Domestika - a stationery freaks learning playground for creatives
Hi, everybody, and welcome to another edition of the Stationery Freaks podcast with myself, Rob Lambert, and, of course
Helen:With me, Helen Lisowski.
Rob:How's your life been then, Helen, over the last few weeks?
Helen:It's been very good. I've been trying to, resist the urge to buy stickers, and it's become an absolute issue. I mean, I'm not even joking. So we need to move on, so I don't even think about stickers.
Rob:Are you are you seeing anyone about this?
Helen:There's a couple of people on Etsy that I've seen quite a lot of. Can you hear me?
Rob:Yeah. I I go through the same sort of thing where, you know, you've I have, like, periods where I'm addicted to buying notebooks or pens or, you know, sort of artwork type stuff. And then but you you seem to be on this sort of sticker binge for, you know, quite a while now.
Helen:Yeah. And and unnecessary. I can't I can't tell you enough how not necessary they are, but they give me such joy. It's utterly ridiculous. Nice.
Helen:So the other thing that gives me, real joy is, I got a cover for my my new Helbanichi notebook, and it's made of cork. And I love it. It's just so tactile. It's just awesome. So, yeah, really liking that.
Rob:Nice. I got a I got a rodeo. Do you know the brand rodeo?
Helen:No. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Rob:Or ro is it rodeer? Rodeer. Rodeer. The ones with the sort of orange covers. And I got a sort of, you know, the reporter style notebooks where, you know, you've got the binding at the top.
Rob:And It's so nice and beautiful. I got it for Christmas, and I didn't wanna use it. You know, one of those that needs to be a special moment for this.
Helen:Yeah, I do.
Rob:And then and then I had a problem with my car and I was, you know, devoid of notebooks on the desk while I was talking to the guy at the garage. And I just opened the rodeo one and started scribbling, you know, details of costs and booking cars and all that sort of drama.
Helen:You ruined it now. Yeah.
Rob:Well, I've kinda ruined it, but then I thought that's its purpose because it's just perfect for it. So it's now my, scratch pad, my desk pad.
Helen:Wow. Well, do you know that that's funny you should say because I would have thought that a small, top bound notebook like that is completely pointless to me. But I have a tiny one that is sort of a 7 size, so really small. Might be a 6, to be fair. And but it's got pictures on every page, so it's like pre stickered, and it's really, really pleasing.
Helen:And I use it for oh, I'm using it like a desk pad. You know how much in love with desk pads I am. Like you grabbed it because I needed something and it was there. And I bought it on a whim thinking, oh, it's really pretty, but, you know, I won't use it much. And it's all winter themed, but it's yeah.
Helen:Just the top band bit. The fact I can rip stuff off and bin each page. Each page is tiny, so it's only got like a day's worth of odd notes and bits and pieces on. Mhmm. Yeah.
Helen:Lovely.
Rob:Well, I originally asked for this rodeo one, for something I was doing on Domestika, which is actually gonna be the topic of today's podcast, my addiction to Domestika. And it comes with a fair warning that even though we're gonna talk about Domestika, firstly, we're not affiliated with them in any way, shape, or form. And secondly, use your own caution if you do decide to check it out. Otherwise, you will, I believe, become addicted like I am. And that's gonna be our topic of conversation today, Helen.
Helen:So the first thing you can do, Rob, because I've heard this word. You use this word domestica a lot. And, actually, I can see I get a lot of domestica ads on our stationery freeze Instacart.
Rob:I wonder why that moment.
Helen:I wonder why that is. And I know I know it's coming for you. I recognize the name. So tell me, what what on earth is Domestika?
Rob:Okay. So Domestika, it kinda badgers itself, I guess, as a courses for creatives. So it's, you know, a whole series of video courses, basically, where specialists and experts in particular field depart and and and, I guess, explain their techniques, you know, how to go about doing various creative tasks. Now it very much is on the creative end of the spectrum. There are a few business y kind of stuff on there, but, fundamentally, if you're into anything at all creative, you will find a course.
Rob:In fact, you'll find several courses that satisfy your needs. You know, one of one of the things that's interesting about Domestika is it's Spanish. I believe it's based in Spain. So a lot of the courses are in a foreign language. So I'll give you that heads up now.
