Browsing by Author "Raittila, Reespu"

The emotion embodiment artefacts (tunnehahmo) are hand-made three-dimensional metaphorical expressions of the maker’s emotion. The process of making these artefacts started as my own self-care process in 2014 and has since taken on a more structured form as workshops (tunnehahmopaja) for different groups. In this study I describe the characteristics of emotion embodiment artefacts and investigate the elements of the process that enhance well-being. In recent years, the field of handicrafts has discovered the possibilities of materiality and metaphor as a counterbalance to the traditional practices, which focus more on techniques and end products. Previous research has shown that handicrafts can increase the well-being of the makers. Making handicrafts has been found to involve emotions and the opportunity to deal with difficult emotions. However, there are hardly any research results on how crafts could be used to process emotions in conscious manner. In different therapies and emotional skills guidance programs there are handicraft-related practises which could be used in actual handicraft making to advance the well-being of the maker also in an actual therapeutic sense. As the main data in this study I used about a hundred photos taken in the workshops, as well as two group discussions I organized for the participants of these workshops. One discussion was organized for constructive communication counselors and other for young adults who participated in a daily workshop focusing on creative methods. I analyzed the data with computer-assisted qualitative content analysis with Atlas.ti. The emotion embodiment artefacts had characteristics that could be divided into five categories: names, shapes, materials, techniques, and symbolic details. Symbolic meanings were attached by the makers to these expressive charasteristics. All the elements that enhance well-being defined by Pöllänen (2015) appeared at some level in the process. Some of them were more strongly or differently emphasized than in previous studies. Based on this study emotion embodiment artefacts are metaphorical craft-art expressing emotions in manifold ways. Emotion embodiment artefacts and the process of creating them can strengthen the well-being of their makers, as they provide opportunities to explore emotions from many perspectives and allow the makers to become more familiar with themselves and their feelings and needs. Based on this research, handicrafts could be used more systematically to enhance well-being and emotional skills, even in a therapeutic sense.