Ham radio! It's relaxing. My favorite activity is to take my portable gear to parks and operate Parks on the Air.
I've been getting into primitive technology lately. It all started when I looked at my back yard and thought hey, if we call it red clay, then I should be able to make it into pottery. I take dirt from my yard, levigate it, add grog and wedge, hand-build pots, and fire them in my fire pit. Been making sharpening stones from river rocks. Crafting replicas of Roman machines. That sort of thing.
Left is a ghost pepper, right is a 7 Pot Congo
I've been on a hiatus due to some medical stuff making it hard for me to concentrate, but I'm a lock nerd. I collect cool locks ("cool" being very subjective here 😅) and pick / manipulate them.
edit: here's a tiny part of my collection. I'd upload more but I'm having a hard time with the mobile site and image uploads
I build custom mechanical keyboards. Got into it because of the Pandemic and now I have built 6 of them. /r/mk and /r/emk used to be some of my most visited subs on the other site. I'm now known as the goto for keyboard questions in my circles of friends.
I started getting into fidgeting more lately and took a liking to magnetic sliders and now have a few that I pretty much always have with me.
And that extended into me learning about begleri beads somehow so now I am attempting to learn that. I can do slips and 2 finger wraps and occasiaonal one finger or thumb wraps but not much else yet. I accidentally learned a stall because I messed up. I need to really learn transfers since that is one of the main things you do a lot of.
I think I am also amongst the hyperfixator group in this thread. I was previously into speedsolving Rubik's cubes and roasting coffee so I feel a lot of these answers lol.
Some more niche than others but basically...making stuff. Cross stitch, yarn crafts, sewing, needle felting, dicemaking, 3d printing, very occasional cosplay, I'm about to try my first macrame kit and a friend is planning for us to learn punch needle together.
There's something just so satisfying about making real stuff you can use, or wear, or wash yourself with or whatever (I also briefly got into soapmaking).
If you want to chat about basically any craft (or just lurk and look at pretty projects, that's ok too), I've been keeping a megalist of relevant communities and magazines here https://lemm.ee/post/224890. And if anyone reading this runs a related one that should be on the list please DM me to be added!
I'm pretty into conlanging, which is basically making up languages. There are tons of different approaches and ways people can go about it, but like probably most (or at least a plurality of) other conlangers, I generally go for something as naturalistic as possible. I'm also into linguistics so it serves as kind of an interesting way to explore different features and grasp them better, as well as just an excuse to do more research to find out more about something.
I love mapping on openstreetmap.org
Really like most of the hobbies from comments, you guys are interesting!
Mine are (I'm not sure if they are niche but):
Fountain pens. Writing with them feels very nice and smooth and it's a little piece of "retro" even though I don't have time for any other kind of "retro"
Lucid dreaming. It's an exercise of control over your dreams and a chance of doing something you like when you sleep. Or experience something new. There are forums with quests like "go to an art gallery in a dream and explore what your brain can give you as a painting" or "build yourself a dream homebase with all your favorite pieces of dreams from childhood" or "jump into a chalk painting and describe your experience"
I build guitar pedals! I don't design them, but I order the PCBs and solder the components myself. It's significantly cheaper than buying them premade, and how many people can say they made their own pedalboard?
I'm also an amateur Fossil Hunter. The area I live in is filled with fossils from the Ordovincian.
you'd be shocked at how easy it is to grow most edible mushrooms. all you need to grow oysters is a syringe full of spores and some uncle bens pre-cooked vacuum sealed rice. If you want to do lion's mane or other more complex growing cycles like that, just add a rubbermade tub half full of vermiculite and coconut coir. You can be in this hobby for like $100 up front and then like $30/batch. And yes you can grow those mushrooms, where legal of course. I haven't tried it but it seems to be no more difficult than the ones I've successfully grown, and the rice trick actually comes from that community (google "uncle ben tek" for more info)
I fly paramotors. Imagine a fan you strap on your back, a paraglider that goes overhead, and you run run run until you're airborne! Never fails to put a smile on my face when times are tough. And maintaining the engine and planning that next flight keeps me occupied when the weather doesn't cooperate.
