Tuesday 16 January 2018

Self realization

I've been a maker/crafter most of my life. What my craft of choice was at any given time has varied. Early on, it was cross stitch. I painted for a while, using a couple different techniques. I did wood working, weaving, spinning, dyeing, crochet...if it has to do with fiber, you name it, I've done it.

My craft of choice for the last few years has been knitting. I find that to keep my attention, a project has to have some decent level of difficulty. A friend called me a "challenge knitter" a couple years ago. She was right. I loved the challenge of leaning new techniques. Cables? No problem. Beaded lace? Bring it on!

I learned how to spin fiber into yarn. Then I added the challenge of processing the fiber so that it's ready to spin. Then I started from raw, unwashed, fiber and worked on spinning that. Next was spinning from the lock, rather than the prepared fiber. It was all a new challenge. It all became less exciting...less of a fix over time.

I've come to the realization, somewhat with the help of my dear husband, that I'm a challenge maker. I love learning new crafts, new skills. It doesn't really matter what a given craft is, I want to learn it. I just purchased some pewter and a ladle to do some pewter casting. Have I done metal casting before? No. Is that going to stop me? Never!

I think being a challenge crafter is why I'm excited about sculpting these days. Over the years I've been excited about different crafts, mastered (some of) them, done OK in others and moved on. Right now the challenges are sculpting and molding/casting.

Who knows where else making will lead me?




No comments:

Post a Comment