Rob:If you want everything in English, you'll struggle to find it, so you will have to be reading subtitles. But, yeah, it's absolutely jam packed, full of courses, and you can buy them individually. They vary in prices. You know, sometimes maybe 3 or 4 pound, all the way up to maybe 10, £12, British pounds. Or you can do what I've done, which is, pay for the plus membership.
Rob:Subscription. Which I think is about a 100 quid a year. And you you basically you get access to a a shorter, smaller catalog of of topics that are free for you to watch, and we'll talk about some of the caveats in a minute. And you get credits. You get one credit every month where you can buy one of the premium courses with that credit.
Rob:So I think it works out pretty well. I'm addicted to it. That's domesticated in a nutshell.
Helen:Nice. Well, I have to say, I'm a sucker for a course. I absolutely love do you know? It's not that I feel the urge to learn, which I do. I really enjoy learning.
Helen:But I love to see people demonstrate proper competence. Because I think when somebody's really good at something, they can make it look easy. And there's a fluidity with movement or with with the way in which they go about something That makes it look really easy. And I love it when they break it down and show you how they do a thing. Yeah.
Helen:Yeah. With some practice, I can see how I could get, you know, reasonable. And I I think that competency is amazing.
Rob:Yeah. 100%. And and I've I've sat loads of courses. We could talk about some of those in a minute. But the reason that we're talking about it here on, Stationery for you tonight
Helen:my next question, obviously. What has Domestika an online course thing got to do with stationery?
Rob:Well, it's my belief, and I might be wrong, but I reckon, and I'm gonna make this number up, that it's about 97% of all of the tutors that do these videos on Domestika are in fact Stationery Freaks, to the point where I've created a list on my profile of everybody who I think we could interview for the Stationery Freaks podcast, because they they, you know, they just love the stationery. And it's obviously as well, you know, you're gonna set a course and suddenly you're gonna be buying paper cutting stuff, which is what I've done, and new notebooks if somebody's.
Helen:Paper cutting stuff like yeah. I mean, you're not talking scissors or these little hole punches.
Rob:No. Like proper paper with knives and all sorts of different templates and, you know, stencils. I did one the other week, which was about hand drawn lettering. It was so good, and the guy recommended this a 4 notepad that he uses. So, of course, I went out and bought one.
Rob:Yeah. And it's they're so well produced. They're really, really high quality, and they they're sort of split into different sections. There's always a sort of introduction to who they are is pretty much the first video that you're gonna get. Then you get a video which is about the materials that you're gonna need on that course.
Rob:Yeah. And I have found myself occasionally just looking at all the free courses that I can do and skipping to that video. Because it's pretty much a stationary freak's heaven. You know, they've got notebooks and pens and glue, and I'm not joking. And and these people, they're so animated and passionate about the particular products and the different things that they use that Yeah.
Rob:Know, you're immediately on my interview for stationery freaks list.
Helen:So that's the thing, isn't it? It's it's we set this podcast up originally because we wanted to that potentiality of stationery, the fact that stationery helps you to do stuff. It's not the stationery itself, although, I mean, we love the stationery. But it's actually the what it represents. It's this Yeah.
Helen:This potential that we can go and and be amazing at hand on lettering or calligraphy. Is that in there?
Rob:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Calligraphy's in there. Yeah.
Rob:For sure.
Helen:Do you know what I'd really love to do? There's a oh, you see them all over Instagram, but people who do, like, illuminated letters. You remember how they Yeah. Just love it. The work is just exquisitely fine, and I have no talent, Rob, for drawing at all, really.
Rob:I didn't, but, you know, you you see my drawings. Yeah. Dog on a skateboard was was a sort of common one. And and I would I'm rubbish at drawing, but now I'm actually drawing really well to the point the other day, my son actually said, did you actually draw that, or did you did you print it? It was one of my drawings.
Rob:So but I think going back to that sort of potentiality, I think what's amazing is is that combination that you talked about of somebody who's so good at what they do and breaking it down into simple ways that other people can understand is great, and that's what domestic really is about. But when you look at the material that they use, it's often everyday stuff that you can just grab off the shelf and turn it into something absolutely amazing. And that potentiality is is huge. It is extremely addictive. Whatever you are interested in, you will likely find something on Domestika to the point where I saw a video the other day, which I've added to my to do list, which, by the way, has about a 116 videos on it.
Rob:And it was all about using, tea bags to paint artwork onto tea bags.
Helen:Yeah. Incredible. Why would
Rob:you do that?
Helen:I no. I'm missing the point. Why would you do that?