Some of mine maybe aren't that niche anymore, but:
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Retro computing: no one needs more than 640k. Maybe no one needs more than 64k. Those old systems were the last time a single programmer could have control over the entire machine at a low level.
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Ham radio: Oftentimes called a dying hobby, but a great foray into electronics in general, and also a pretty nice community (save for a few curmudgeons).
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Analog audio: often thought of as a boutique thing, but really isn't. Lots of old equipment ready to be restored that can give you really unique auditory experiences.
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Plastic modeling: especially if you start from a kit but add things to it, or if you build from scratch, or hell, even if you just build a kit as intended, there is a huge amount of personal expression and creativity.
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I just like to experiment with Linux distros. I like to get into a problem and then fix it, even if it is really annoying. After solving a problem, it's satisfying to watch the Program or something like that run like a charm.
Is 3D printing still niche? If so, 3D printing, otherwise nothing.
I've been into designing boardgames and worldbuilding with the intention of running a Tabletop RPG.
For my current boardgame project, it's a Roll-n-Write style game where you travel the map in order to collect random critters.
My worldbuilding project, at the moment, consists of a sort of airship & steampunk world with sci-fi undertones.
Twisty puzzles, such as the Rubik's cube. Just to start with the basic Rubik's cube itself, there are a lot of ways to enjoy it. There are competitions for solving in a variety of different ways, from the standard speed solving, one handed, blindfolded, or fewest moves. Then there are tons of different puzzles that you can get, perhaps even hundreds of different ones. They can be different shapes, have different number of layers to turn, or turn in unusual ways. It can be fun and relaxing to get a new puzzle and figure out a solution by yourself.
I’m unsure if this counts as a “hobby”, but I absolutely love the Mass Effect series so much that I enjoy just watching it as much as replaying. I love it so much that I’ve been recording my gameplay and editing it into a sort of Mass Effect “show”.
I could just watch the handful of streamers out there who play it, but few people play as FemShep and I’ve never seen anyone play a Shepard looking anything like mine let alone take the “right” choices and actions, so this Mass Effect “show” gives me a way to watch my Shepard’s story as often as I’d like.
The whole project has evolved into learning how to polish things in Premiere Pro and Photoshop, so I’m self-teaching as I go.
I do sport kite flying and kite making, and I love it. It's incredibly small and niche.
The kites are multi-line kites that can be controlled from the ground, and I typically fly to music and perform at kite festivals. I also build my kites myself by sewing together ripstop for the sails, cutting down carbon tubes for the frame, and 3d printing fittings.
The most niche thing I probably do (badly) is making chocolate. Not like, just tempering chocolate, but putting nibs and milk powder and sugar and cocoa butter in my countertop melanger and letting it work for like 24 hours until it's nice and smooth. I haven't really perfected it at all and my chocolate recipe is currently mediocre, and i need to experiment with better nibs and roasting them myself, but it's an interesting process that I enjoy.
Otherwise uh, IDK I do everything. I love cooking/baking, and most types of art, I'm huge into fabric arts like nuno felting and needle felting, embroidery is one of my absolute favorite things, I'm pretty decent at sewing, I also like to draw and I am really itching to get into sculpey jewelry crafting and maybe miniatures, I've dabbled in wire jewelry (meh at it), I built (with help) a coffee table where the top comes up so you can turn the base on its side to become a dining table, I'm sure there a bunch of stuff I'm forgetting... oh I guess I'm really good at laundry? I can get stains out of almost anything at this point.
It's not super niche, but I've never met anyone outside of the hobby that even knows it exists.
Anyway, I enjoy car audio competitions a lot. One version is SPL (sound pressure level) where the goal is to build a system that can get as loud as possible. Then there's SQ (sound quality) that's more about making the best sounding system you can, which is also fairly artsy (make it look pretty).
There's a lot of people who are assholes about it, they're the kid down the street blaring his music at 10 o clock at night. Every who does it for a hobby are very respectful of other people and recognize that the vast majority of people don't wanna hear your music.
