Playing a musical instrument, knitting, doing a jigsaw puzzle, playing football – these are all perfectly normal, everyday activities that people indulge in all over the world.
Hobbies are often a lifeline to people – they provide a welcome distraction from the stresses and strains of the day. Healthy pursuits help to both protect the emotional and physical well-being of individuals.
But for many, the usual, everyday, humdrum hobbies pursued by the majority of the population are not enough to satisfy their sense of the obscure. To them, a hobby needs to be something different, challenging, often amusing, and usually creative
Scouring the internet, there are some really unusual hobbies that are obsessively pursued by people who obviously love what they do, and put their heart and soul into turning their hobbies into, often, some fantastic works of art.
We’ve picked out some of our favorite unusual hobbies here, which we hope will prove to intrigue and inspire.
Building metal miniatures
Fulfilling a creative urge often means that individuals turn to random and unusual sources of inspiration. While creepy crawlies may not be everybody’s cup of tea, the form and design of an insect’s body is a veritable thing of beauty that can be captured in three dimensions using metal profiles.
For suppliers like Rapid Metals who have no minimum order value, supplying small cuts of metal to help build up a swarm of locusts, for example, is a low-cost hobby in terms of materials, but can be built into a fascinating work of art.
Continuing on the metal works of art, we have found these amazing chicken wire sculptures that have taken out all the guesswork, and are available in ready-to-build packages. Pre-cut into templates, they can be cut and connected together to make all sorts of different animals and characters.
These chicken wire kits are brilliant as a hobby for young kids too – and keep them off screens!
Bee keeping – turning your hobby into a sustainable local business
Bee keeping does require a degree of upfront investment but can turn into a long-term, sustainable business that is also brilliant for the environment. There is often despair about the fact that the bee population is shrinking. And yet bees can promote everything that is good about the natural world.
Beekeeping – otherwise known as apiculture – is often considered a therapeutic hobby. The bees can be very sensitive to moods and stress, and should you approach it in the wrong way they can become irritable and stressed.
What better way to calm yourself down than knowing that you are responsible for the well-being of hundreds, if not thousands, and beautiful buzzing insects?
Competitive duck herding
Keeping with the animal theme, a growing trend has been the herding of unusual animals other than sheep – and ducks seem to be a firm favorite. Promoted as a team-building activity, duck herding brings together a number of skills – persistence, patience, a good communication.
Of course, if there are no ducks to hand, geese have also been known to be drafted in as an alternative. Geese are slightly more challenging due to their rather assertive nature.
Extreme ironing
Yes – believe it or not, extreme ironing is a thing! Invented in Leicester, UK in 1997, by a rock climbing enthusiast who decided to combine his hatred of domestic chores with his love of the great outdoors, extreme ironing involves taking an iron and ironing board to remote and challenging locations and, well, doing your ironing. Its popularity over the years inspired other extreme sports such as extreme cello playing.
