Inspiration
Creativity and making things
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!