I enjoy it for a few reasons. Firstly, I just love music. Music is a while body experience. It's not just your ears, but your skin reacts to the vibrations as well, and you just aren't gonna get that experience with cheap speakers. The car is a great place to feel music because it's enclosed and you can generally go somewhere to not bother people.
The other part, is that its very hands on and problem solving. You're doing woodworking, electrical design, maybe fiberglass. Lots of different engineering.
Idk about niche so much as, not nearly as popular as it used to be. Circle track asphalt racing. My whole family is in on it. My grandpa did it, my dad and my uncle's did it (and are helping us) now my brother's and I are carrying the legacy. Used to be 17 people from our town showing up to the track every weekend. Now there's 2 of us crews that show up.
I don't know if this necessarily counts; but indie wrestling! I wrestle in the indies and the love and passion our people have in our community is absolutely wonderful. Not too many of friends that I had before have actually come to shows, and I would love if they would!
I never took an interest in wrestling at all before I saw my first show, but the brutality and theatrics had me spellbound.
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Can’t believe I got all the way to the end and no one has posted about flight simming.
It’s an amazing hobby, with tonnes of gear, software, community and a wealth of knowledge. I’m nowhere in as deep as some, but find an immense pleasure in nerding out about it.
I was never worried about flying for real (as a passenger) but during turbulence I’d sometimes get a bit clammy-handed. Flight simming has completely cured it. There are SO many layers of safety and the more you understand - and in fact the more accident reports you read and see what the follow-up improvements were - the less I get bothered about even heavy turbulence or unsteady landings. Pilots know their stuff.
Large format film photography. It's a awesome hobby, although expensive, that requires a lot more indepth knowledge of the basics of photography to nail the shot. You can also get way better quality for way cheaper if you get the right films.
Lockpicking. I’ve been a longtime watcher of content like the lockpicking lawyer so for Christmas I asked for a set of picks and tools from my wife. Ever since I just sit around and blindly fidget with old padlocks. You can get a decent starter set for $60 and a never ending supply of locks that have long since lost their keys.
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I do clothing embroidery with a machine. It's a small business, but I basically break even. It's a great way for me to have a creative outlet, and share the geek and outdoorsy designs with others that appreciate it. What I unintentionally have done is locked in what everyone I know gets for every Christmas gift for the foreseeable future.
I have a lot because ADHD hyperfixations. Here are some of the more niche ones:
SCUBA diving 3d printing Woodworking Finger drums Martial arts Power lifting FPV drone building and flying Board games and tabletop RPGs
I'm sure there are more, but these are the more recent ones that are really hard to get anyone to join other than my wife.
!simracing@lemmy.ml is one of my hobbies. I mod this community too! Join our hot lap challenge! :D
I have a very dangerous and lame hobby.
I forage for food. It's a lot of fun trying new things. But it's also really dangerous if you don't know what you are doing.
If you want to do this hobby safely start small. Identify plants in your own yard/park exct. I use an app called plant net, Wikipedia, duckduckgo, Google Earth, foraging sites, to find out where to go. Knowledge of when they grow and what condions they like helps.
Being 100% sure on what you are going to eat is a life and death choice. When in doubt, throw it out.
Feel free to ask me anything if you have questions.
Making custom home automations with Home Assistant. Sure, a lot of it is unnecessary but it sure is a lot of fun.
Offroading in a full size vehicle. Most people on trails have moved to Side by Sides which takes half the fun out of wheeling. I prefer difficult technical trails where we are crawling along at 5-10mph.
The things is it's half the actual wheeling and half the building of the rig. There's nothing more satisfying than spending all week building something then having it work properly on the trail over the weekend
Not sure if it's niche anymore but mechanical keyboard is a fun rabbit hole to dive into. There's so much variety and diversity in term of customization. You can really build a keyboard that fit your preference in term of looks, feels and sounds. The hobby has been booming after covid so now you can get some really nice starter stuff at affordable price.
