NECC Observer

The student news website of Northern Essex Community College, Haverhill and Lawrence, Mass.

Quarantine crafts: Extrovert rediscovers old habits to keep busy

During the outbreak of COVID-19, many of us have been affected, journalists included. We are required to change our lifestyles, both at home and out in public. Some introverts may be overjoyed at the idea of self-quarantine, while many extroverts, having been forced into introverting, may be looking for things to do.

Now, as a journalist stuck inside, there are few things to report on, and as an extrovert, I have been looking for things to do. As a result, I fell back to older hobbies that I had fallen out of when I was younger. These hobbies will be my focus as I attempt to search for things to do during this quarantine time.

Last week I got back into scale modeling. This is a hobby that is very much inclusive of anyone. As long as you have the desire to create, you can build anything your mind desires. With my added interest in military history, I decided on an old unfinished project I found in my storage.

One could easily recreate this diorama with minimal spending. The plastic model ran me only around five dollars. I used a circular foam base, painted brown with green faux grass sprinkled over it. To mimic trees, I used small sticks off the ground with faux fall leaves stuck onto them

The plastic model itself was layered several times starting with green paint and interchanging between various browns to replicate pitting, then dry brushed green colors over the pitting and meticulously removed it over and over again until the result was satisfactory. This technique was not entirely effective as the paint took away detail from the plastic model.

I highly suggest this hobby to keep yourself busy during the quarantine. The kind of models you can build also vary greatly, from figures of your favorite superheroes, to just about any kind of vehicle, past to present. Building plastic models is a form of arts & crafts that could suit anyone, and as you search for a hobby to keep yourself busy during this pandemic, I suggest trying out plastic modeling.