After two weeks on the road, we’re finally home again. It was a marvelous, relaxing, exciting, nostalgic, adventure. I’m still really happy to be home.
The first morning back, I stole downstairs to my studio to visit past moments of inspiration in my idea museum. This room is like my sketchbook. Ideas in-process end up here until I am ready to concentrate on them.
I am perpetually making things or thinking about making things. Ideas come so quickly that I can sometimes only nail down the tail of one before moving on to the next. It’s best when there is zero pressure to make a useful or saleable thing, or even a FINISHED thing. It’s best when there is no pressure at all, but that is rare. Making for the sake of making is paradise.
Sometimes an idea is as simple as throwing a piece of antique Irish Crochet over the wire lampshade frame. Once, I accidentally bought WAY too much of a particular ribbon. For days I used it EVERY way imaginable. One of my favorites was knitting it randomly with mohair. The resulting squiggles seemed promising….
Hidden below, outlined on the yellow wall, is a tiny mobile fashioned of beetle wings, pearls, crystals and beads suspended on black thread from slender twigs. I cannot wait to finish this and expand on the idea.
Just as my mother-in-law always brought a cherry pie when she visited, one of my friends always brings an idea to share. Once we grabbed lengths of roving and just started crocheting and knitting right into the fibers. The piece, below, is pinned to a foam square while I dream on its potential.
Last summer I bought a huge length of canvas and just went crazy with inexpensive acrylic paints. The resulting pieces became all sorts of different project bags. I customized them for all the different things I like to do – reading, journaling, painting, knitting/crochet, writing poetry, etc. It’s great to know I can just grab a particular bag and have everything I’ll need.
The paper towels I used to clean up after the big “paint-in” were so beautiful that I bound them into a book to be used as a journal. (See it under “Inspirations”/Gretchen’s Projects/ Handmade Books”. Sorry I can’t get the link to work.)
And the beat goes on…..have an idea, make something with it, get a new idea, make something with it, ….
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