A tad too simple, a bit too poor

As much as crafters hate to admit it, not all craft projects are created equal. Some are hideous. Who better to bring this to light than actress and author Amy Sedaris in her new book, Simple Times: Crafts for Poor People, a subversive, hilarious take on the made-by-hand movement. The 304-page book, which Sedaris co-wrote with Paul Dinello, is a follow-up to her 2006 guide to entertaining I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence. The book offers dubious projects such as "stars" made from marshmallows, stuck with toothpicks covered in glitter; a bookmark made of rows of pennies sandwiched between packing tape; and a sad, painted cotton-ball raincloud.

In the chapter Safety Meeting, readers are warned about mishaps, such as severing one's finger with a pair of pinking shears and getting a foot full of thumbtacks. The accidents are graphically illustrated. Empty toilet-paper rolls are properly represented in Simple Times projects.

Here, Sedaris shares her thoughts on the book:

Why did you decide to do ‘Simple Times' as a follow-up to ‘I Like You'?

The last chapter of I Like You has some crafts in it but I was running out of room at that point. I love crafts and thought I would focus on that. And my challenge was, what would the different chapters be about; what do I know about the subject?

Why did you break it down into chapters such as ‘Craft Yourself Homely', ‘Shut-Ins' and ‘Knowing Your Knack for Knick-knacks'?

First, I thought I would break it into seasons, then months, then I came up with the idea of crafting with whatever disability you have and the challenges you have to overcome. That turned out to be a big chapter. Then I woke up one morning and thought I wanted to get into nature crafts.

Many of the projects in ‘Simple Times' seem to reference books from the 1960s and 1970s that featured really horrible crafts and were big on photos.

This book is really for people who can't read or who don't want to read. I just wanted the book to be a big trigger for ideas. I believe anybody can stick pencils into a potato and make a pencil holder but please don't give me that.

You credit other people with making some of the crafts featured in the book.

I would get a craft group together — there would be about seven of us — and I would say: "This is what we're going to make." But it would cost me $700 (Dh2,570) in materials and then I would have to feed everybody. It was ridiculous. I hired a 9-year-old to do the paper cut-outs and I paid her $300 (Dh1,101). I paid my sister $5,000 (Dh18,359) for doing the nature crafts.

I liked doing the Real Hob Knob Glass Candles. (The instructions read: "Glue dried peas to a glass. Paint the outside, including the peas. Insert a candle. This tactile craft is also terrific for the blind.") You can tell what I made in the book. But I should have used a smaller pea. That's why it looks so bad.

I'm lucky, though, that the craft community has embraced me. Some people are really good at what they do but they don't have ideas. I have the ideas but not the skills, but I work well with people. I can tell somebody, "Paint a tumour". I like crafts that are made out of necessity because they're a little naive — you made it because you needed it. I did an episode of The Closer and the (tailor) had this three-tier pincushion that he made. It was a little dirty and loaded up with pins, and it just seemed to have a story behind it and a personality. I gave him $200 (Dh734) for it and he made himself a new one. (It's featured in the book as a Pin Tower Cushion and the instructions are to "eyeball it".)

What do you think you'll tackle in your next book?

It will be something with interiors. I love working with miniatures, so I might want to expand on that. It's hard when someone says, "Let's do a craft together", because I hate crafts now. Everything's in storage and I don't want to have anything to do with them.