your home, let us help you with that.
Sunni Zuleger, Founder and Admin
I enjoyed designing our logo using materials from my own craft hobby graveyard, a printer, and basic editing software. No AI was used in the creation of our branding or website.