Getting there, getting there...
it really helps the days when I can escape computer/ office stuff and play in the workshop.
I have always obsessed over the way things are made, what to do with wastage... like since I was a kid and and started learning to make things.... so a 54+ year obsession.
Who imagines they would ever say that one day?
I was just talking to my niece, Rhiannon she is such a vibrant young thing [ although I heard her saying something about being 30 and time passing] still a young thing to me.
We were talking about slow making, seasonality and the feel you put into your work.
Years ago I used to paint shirts and then my mate Dawn would stitch them and I would sell them in a gallery.
I was generally in a good mood when I worked as I loved playing with colour and creating.
I had very small children and was a single mother, so I worked from home.... some days were not so nice. I had a dear ex-husband who used to make life so difficult so there were moments I felt like death warmed over but a lot sadder.
To pick myself out of that I used to load the kids into the stroller and walk until I could see sunshine and play in the park with them.
It worked, I did not have the option of rolling into a small ball which would have been my first choice and going mouldy.
Anyway one day I must have painted a shirt in this low mood, it was quite beautiful in a lovely red colour way.
I sent if off to my mate to stitch with others, it did not come back....nor did it come the next time...so I asked where was it?
She said that every time she picked it up, she felt really off and so put it back in the work basket.
HMMM so interesting.
From that point on I have been so careful of the frame of mind I make things in and when I was doing exhibition work I would lay my intent into pieces just as carefully as was laying in the materials I was using.
The whole ideas of affirmations and Positive thoughts was starting to be talked about way back then. It is good.... fake it until you make it.
Those days your mind wants to go round in thoughts that will take you down the drain, Better to choose something positive and substitute everytime you catch yourself with a yukky thought cycling.
Might not fix a problem but does keep you in a better frame of mind, which I guess gives you a better chance of working through the problem in a constructive way.
Ahhhh, some days.
A bit of doing SOMETHING, anything really and the more physical the better is a great remedy.
Yes I do love a good obsession.... making quilts and cosy jackets are up on the top of the list of things I like to make.
One of the few down sides about living in India is that it is rarely the weather for such things, but you out there might like them.
I am not a hoarder, I can easily throw out rubbish but I am frugal and won't throw out stuff that can be used.
IT does call really loudly to me if it is sitting there to be used...I don't want to hoard.
That was fine in a 1 person studio, having a workshop where we produce mountains of work and so mountains of off-cuts that compulsion to be in "WASTE NOT, WANT NOT" mode all the time can cause a bit of pressure.
Today working through some samples in madder
a pillow, a quilt, a comfortable snugly Kimono shape jacket.....
We have one Ladies who also weaves- keep meaning to track her down and see if we can commission he to do some mats for us out of khadi waste.... like this one I have at home.
Happy days when I can work on using the scraps up.
it really helps the days when I can escape computer/ office stuff and play in the workshop.
I have always obsessed over the way things are made, what to do with wastage... like since I was a kid and and started learning to make things.... so a 54+ year obsession.
Who imagines they would ever say that one day?
I was just talking to my niece, Rhiannon she is such a vibrant young thing [ although I heard her saying something about being 30 and time passing] still a young thing to me.
We were talking about slow making, seasonality and the feel you put into your work.
Years ago I used to paint shirts and then my mate Dawn would stitch them and I would sell them in a gallery.
I was generally in a good mood when I worked as I loved playing with colour and creating.
I had very small children and was a single mother, so I worked from home.... some days were not so nice. I had a dear ex-husband who used to make life so difficult so there were moments I felt like death warmed over but a lot sadder.
To pick myself out of that I used to load the kids into the stroller and walk until I could see sunshine and play in the park with them.
It worked, I did not have the option of rolling into a small ball which would have been my first choice and going mouldy.
Anyway one day I must have painted a shirt in this low mood, it was quite beautiful in a lovely red colour way.
I sent if off to my mate to stitch with others, it did not come back....nor did it come the next time...so I asked where was it?
She said that every time she picked it up, she felt really off and so put it back in the work basket.
HMMM so interesting.
From that point on I have been so careful of the frame of mind I make things in and when I was doing exhibition work I would lay my intent into pieces just as carefully as was laying in the materials I was using.
The whole ideas of affirmations and Positive thoughts was starting to be talked about way back then. It is good.... fake it until you make it.
Those days your mind wants to go round in thoughts that will take you down the drain, Better to choose something positive and substitute everytime you catch yourself with a yukky thought cycling.
Might not fix a problem but does keep you in a better frame of mind, which I guess gives you a better chance of working through the problem in a constructive way.
Ahhhh, some days.
A bit of doing SOMETHING, anything really and the more physical the better is a great remedy.
One of the few down sides about living in India is that it is rarely the weather for such things, but you out there might like them.
IT does call really loudly to me if it is sitting there to be used...I don't want to hoard.
That was fine in a 1 person studio, having a workshop where we produce mountains of work and so mountains of off-cuts that compulsion to be in "WASTE NOT, WANT NOT" mode all the time can cause a bit of pressure.
Today working through some samples in madder
a pillow, a quilt, a comfortable snugly Kimono shape jacket.....
We have one Ladies who also weaves- keep meaning to track her down and see if we can commission he to do some mats for us out of khadi waste.... like this one I have at home.
Happy days when I can work on using the scraps up.
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