Craft and beauty

Appreciating the beauty made by others, learning to add beauty of my own 40+ M

[theinternetarchive]

from 'bird by bird: some instructions on writing and life,' anne lamott, pub. 1994.

[holespoles]

Botanical Applique Quilt by Chinami Terai (Japan)

寺井ちなみ「緑のヴァリエ」

[thefloatingstone]

Hey. Wanna see one of my favourite photos ever?

Pigeon uses Remembrance day poppies to build a nest on top of Anti-bird spikes in 2019. The absolute amount of symbolism going on here is off the charts.

A pigeon. Both in that it's a dove which means peace, but more importantly that pigeons were essential as messengers during WWI. Most famously Cher Ami.

The spikes resembling violence and hostility.

Using Poppy pins made specifically for Remembrance day and all the symbolism of Poppies and WWI itself.

The fact that it stole the poppies from a tomb of an unknown soldier.

The fact it took them to make a nest to lay eggs and raise its babies in.

The fact that it's on the ledge of a church.

The fact that the window it chose to make the nest against is of a wounded soldier.

You couldn't have STAGED a better photo if you tried.

[things-from-strings]

💛☀️🧡🔥❤️🩸💜🔮

Hell yeah 😈💖✨️

[pragtich]

The second attempt after the first one ended up in the scrap.

Not too terrible, thankfully.

[pragtich]

Learning is painful.

Not hurting? You're probably playing it too safe.

A frustrating failure this morning after a day's work preparing the blank. While growing increasingly frustrated because of several small mistakes, which added up problematically, I ended up burning important parts of the workpiece. Not worth continuing: into the scrap bin it goes.

I guess it's called an advanced course for a reason.

Started again this afternoon. Will the second try turn out better? Much has been learned (ouch).

[pragtich]

About living my dream

I'm not exactly sure what my dream is. Is that because I've never dared to enunciate my dreams? Or because life just feels too wide and open and full of possibilities which I wouldn't want to exclude?

Probably both.

So, what changed?

I'm allowing myself to be drawn towards a life that feels more fulfilling. Intuitively.

It took me until my mid thirties to really allow myself to stray from the boring path of living life as I perceived it 'should be' (and being unhappy). And until my mid 40s to set aside the crushing sense of intimidation and insecurity to actually force myself to devote real time to my passions. Who cares that someone is watching? At least they'll see me try, and watch me learn.

Without time and devotion, our potential withers. Without being ready to fail, we will never learn anything of meaning. Without opening ourselves to others, we will be alone, in this endeavor and beyond.

People are drawn to others who have a clarity of purpose. Instead of chasing them away, it turns out that my choices actually help them understand who I am. Joining a group of more experienced folk is intimidating but essential. We stand on the shoulders of our ancestors and should not try to walk alone.

Take the time. Meet people. Make friends. Put in the work. Show it to others. Allow failure. Improve. Meander.

[pragtich]

A candlestick for Esther's birthday.

This is the third one of this type I've made.

Repetition is helping to find the techniques and design choices that matter. I swear that the next one will be good better.

The maker's curse is so real.

[pragtich]

The course is getting into the stuff that I really enjoy: all kinds of relatively simple ways to decorate our accentuate gates, rails and other work.

[queer-fae]

some fern embroidery for spring <3

i’m going to an ostara celebration today! this is the second time that i’ve embroidered ferns, and i’m happy with how it turned out. i started with a darker green and integrated a lighter color as i got closer to the ends of the fronds to create a gradient :)

[pragtich]

Scrolls, scrolls and then more scrolls.

Slowly getting the feel for them.

The double scroll is lots of fun.

[perfectquote]

“If you get tired, learn to rest, not to quit.”

— Banksy

[mawmenny]

[pragtich]

So excited that we started learning my favorite scroll: the beveled scroll!

It's challenging because it curves in two directions. This ends up giving it a twist which makes it very pleasing to my eye.

It actually starts out with this weird pre-form:

[pragtich]

Not too much 'romantic' forge work recently, since I was training my skills before an upcoming class (advanced forging with the local guild). Good thing, too: it's hard.

The first two days of the course were again fantastic. Great fun to share the passion with others and learn from those more experienced.

Some scrolling, a fleur de lis.

[kaygarde]

Dragon tiles

[thoughtportal]