Rob:Why not? It's creativity. It's awesome. You should see that the stuff that she's produced is incredible on a tea bag. Yeah?
Rob:It's I can't blue.
Helen:I can't think how artwork on a tea bag is a, really.
Rob:It is. And, I've got that course on my list. I shall do that. And then but, unfortunately, there's apparently a tea shortage in the UK. So
Helen:I know. It would seem could be the thing that leads, you know, British to riot because we aren't, we aren't great without our tea.
Rob:No. Not at all. Not at all. So it seems really wrong to be using them to draw on rather than using it. So you
Helen:draw on it and then use it. I mean, I don't know. So so tell me, Rob, what's your next what have you got your eye on for your next domestic course then?
Rob:I you know me. I like to be busy on many, many different things at once. So as per usual, I'm actually working my way through several videos all at the same time depending on what mood I'm in and, you know, what kind of, I guess, creative thing I'm trying to achieve. So to give you some idea, I've I've got I've created lists on Yeah. Domestic e and create lists and add add courses to them.
Rob:I've got a to do list with literally a 120, a 130 courses on it. And I've got a list which is all the ones that I've done, so I can keep track of them and go and revisit them and, you know, go and have a look at them. And I've got a a list that is the ones that I'm watching at the moment. So on there are 6. Are you interested in the the 6 I'm
Helen:I am so interested. What are you gonna do? That's what I wanna know.
Rob:Right. Okay. So course number 1 is by a lady called Jessica Dance, and it's about design and building miniature interiors. So
Helen:Oh, you mean, like, the book nook kind of ideas?
Rob:Yeah. Like, little dolls house interiors and stuff, and they are amazing. Now, this one's a bit more involved, because you have to buy like balsa wood and stuff. So I've not bought the material yet, but I have sort of watched the course. Very, very good.
Rob:2nd one is, creative writing from personal experience, which is very good. Yeah. I've done a few creative writing ones. The third one is by an author called Emily Barr, and it's about how to write a psychological thriller,
Helen:which
Rob:is excellent. It's a really really good course. Very very good indeed. And then number 4 is colorful digital illustrations in Procreate, which is an iPad app for drawing colorful illustrations.
Helen:Yeah. I've had that recommended to me before, but I am really not okay with, digital art in my world. It's just not can't it it's really got to be tangible
Rob:But I've also been doing lots of iPad drawing. Now the thing with the iPad is it's forgiving. You make a mistake, you can undo it. You can zoom in and get those lines exactly as they're supposed to be. I mean, there's some brilliant artwork being done in Procreate.
Rob:It's amazing. So video number 5 is hand lettering. That's the one I was mentioning by a guy called Adam Hayes, who's a hand letterer based in Wales. Absolutely brilliant course.
Helen:Is that like calligraphy, or is hand lettering something different?
Rob:No. So this is, you know, those sort of big posters that you see with giant letters and, you know, they're all in different shapes and what have you. So it's more about sort of, I guess, bubble writing kind of stuff, you know, big graphic design type lettering. I have done a hand lettering course, you know, calligraphy based as well by Little Hannah. That was was very, very
Helen:good. Oh, I quite fancy learning calligraphy. I I did a little bit bizarrely enough. I went to a state school and the headmaster I mean, obviously, it's just a few decades ago. And the headmaster was a bit of a fan, and we all had to learn how to do italic handwriting.
Helen:And as a result of which, my handwriting is really quite good. And I love that idea of maybe taking that further and doing some calligraphy. So
Rob:Yeah. 100%. There's also stuff, for anyone who's into that. Absolutely. And then the final video is one that I'm watching.
Rob:You know, I'm a big fan of video, excuse me, video production. It's called stop motion for social media.
Helen:Oh, yeah.
Rob:Basically, just walking through how to do stop motion videos, which is awesome. Really, really good fun. You'll see them on the, Stationery Freaks Instagram. I actually did a little one about, my stationary box, or pens and what have you. So they're they're the ones at the moment, and there's there's loads that I've watched.
Rob:There's some really, really good ones that I can you know, potentially, I'll put them into the newsletter, ones that I recommend, that I've that I've sat.
Helen:That would be good. Yeah.
Rob:Yeah. Anything you're interested in. And I'm just looking at the little, you know, the little thumbnail that they give you for these videos. And with the exception of the digital illustration, every single one of the others has got stationary out. They're either writing in a notebook.
