Many people are tired of their regular routines – waking up early, getting ready, driving to work, slaving away for a few hours, coming home, going to bed, and doing it all again the next day. Life can be repetitive, but you can break this cycle by making a few adjustments to your day. One of the best ways to do this is by starting a new hobby. Finding something you’ll love doing during your free time is a good idea because it takes your mind off the daily grind and relaxes you by focusing on something you truly enjoy. From crafting textiles to creating art pieces, here is a list of ten things you can explore if you want to add spice to your days with some creativity. Keep reading for some great ideas!
1. Sign Printing
Sign printing is a fun hobby for those who like playing with texts, fonts, and design. Making signs may be a simple task that can quickly become a heavy job if you take it too seriously, but you can create signs for fun. Maybe you want to spruce up your space with large yet beautiful signage, or you’d like to gift something personalized to a friend. Printed signs can be whatever you want them to be!
You don’t need much to start—just a computer, design software, transfer paper, and your imagination. You’ll essentially be creating art with texts. For example, you can create an antique sign that looks like it’s been exposed to the climate for a few years with some distressed fonts and strategically placed scratch marks. You can also create something futuristic with metallic silver accents and neon lights.
Unleash your creativity when printing signs. You have unlimited materials and tools at your disposal, from wood planks and metal sheets to LED lights and 3D prints. Whatever you choose to work with, you can create something unique every time. You might discover a passion for turning blank surfaces into works of art!
2. Textile Crafting
Textile crafting is one of the more popular hobbies people are rediscovering in the modern age. Getting crafty with various textiles can be therapeutic if you love creating something beautiful from threads and fibers. Imagine sitting on the couch weaving strands of colorful strings or threads while watching your favorite movie. It’s genuinely a chill activity that you can do anywhere.
You can explore many different techniques to create different textiles. For example, a common choice is embroidery. Some people think it’s only for grandmas, but this age-old craft is making a comeback as people find it relaxing and very entertaining. You can create many designs on fabric, from flowers and animals to texts and even human portraits! Embroidering is also an easy hobby to start. You only need a needle, embroidery floss, hoop, and stiff fabric.
There’s also sewing, weaving, knitting, felting, crocheting, etc. Each of these crafts requires different equipment and skill levels, but they all offer a lot of fun and creativity. They also give you a unique creation you can show off or display. You can create something beautiful with each hand stroke using various soft and moldable materials.
3. Jewelry Design
The world is boring without a touch of bling. If you love jewelry and want to create pieces that scream your name, try designing your own. Jewelry design is all about playing with shiny and colorful things to be worn. You can make the usual bracelets, necklaces, and earrings, but you can also venture into more unique pieces like harnesses and hair jewelry.
This hobby has a bit of a learning curve, especially when working with metals and stones, but it can have a significant impact once you finish them and wear them for people to see. If you want to start small, you can buy beads and strings and create simple patterns and color designs. But if you’re going to explore further, you can play with wood, metal, and gems. From easy designs to intricate arrangements, you have different options for challenging your skills and creativity.
You don’t have to wear every piece you create. If you discover that jewelry-making is your calling, selling jewelry is an excellent business idea. Post your designs online, connect with people who are interested, and sell them for a pretty penny. You’ll be doing something that you love while also earning good cash. You can start your Etsy shop or build a new website to show off your creations.
4. UX Design
Have you ever browsed a website and complained about bad user interfaces and layouts? Consider learning how to code and improve website user experience or UX design. You’ll satisfy millions of other online users by changing a few things on a site to look and feel more natural and seamless. Although this hobby is geared more toward people with experience in coding, you can still dabble in this process as a beginner.
There are many user-friendly tools and online resources that you can use to start your journey to UX design. They are also becoming more accessible, with many free tutorials and courses for beginners. Whether you want to redesign your personal blog or work with businesses to change their websites, there’s no limit to what you can accomplish in this field. Plus, with knowledge about the basics of coding, you can venture into other fun and profitable areas.
Digital design will require you to start from the very foundation of programming, but once you see everything in action, you’ll be fascinated by the beauty of coding. You can stop at changing some colors or borders on your websites, but you can go further and become a full-fledged website designer. Once you start exploring the world of UX design, you’ll learn something new every day as long as you are curious and willing to improve.
5. Architectural Drawing
Consider designing your own if you’ve always liked looking at architectural structures, from houses and buildings to churches and castles. You may have caught yourself doodling some floor plans or drawing a custom home for your future family, so learn more about it and turn it into a fun hobby. It’s all about playing with layouts and design elements until you find something that looks good.
Although it sounds complicated, it’s straightforward if you know the concept of perspective. With a bit of practice, you can turn basic rectangles into buildings! Start by mapping out points as a structure’s corners and connecting them to create the edges. From there, you can refine the lines and create more complex features like pillars, awnings, and fences.
You don’t have to buy expensive equipment to start. A pen, paper, and a ruler are all you need to sketch out an architectural masterpiece. You can invest in fancy drafting tools, but you don’t need them if you’re only starting the hobby. Whether sketching a home renovation idea or designing a fantasy mansion, drawing structures is fun for people of all ages.
