Shoshana ugly doll, via Younicorn iPhone app
Mighty Ugly mascot Shoshana, as rendered by the indispensable Younicorn iPhone app

A couple of weeks ago an idea pounced on me while I was riding the bus home at night. The kind of idea that led me to run home from the bus stop and have a domain registered and half a website built before I went to bed.

I’ve written about intentionally making ugly crafts before (I believe the most recent time was in Inside Crochet magazine about a year ago), and then it came up on Twitter the same day as the idea-pounce, so it jumped back into my consciousness.

Unrelated to ugly, I’ve also spent the last few months ruminating on how much I enjoyed being a camp counselor (a lot) and how I’d like to use those dormant skills again.

Well anyway, enough with the boring background blather.

Behold, Mighty Ugly.

An overview: I bet you’ve never set out to make something ugly on purpose. It’s worth trying at least once. You might find it hilarious, silly, dumb, uncomfortable, inspiring, threatening, fun, an antidote to creative block, a channel for your muse. You won’t know till you give it a shot.

So go take the Mighty Ugly challenge. Take photos. Report back.

The camp counselor part? I’m thinking workshops. Maybe birthday parties for grown-ups. Events? I won’t say no.

I blogged this video over at the MU site, but I’ll put it here, too. I held an experimental Mighty Ugly crafts night the other night; here I am talking about the ugly creature I made:

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JelliDonut

Awesome!

jenn

what a fun idea! i'll be looking forward to seeing what people come up with.

leannich

Hi Kim,
I just found your site, and this post is FANTASTIC. I'm totally bouncing in my seat at the idea of making ugly things. Just the kind of subversive crafty idea that makes me grin and fizz :-)

So … will I do it? I'd have to overcome some fairly major internal obstacles first, but … look, OK, I'll give it a go. Soon. And I'll definitely come and tell you about it.

Thanks for the inspiration!
Léan

leannich

Hi Kim,
I just found your site, and this post is FANTASTIC. I'm totally bouncing in my seat at the idea of making ugly things. Just the kind of subversive crafty idea that makes me grin and fizz :-)

So … will I do it? I'd have to overcome some fairly major internal obstacles first, but … look, OK, I'll give it a go. Soon. And I'll definitely come and tell you about it.

Thanks for the inspiration!
Léan

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