I haven’t written a post in a long time.  Forgive me.  I was dwelling on old things and the day to day of running Mirrix and life.  But during that time I have also been making new things.  Something I am always doing to a point.  Sometimes I am recreating old things, maybe changing them slightly or using different materials.  Sometimes I am weaving.  But sometimes I am using a variety of other techniques to quench my unquenchable need to create.  Something.  Always.  I carry a big bag wherever I go filled with “my  toys.”  And yes, sometimes there is a mini-mirrix in my bag.

I tend to overdo everything I do.  I can’t just make one of something.  I have to keep making that thing until I’ve played out every scenario.  Each time is different. Each time brings a slight change or increases my understanding of the medium and/or the materials (which includes necessarily color).

I have been making crochet hand-painted silk bags (some including beads) since a month before Christmas.  They were something I could make while doing other things and the colors of the hand-painted silk kept me endlessly intrigued and engaged.  It is hard for me to weave while doing anything else more demanding than listening to the radio.  But I can  crochet and read a book at the same time.  I can crochet and watch a movie.  I don’t have one of those cool set ups with a big screen and a comfy couch with a perfect table in front on which to place a loom.  My entertainment center sits on my desk in the  form of a Mac computer.  Sometimes I can really kick back in my  big desk chair and throw my feet on the desk until something starts to go numb.  So weaving (although I have managed it) is not such a simple, elegant thing for me when watching a movie.  Plus, I have to think when I weave whereas making a crochet bag out of silk I have already painted is pretty mindless. I also knit and, most recently, I began teaching myself embroidery.

Yesterday, I painted kilos of silk. And it inspired me.  The silk now hangs on a dryer in the bathroom because it is too cold to hang it outside in the wind.  I keep sneaking into the bathroom to look at it.  I absorb the colors and then walk away.  Color is endlessly fascinating.

Today I started making a basket from the silk.  I am trying to figure out how to incorporate branches or some other material for strength although the basket does seem like it might stand on its own.  I used a thread of hand-painted silk and a gold thread.

Now to wind all those kilos of silk onto bobbins!  It’s mindless, but I kind of like it.  It has its place!