Lazing On A Sunday Crafternoon

Lazing On A Sunday Crafternoon

Using nothing more than household items and your time and ingenuity, Lazing on A Sunday Crafternoon offers entertaining, cost-effective and simple projects for everyone.

With enough projects to last every Sunday for a year, children and adults alike can enjoy making things together and find satisfaction in creating something rather than always buying it.

With Eliza Muldoon as your guide you can fashion a headband or apron, create skirts and shoe adornments, make bags, tool belts, toys and unique art. All short enough to keep a toddler's attention (roughly 30 minutes) whilst ensuring your Sunday remains relaxed and fun.

"As a youngster I found myself compulsively crafting. I didn't call it crafting then, I just called it making stuff... Relatively recently two things made me realise that I needed to start making stuff again. The first was having a gorgeous child, Lotte, and wanting her to have the same creative memories and basic skills as I did. The second was lecturing on the extensive benefits of art-making for our wellbeing and realising that this was an important part of my wellbeing that I had neglected. All of this led to the development of Sunday Crafternoons" Eliza Muldoon explains.

Eliza Muldoon completed a Bachelor of Science (Psychology) honours degree with postgraduate studies in Clinical Art Therapy. She is a lecturer and course coordinator at the School of Art History and Art Education within the College of Fine Arts (COFA), UNSW and recently began lecturing in the Australian Film Television and Radio School (AFTRS). She is also the founder and director of www.artsinterview.com, a website dedicated to the discussion of Australian arts workers organisational practices. Eliza's professional ventures explore the integration of art and psychology and their combined potential to influence the development of individual, community and arts industry wellbeing. Eliza now lives in Katoomba.

Lazing on A Sunday Crafternoon
Allen and Unwin
Author: Eliza Muldoon
Price: $39.99

Interview with Eliza Muldoon

Question: Why did you decide to write and create Lazing on A Sunday Crafternoon?

Eliza Muldoon: It actually started as just a creative adventure with my little girl, Lotte. I wanted us to make something sweet and simple every Sunday afternoon- these became known as our Sunday Crafternoons. It was only after we had already made 25 projects that the idea for the book emerged. The hope is that the ideas and projects in 'Lazing on a Sunday Crafternoon' inspire others to begin their own creative adventures.


Question: Could you provide an example of one of the Sunday craft ideas featured in the book?

Eliza Muldoon: One of my favourites is project number 35: Linen That Loves. I had been embroidering lots of things (despite being rather bad at embroidery) and had the idea of putting a message on Lotte's sheets. I decided to use yellow thread and hand embroider the last thing we say to each other before she falls asleep 'love you'. It only took a few minutes but it makes us smile whenever we read it.

Question: Can you talk about how your background in psychology helped in creating Lazing on A Sunday Crafternoon?

Eliza Muldoon: I have lectured in Art and Psychology for almost ten years now and in all of my subjects I talk about how wonderful and valuable art making is and how it is especially important it is for children to make things. I then thought about how grateful I am to my parents for making things with me as a child and I wanted to do the same for my daughter. So that weekend I began the project. Even though my work has shifted more toward the arts for now, psychology and research still underlies a lot of what I do and why I do it.


Question: Will there be a follow up to Lazing on A Sunday Crafternoon?

Eliza Muldoon: I would love to. I have so many project ideas that it might be hard to decide which one to focus on next!


Question: Why is it important to do craft with children?

Eliza Muldoon: There is research exploring the benefits of arts participation with children that addresses topics ranging from how it affects their brain and social development all the way through to how it improves mathematical skills.

Personally there were many benefits that I experienced in my time with lotte that I think would be good for all children and parents. These range from the simple joy of spending time together to make something through to rapid changes in Lotte's fine motor skills, her ability to focus and her hand-eye coordination. We also started to see household objects in a new way and started to think about making things rather than always buying them.


Question: How did you go about testing the craft ideas provided in the book?

Eliza Muldoon: There are 52 projects in the book that were chosen from about 117 we made over the year. The projects in the book are the most popular and the most successful. Some of them are projects that I have been making since I was a kid, such as 'For the Love of Tangrams' and 'Pomander Balls', others such as 'Basic Ring Bling' and 'Felt Folk Finger Puppets' were made up as we went along. Actually, most of them were just made up as we went along. I think that is one of the best things about this book it that it will hopefully encourage others to just start making something... anything.


Lazing on A Sunday Crafternoon