6. Clothing Design
Another hobby that you can explore if you love textiles is clothing design. Compared to making fabrics with intricate designs, you get to create wearable pieces when designing clothes. From simple T shirt apparel to full-on ball gowns, you can explore almost anything and everything in fashion. And you’re not just making clothes to cover your body—you’re making a statement about yourself.
If you’re not ready to create new garments, you can start by finding an old shirt you no longer wear and playing with it. Try drawing on it with markers, cutting it to add panels, folding it to shorten the length, gluing sequins to make it shiny, or sewing another patch of fabric to add something new—you have so many options! The only limit is your imagination, so look for ways to make it into something you might wear again.
Once you’ve torn into a few shirts and are ready to create something out of yards of fabric, you can start learning about sewing and pattern-making online. You’ll find many video tutorials on measuring, cutting, pinning, and sewing fabric, which can help you create anything from a tank top to a corseted pantsuit. Just be patient. You’ll inevitably make wrong cuts, sew the wrong sides, and create something unwearable, but with time, you’ll get better and find your footing in fashion.
7. Pet Photography
Photography is a common hobby that many people pick up. They usually photograph human bodies and faces, landscapes, and other sceneries. But if you want something more fun and light-hearted, try pet photography. You can snap photos of adorable pets cuddling with their humans or funny fails, from stumbles and falls to attempted smiles and screams. Whatever it is, you’ll interact with animals and spend a day with them, inevitably relieving your stress and worries.
There are so many things to photograph concerning pets. For one, you can take pictures of animals just lounging at home and being their usual selves. You can also capture images of a new dog haircut, a cat dipping its paws in the swimming pool, or a bird flapping its wings. Some people also work with exotic animals and highlight their unusual but welcome presence as pets.
A smartphone is a good start if you don’t have a formal camera. Just play with the settings on your camera phone, and you can create a unique image every time. Try changing the brightness, vibrance, and hue, or add a cute filter. You can also install some photo editing apps to make adjustments to improve the image, from removing a messy background to refocusing a blurry picture. And you can do this whenever you want! Go snap pics whenever you go out with your pet or document their daily lives. You’ll always have fun when spending time with pets.
8. Oil Painting
Using oil paints can be a new experience for artists who love painting. Oil paintings offer a bit more challenge if you’re used to working with acrylic or poster paints. They dry much longer and are much smoother to paint with. They also have richer shades and textures that you won’t usually find in the paints for children’s arts and crafts. With each stroke, you will blend and layer paint to create a true masterpiece.
However, oil paint is more expensive than other paints. It uses high-quality binders and pigments that give your paintings that extra pizzazz. You might find cheaper oil paints on the market, but those expensive ones are the real deal. If you’re just starting, try the cheap ones before moving on to the packs worth hundreds or thousands. This will give you experience working with oil paints and help you decide if it’s a medium you’d like to work with.
Formal training in the arts is helpful but not necessary when playing with oil paints. You can buy affordable paints, brushes, and canvases and paint whatever you want. You may be tempted to paint a scene like The Starry Night or a portrait like the Mona Lisa, but you can create anything under the sun, from mundane life stills to internet memes. With many different subjects to paint, you’ll never get bored.
9. Sculpture
Sculpting is another art form that can be a fun activity for artists. You’ll work primarily with your hands to create form from a slab of wood, metal supplies, or something else entirely. Many people start with sculpting soap, fruits, and vegetables, which many children learn from school. But you can forgo these items and sculpt with clay, a very forgiving and easy material.
Sculpting is usually done with wood or stone, so if you have access to these materials, you can start chipping away to draw out the form from something shapeless. Know that this hobby requires a lot of patience. You can’t just keep chiseling wood or stone away. You need to be strategic with every hit, or you’ll accidentally remove an area where you must sculpt something important. Although it is a relatively expensive art form, you can still do it if you have an eye for detail and are willing to get your hands dirty. With a bit of space at home, a sharp tool, and something to etch on, you can sculpt anything you want into the 3D world.
10. Mural Painting
Finally, you might find happiness in painting walls. Mural paintings let you experience how it feels to ‘ruin’ a perfectly clean wall with your art. With a splash of color, you can add life to a room without changing too much. Always think like an interior painter when beautifying a room with your mural. Prep the surface, use the right paint, and seal it properly to ensure lasting beauty.
This hobby can also extend outside your home. For example, you can work with your community to paint on vacant walls or surfaces to create street art. You can paint anything from abstract forms that look good wherever you stand to advocacy images that encourage people to initiate change. Mural painting is an excellent form of self-expression as long as you have a space to work on.
You can turn many activities into a hobby that ensures relaxation and peace of mind after a long day at work. From drawing and painting to sewing and taking photos, these hobbies are for every creative looking to spend their time creating art. Of course, there are many other ideas to try that are not on this list, but whatever it is, always unleash your creativity and share your beautiful ideas with the public. The world is your canvas, so don’t wait. Start making art in your free time now!