Rob:They're either using a notebook in some way. Is a stationery freak's heaven. Trust me.
Helen:So you're really there for looking at how other people use stationery, which sounds very, very in keeping with this podcast.
Rob:Yeah. That looks like the sort of second video in is what materials are we gonna use, and, you know, some people are quite prescriptive. You know, you need this kind of notebook. Majority of them are just pick one that resonates with you, and they give you you know, they might get 7 or 8 notebooks out, and they're all different sizes, and they give the pros and the cons for each one. Different pens.
Rob:It's it's amazing.
Helen:That sounds really good. So, I mean, you'll know that I'm doing a for example, I'm doing creative writing course. I'm about to start a new one actually in May for, a novel in a year, which is really cool because I've done, some bits and pieces like that before. But it sounds like Domestika, could do that kind of stuff too because it's you said you're in a you've done a couple of creative writing courses on
Rob:there. Yeah. Absolutely. And then, you know, the things like the writing of psychological thriller by Emily Barr is really, really good. Reminds me a little bit of Helen Callahan, who we had on the show, who's who's into, sort of, psychological thrillers.
Rob:All about story arcs and, you know, how the story morphs as you write it and stuff. Really, really good course. But, yeah, I've done loads of creative writing, courses, all sorts of really, really good stuff. But there's one course that really stood out, and I actually think I pinged you about it. A course by Lina Botero, and it's visual poetry diaries, how to tell stories with photos and poetry.
Helen:Oh, I don't I don't remember that.
Rob:Oh, it was incredible.
Helen:Is it really good? I hate that.
Rob:Yeah. Very good.
Helen:I wanted to get put it in the put it in the, show notes and the, newsletter?
Rob:Yeah. Absolutely. But, you know, there's also some I'm just looking through the ones I've done. You got introduction to puppet making. Really wanna make a puppet myself one day and do a little video of it.
Rob:That's gonna be awesome. Watch this watch this space. Although I
Helen:You're gonna have to have puppet holding, you know, a particular notebook and a particular pen. Otherwise, it's not, you know, it's not stationary.
Rob:I can guarantee the puppet is not gonna look like me. Or if it is, it's some sort of very, very weird version of me. But we'll see where that one comes out. But, you know, you got things like design in the future of products, art design, mixed media animation. There's absolutely also.
Rob:So I did a a course on introduction to voice over. Now one thing I I will say is because the majority of the courses are in, Spanish or Portuguese or Brazilian or Italian, if you're gonna sit a course that's about audio or about, acting, I've done a few of those, voice over, any any of those kind of topics, you have to bear in mind that the translation from Spanish to English subtitles is not brilliant on Domestika.
Helen:Oh, is it like an automated translation rather than,
Rob:I don't know. It's getting better. Some of the newer videos are a lot better, so they've either improved it or they've hired people to do it.
Helen:Yeah.
Rob:But you'll get, you know, really unconstructed English sentences. They'll keep mixing the she and the he, so you don't quite know whether what sort of subject they're talking about. They're not brilliant, so I've stopped doing a lot of the sort of voice and music y kind of related ones. But the majority of the ones about art and craft are are pretty good. You can sort of you can understand what they're trying to say even if it's not necessarily correctly grammatical, English subtitles.
Helen:Sounds great. So what you're really saying, and I this is what I'm hearing here, Rob, is that Domestika is pretty much, like a gateway into finding new ways in which to use stationery.
Rob:Yes. And satisfying any creative urge that you might have. But as we said at the top of the show, be careful because it's extremely, extremely addictive. And you will be, I assumed, and what I've done in just adding hundreds of courses to your list, and then sit in as many as you can and wondering why you're not getting anything done because you're too busy consuming domestic stuff.
Helen:That's the thing, isn't it? Is that you I remember one time years ago, we were talking, and you were saying, I need to stop reading because I need to start creating. I can't keep reading. And I know exactly how you mean. I'm I'm really not reading very much right now because I want to do the creative stuff.
Helen:It's really quite interesting how Yeah. You become absorbed by the learning, and then you become absorbed by what you can then do. And it's almost like they don't overlap hugely. Yeah. Too too mental mindsets, maybe.
Rob:Yeah. And I think, you know, anything creative, anything where you're learning a new craft requires time and effort and repetition.
Helen:Yeah.