I'm a semi-secretive LARPer. I pack my stuff at night, don't talk to my coworkers about it, and just go about my life as if I don't.
I've found people are pretty judgy about it, so I just don't mention that I enjoy getting into a neat costume, playing some little mini-games, having a drink or six, camping, and (most importantly) seeing my friends once a month in a structured activity.
It's fun stuff if you find the right group. That last part is hard.
Various degrees of niche-ness:
- modern boardgames. I've been fascinate by them since before I could write. I would draw my own roll and move boards and my mom would write down my instructions of what space would do what. From there it only grew and now I have more games I can play.
- rpgs. The most recent addition. I had always dismissed them as a potential hobby because it was advertised to me with videos of actors basically doing 99% improv and 1% gameplay. Turns out it doesn’t have to be like this.
- I also collect gemstones. Started as a kid when we came across an old quarz find on a hike. I was hooked by the shiny and have been collecting on and off ever since.
Painting miniatures, I'm new at this (less than one year) but I not so bad at this, and recently started to play street fighter 6 and really sucks buts is fun
Longboarding is a hobby I picked up a few years ago and it’s a ton of fun. Just riding along you feel like you’re floating over the pavement and the feeling is addicting. You can get e-boards if you’re not into pushing but I haven’t gone down that road yet since they seem heavier and more expensive. Also, most of them you can’t push and you have to rely on your battery and motor so if you run out m, you’re stuck. Some companies like the one I bought my board from (Bustin) make hybrid boards but they’re pricey.
Brickfilming! I make films with Lego using stop motion animation. Takes a lot of patience and my perfectionism is my worst enemy, but it's super rewarding, and there's a really cool community online around it. And yes, my profile picture is from my most recent Brickfilm!
Code golf on the cgcc stack exchange. I don't do it too often, but the community is pretty small and when I see a good one I can't stop thinking about it.
I'm really into calligraphy and snowboarding. Luckily there's a snowboarding presence here on lemmy, but I have not the time to start a calligraphy one.
Sing in chamber choirs
I guess blacksmithing would be considered niche? Not doing it very regular. But once every view months.
Yarn dyeing started as a hobby and turned into my job quite quickly :)
It's fun and satisfying to see the colours evolve on yarn and how the colours act differently depending on the fibre blend you're dyeing.
I build various random number generators, and then use them in elaborate practical jokes.
Solid-state particle detectors, zener avalanche noise, etc. Many failed designs (or failed... So far).
Sometimes I put them in sinister looking cases. Sometimes behind an API. Sometimes I design a coffee maker that brews coffee in a quantum superposition of caffeination states.
I'm working on one that is a Lemmy bot. It won't be done particularly soon though.
I really love this thread. It's great to see people sharing things they enjoy!
I’m learning to play the talkbox. It’s tons of fun and it’s totally a valid way to make up for the fact that I can’t sing my way out of a paper bag, lol.
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Mag fishing. Tonnes of fun for little entry cost.
I do some nature photography in my spare time https://pixelfed.social/yogthos
I haven't done much with it in a while, but I'm also not giving up on it, so I suppose it's still valid lol.
I collect LaserDiscs
I got started with the format around 2010, and it was super neat to delve into this old, but strangely good, format. I found that most players and films were super cheap, and as a poor family with really no ability to move to HD yet, the SD format picture was clearly worse than DVD, but not so much so that it was unwatchable or anything.
I spent a lot of time collecting new films, looking at players, etc. etc., but I took a break while in college. Turns out that in that time everything went wild, and now the format is expensive to collect for. So much so that I've basically stopped at the moment. It's still a super neat format though, and I'm not about to offload all my kit just yet.
For anyone looking for info about the format, I'd recommend Techmoan on YouTube. Matt does a lot of interesting tech videos, and the handful he's done on LaserDisc are quite good.
I love loomknitting, but I dont know if its niche enough 😅
Collecting signatures in 20 states protecting us from intoxicant psych chemical cruelty https://ballotpedia.org/Ballot_initiative
