Disclaimer: This is me sharing my personal experiences and my take on them. I’m not trying to persuade anyone of anything. I’m not judging anyone who has had a different experience. | Links to collection & social media are at the end of the post.
I am a curious person and I love trying out new hobbies. Some of them stick with me throughout my life, some I try and let go, but I enjoy them all and they are always a chance to do something new and interesting — and to learn something about myself.
If I devoted a mask and a story to each hobby, there would be way more than 35. I chose some that were closer to my heart and the moment and/or had potential for good visuals — like the Embroidery Mask or the Artsy Mask, for instance.
The other hobbies are important and well-loved, too. I just wasn’t quite sure how to make a mask out of white-water rafting or paragliding trips, for example. I mean, I could always just take a mask and paint stuff on it — but what’s the fun in doing it over and over again for several masks?
I don’t want to turn this post into a novel so there won’t be a story for each hobby here, just a few words about me having many different hobbies.
Like with many things, it was a journey of self-discovery and self-acceptance.
I don’t remember when exactly it started — I kind of always liked many different things and tried different hobbies. As a kid and young teen, I was obviously limited by my age, what my parents were able to provide, classes that were available and where they could take me. As a result there wasn’t too much variety but I still tried things out.
As I grew up, I had more agency in choosing my hobbies — and more opportunities. The «old» hobbies didn’t go anywhere, though, so they kind of «piled up».
Obviously, with 24 hours in a day, like any other person, and with studying or working or other responsibilities, I’ve never had enough time for all the things I wanted to do. I was obsessed with giving time to all my hobbies, even tried to keep a journal with hours and such. Not doing something that I considered my hobby bothered me a lot.
What also bothered me was the fact that I liked to may things and didn’t seem to land on one/select few and to perfect it. I kind of envied people who just had one or two main interests and pursued them.
There two things are kind of opposite, but hey, this is me, getting annoyed at having too many hobbies and at not having time for more hobbies. As I grew up, I more or less learned to deal with both.
I learned to obsess much less about devoting equal time to each hobby. I learned to understand when a hobby is «just a phase», just something I tried but won’t continue, and let it go. I learned to accept that I do some hobbies in bursts/binges: I haven’t embroidered for quite a while, for instance, but it doesn’t mean I have given it up; I have embroidery projects planned that I’ll have a go at after completing the masks. And so on.
I also learned to accept myself and my curiosity. Yes, I am risking to be «a Jack of all trades, master of none», and I am okay with that. I found something to concentrate on — my art, — but this doesn’t mean that I have to stop trying other hobbies every now and then.
Now, let me tell you about the mask.
Like all the masks in the collection, it has a paper mache base (you can read about me making it here and here).
I painted the mask black and wrote the names of many different hobbies I have/had all over it with acrylic paint markers.
On a separate piece of watercolor paper, I drew different hobbies with the same markers. I then cut it up and glued these «petals» to the back of the mask.
Interesting fact: all the petals I made fit on the mask, I didn’t have to leave any out or draw extra petals to fill the space.
I still missed a few things: for instance, I played chess for a couple of years when in school, but there’s no petal for that — well, for chess, I grabbed the chessboard that I have and used it as a prop for the photo.
And that is it for this mask — but feel free to ask questions, here or on Twitter.
Thank you for reading!
Links:
