My Unravel And Unwind Story
Hello crafters!
It’s me, Kron! You know, the Yeti.
I’m here to tell you a little story about my time at Unravel and Unwind.
My own personal story, about me, is a long and boring one of depression and joblessness, so I will mostly skip that part and just cut it down to this. I am jobless, suffering from depression and anxiety, this place has helped me more than any amount of medication (and at times there was a lot of medication).
I first got put on to Unravel and Unwind through a Facebook invite to one of Riven Gray’s drawing classes, I used to be pretty good at art but university and work had kept me out of practice for the better part of 10 years, couple that with an unhealthy lifestyle and the first hints of old injuries catching up to me and it’s kind of understandable that making my hands obey my commands had become nigh impossible.
I eventually managed to wander in to the classes after getting borderline stable with meds and it pretty much immediately felt like home; not the awful old crumbly building that was a mishmash of drunken, half-competent repair jobs and decoration that my biological father had left us with but an actual place I wanted to be and could relax in.
Riven’s introductory class was relaxed, informal and dealt with basic techniques and exercises that could pretty much get anyone of any skill level up to speed for the more fun stuff.
There were drawing games, themed lessons, lessons devoted to introducing specific types of drawing such as portraiture, landscapes and illustration from literature.
These classes expanded into a set of advanced classes (they kind of had to as most of us kept signing up after every six week block).
It’s a neat combination of structured learning and informal social environment that has helped me cope with the rigours of not knowing if I’m going to be able to pay my bills and feed myself, it’s helped revived a skill-set that may one day end up earning me a living (Assuming I can keep focused on any one project) and generally stopped me going crazier than usual from abject boredom.
It was through these classes that I was introduced to Faye and the extended Unravel & Unwind and Intra family (and I’m not using the word family lightly) and through volunteering got to sit in on a number of the other courses and workshops that they run.
I should note that as of the writing of this uncharacteristically soppy post, that there is a little bit of a problem with the main site. So the booking information for the Can Draw Will Draw classes isn’t available yet.
It will however be running alongside the Art From The Start classes from the 13th of June to the 18th of July except the Can Draw Will Draw Class will be from 2pm to 3:30pm.
Minions have been dispatched and this issue should be dealt with soon. In the meantime feel free to get in contact through our Facebook page for details or sign up to our weekly newsletter.