Prop-making this pandemic

[Dreamster]

"Isolation, fear, and financial/occupational instability created by the current COVID-19 situation are expected to generate an upsurge in mental illnesses globally. Shortage of mental health workforce and the financial resources needed for traditional interventions are limiting factors to cope effectively with a potential global mental health crisis. United Kingdom research already shows an increase in levels of anxiety, depression, and stress due to current financial challenges. This reinforces the urgent need to discover new complementary interventions to help improve low mood and alleviate mental health risks.

Art interventions have been linked to healing and recovery, influencing mental, somatic, and psychological conditions. This has motivated scientists to study the sensory-emotional values that art can elicit. The first United Kingdom program of arts on prescription was designed in 1994 to help recovery of mild and moderate depression. Visual art interventions, including painting and collage making have also been considered helpful by patients suffering from depression or fatigue during chemotherapy treatment.

Assessing the effectiveness of these interventions has been challenging due to a lack of scientific rigor of the rating instruments. Nevertheless, a qualitative study of 102 art and mental health projects concluded that art participation enhanced levels of empowerment and was associated to improvements in participants’ mental health."

As a cosplayer, I enjoy making my own props. I mean, I just do it for fun. It’s a different kind of happy-high when you make your own stuff and share it among fellow cosplayers but at the end of the day, it only matters if you enjoyed yourself or not. It’s not about popularity or pageviews, having fans or not, being better than others... no. It’s about expressing yourself through a character you love and sharing it with others. That's an anxiety-reliever for me. How about you?

 

[TurboCharizard]

Thanks for sharing this Dreamster. For about six months now I've been worn down by work and my usual outlet for de-stressing was to go into the workshop, put on some music and build things. Unfortunately the timing of this busy time at work also overlapped with me losing ability to freely use my normal workshop space so building physical objects has been a rare treat.
Luckily I've been using this time to focus more on improving my digital design abilities and sharing the results with others. Life finds a way and creatives will always find an outlet, sometimes it's just a little bit more difficult.

 

[Adeptmechanicus]

Building props and armor for me is cathartic. I use it to decompress from work. I try to do a little something every day for my hobby, even if it's only for half an hour or hour. If I can't get out to the garage, I at least do research for some part of it or the next project on the webs. My mind is always on some aspect of what I'm going to do when I get home, makes my day go by faster

 

[KragAxe]

Our company moved to 90% working from home. Being a very social person, I tend to feel isolated. Teams and zoom meetings just aren’t the same.

On the bright side, I can turn the video feed off and work in the garage during some of the calls!

ive been going batshit crazy since we moved. I don’t have my indoor space set up, nor do I have the garage ready to do any work. It’s hard to get motivated to do anything.

Add to that, I had the original covid back in March 2020, got vaccinated this past April, then got the delta version last month that I’m still having some lasting effects from. I either have enough antibodies in me now that I could lick toilet seats at Walmart and not get anything….or my immune system is so weak it doesn’t matter. it’s been hard to stay positive.

I finally made some progress on getting set up and pulled out my HALO projects and started organizing my thoughts on those again. I already feel better just doing that!

 

[Dreamster]

There were a few good things about the lockdown...
I had no problems finding a parking space at the office, and if I took the bus, it was pretty much empty...
Tourists staying at a nearby hotel have now claimed all the spaces next to the office building, and this week the bus got flooded with people again. (I have had 3 days of WfH. Two days doing documentation, and the third was filled with meetings... Please, if that happens again, shoot me!)

I just about stopped going on hikes in the mountains because the parking lots at the trailhead were usually full, and the trails even worse...
Please, please, go back to the gym! and take your horrid SUVs with you!

My 'office desk' or hobby desk at home is currently a board, 40x160cm on top of two wooden trestles. No painting whatsoever is happening on that because everything is packed down.

I started swapping around my bedroom and hobby room because the bedroom was twice as large as the hobby room, and I haven't finished designing the new desk, yet...

 

[KragAxe]

My 'office desk' or hobby desk at home is currently a board, 40x160cm on top of two wooden trestles. No painting whatsoever is happening on that because everything is packed down.

I started swapping around my bedroom and hobby room because the bedroom was twice as large as the hobby room, and I haven't finished designing the new desk, yet...

Hah, my office is the left couch cushion! Our company decided we’re so able to be productive that they are moving offices and downsizing and keeping us working from home.

If we ever get around to finishing unpacking, my office will be a 12 x 17 room, redone in a traditional English style. It’ll get decorated with all my medieval, modern, and Halo armor and weapons. Should make for an interesting backdrop for video conferences!

 

[Adeptmechanicus]

Hah, my office is the left couch cushion! Our company decided we’re so able to be productive that they are moving offices and downsizing and keeping us working from home.

If we ever get around to finishing unpacking, my office will be a 12 x 17 room, redone in a traditional English style. It’ll get decorated with all my medieval, modern, and Halo armor and weapons. Should make for an interesting backdrop for video conferences!

Wouldn't that make for an interesting zoom meeting? Flanked on 1 side by a suit of Halo armor and the other side by a medieval knight with a halberd or a 2 hander broad sword! Ha Ha! Then you tell them "hold on a second while I confer with my associates"