Something old and something new
When catching up with friends and former coworkers, they usually ask how I spend my time now. So here goes…
I weave, sew, dye, paint, print, and stitch. I do this most days from 8-4, like it’s my job — because it basically is! But, more importantly, I enjoy it and there’s nothing else I’d rather be doing.
My cork board serves as a to-do list: an ever-growing collection of potential projects and classes. New ideas get written down on a slip of paper and pinned to the board. They are — of course! — organized into categories. Active projects move to a special section.
My North Star is to work on textiles each and every day: ideally, something old and something new. But I also leave time for random, non-textile explorations and pallet cleansers. What do all these terms mean? Well...
Something old is an iteration on a previous project or technique — a potential portfolio builder.
Can I expand a single project into a series? Push a technique further? Gain more expertise? Move from following rote steps to exploration and play?
Failures abound! But I always learn something new. I firmly believe that everything you do or create stands on the shoulders of what came before. And the only way to learn something is to try it and see what happens.
Something new means exploring brand new techniques that relate to my work. Most of these take the form of classes or workshops. They vary widely, from synchronous to asynchronous, sometimes online, in-person, or from a book. I produce work in these classes, but the focus is learning technique, not creating a finished piece. I'm building my creative arsenal.
A random exploration is a non-textile, just-for-fun project. These are things I'm curious about but don't intend to pursue seriously. Building a lamp. Making marbles from glass. Pinhole photography. The sky is the limit here.
And lastly, pallet cleansers. The crafty equivalent of a Netflix binge. These are often textile-related but aren't geared towards my portfolio. For the most part, they are low-stakes, enjoyable projects. Cross-stitching, EPP, sewing clothing, making covers and cases, documentation.
As you can see, I've been busy! I'll share some of these projects in future posts.
Year of Stories recent read: On Writing by Stephen King