Helen Kyser admits to being obsessive-compulsive when it comes to collecting things.
Vintage buttons, gemstones, rocks and postcards are just some of the collections that fill her spacious Cleveland, Tenn., home. She stores most of it in her craft room, a 22-foot by 24-foot space over the garage, where she spends many hours working on projects.
“This is where I create,” Kyser said.
The inviting workspace combines function and comfort. A huge stainless-steel island, wall-to-wall cabinets, storage shelves and vintage chests keep her supplies organized and at hand. A sofa and chairs, a large-screen TV, tables and lamps add a cozy ambiance.
Kyser, a retired visual coordinator for an interior designer, said her passion for collecting and creating is genetic.
“My grandmother was a master craftswoman,” she said. “She created things until she passed away at 97. She mostly did eggery (transforming egg shells into works of art) and traveled throughout the South leading workshops and appearing on TV programs.
“I dabble in a lot of things, but my favorite craft is designing and making jewelry.”
Kyser has thousands of beads, crystals, semiprecious stones, African trade beads and pieces of bone, coral, jade and amber to chose from when making necklaces. She stores the beads, separated by color and style, in numerous clear containers lining the shelves on a wall in the room.
“I tend to like old things and repurpose them. My brother-in-law accused me of being a hoarder, but I’m not,” she said. “Everything has a place and a purpose.”
Her craft desk is built into the cabinets. A vintage Tom’s Potato Chips wire rack on the desk holds her jewelry-making tools and supplies. A nearby rack, made from a wire windshield-wiper display, holds electric tools such as glue guns and drills.
A few yards away is a large island with a stainless-steel top and wooden cabinet with drawers for wrapping paper, ribbons and tape.
“I love to wrap presents,” Kyser said. “This allows me to stand up and wrap until my heart’s content.”
A glass cabinet displays one of Kyser’s more unusual collections, an assortment of roaches, bees, June bugs, beetles and luna moths.
“People are surprised to learn that I collect bugs for my crafts,” she said. “I don’t kill them, but I’m always on the lookout. … I’m always picking up feathers and dead bugs in my yard.”
She said she puts them in the freezer to kill any bacteria, then stores them in a glass cabinet until she’s ready to mount them.
Kyser’s collections come from all over the world.
“My husband’s job takes him to many places, and I often go with him,” she said.
One of her favorite places to visit, China, has yielded “some really cool things,” including jade, bone and silk cocoons, she said.
Knowing she has plenty of storage space gives her freedom to search for more.
“I never had a designated place to put my crafts before we built the craft room,” she said. “I’d shuffle things from closet to closet or leave them out and hope that nobody stopped in for a surprise visit. Now that I have my own workroom, I can leave things out and not worry about it.”
Kyser calls her workroom her “own little heaven.”
“I get lost in here, and I love it,” she said. “Nobody bothers me, and I get to do my own thing — whatever it is at the time. Sometimes I’ll be up to 3 a.m. and not even realize it. It’s where I can totally relax and create.”