Rob:And the challenge that I am facing is my brain works on novelty and new stuff. So I'll do a course on paper cutting, buy all the stuff, have a go, get okay at it, and then I'll watch another domestic course about hand lettering, for example. Then I'll be doing hand lettering. And I'm not spending long enough for any one of these particular creative subjects to actually master it, which is entirely my problem. But Domestika is extremely good at popping up new videos that sound really, really cool.
Rob:So it's addictive and it's evil. But at the same time
Helen:Beautiful and wonderful at the same time.
Rob:Yeah. 100%. It's absolutely incredible. I'm really enjoying it. And, yes, if you've got the money, the plus works out pretty affordable if you're gonna watch a lot of videos.
Rob:So yeah.
Helen:I have to say I'm gonna certainly go and have a little wander around the site and have a look. And I know there's lots of other apps out there at the moment that are doing this. You can do these sort of master classes in things, BBC Maestro, and lots of things. They may overlap, but, this is particularly good for, courses for creators. I think you said I quite like that one.
Rob:Yeah. Yeah. And there's there's usually at least 4 or 5 different courses on the same subject. So in some respects, there's a lot of repetition, but they're obviously just different people with different approaches.
Helen:Yeah.
Rob:And so you can sort of sit 4 or 5 all about creative writing, for example. And you'll be able to pull lessons from each of them and then weave them together into whatever you're trying to do. So, yeah, it's good. Very, very good place to, hang out, check out other people's stationery, find other stationery freaks, and get addicted to a series of videos on cool creative stuff.
Helen:Absolutely on board with this, Rob. So, yeah, we should we should have spoken to them beforehand to see if we could get a discount code or something to hang up.
Rob:Yeah. We'll see. We'll see. That would be good.
Helen:Okay. Well, that sounds, fabulous. I kind of now want to rush off and have a look at Domestika. I do apologize. I'm feeling slightly inspired.
Rob:No. That's cool. I've just been looking at my to do list and the ones I'm watching and think, yeah, I really should go and do some of those. And, yeah. But I've got I've got to work sadly after this podcast.
Helen:Have you really? Oh, bless you. We've all got to work. Otherwise, we can't afford the stationery.
Rob:Yeah. Exactly. Exactly.
Helen:Okay. Well, thanks for telling us all about it. And I I am aware of Domestika, but I didn't because you mentioned it. But I didn't really know what it was and what it did. And now I feel really inspired to go and have a little look.
Helen:Yeah.
Rob:And there we go. So you've stationary freaks. Hopefully, you'll go and check out, Domestika. And, again, please don't blame us if you do get addicted and, watch any of those videos. You.
Rob:Me. I'm like It did come with several warnings, the this podcast. And but, seriously, there's some really, really cool stuff happening on domestic and other courses, of course, where people are taking that potential, that stationery gives you and turning it into some wonderful, wonderful stuff that other people enjoy. And, obviously, it's I find it super therapeutic as well-to-do this creative stuff, which is Yeah.
Helen:I do too.
Rob:Yeah. Really, really good, part of being a human, I guess. With that, Helen, anything else you'd like to add to this podcast?
Helen:No. I, just I just wanna go and have a look at domestic and just to look. Obviously, I may have to, put the credit card in a freezer so that I don't, buy it at the moment. But, you know One
Rob:thing you really should not do is go on Domestika and search for anything to do with stickers.
Helen:No. I really shouldn't because I am slightly obsessed with the idea of making my own stickers. I'm sure they've got a course that will tell me how to do that. And then I think I'm lost.
Rob:Well, we've just done a search for stickers. You're alright. There there's a lot of digital stickers and designs for stickers, but nobody's yet done a course on how to actually make your own stickers and then print them and then sell them. There's market there.
Helen:There is. And, also, I want to do some Stationery Freak stickers, which we've talked about before. Yeah. So I don't know. Not I can't be the only person in the world who's obsessed by stickers because there are so many on Etsy.
Helen:So, you know.
Rob:Yeah. 100%. 100%. Alright. With that, thanks for listening.
Rob:And don't forget to check us out on Instagram at Stationery Freaks UK. And if you head to stationeryfreaksdot com, you'll find a link to our newsletter, which is pretty much now in sync with each of these episodes that goes out. Got all sorts of goodness about the topic that we're talking about, plus interesting finds from across Instagram and other places like that related to stationery. So with that, hope you've enjoyed it, and we shall speak to you in the next episode. Thanks.
Rob:Bye
Helen:bye. Bye.
