Maker In Residence

 The lock down in NSW has been terrific for me to upskill ...not sure I like that word for creative work, but it does describe what is happening. Can you think of a better term? Anyway, I've been learning a lot. Yesterday I followed a video on how to make Bruges lace and I've started a piece. This is a very basic piece really, and this is the level I'm aiming for ... (Sorry i don't know who the maker is, of this lovely lace. It's a picture from Pinterest) As you can see, I've got a bit of practicing to do. But I'm very lucky in that I pick creative skills up really fast. I wouldn't be producing lace like this for a table, more for wearing, like this...    Though I wouldn't crochet the entire outfit as is done here. I'm also learning a lot about running a creative business. I went to a webinar last night on Creative Marketing Strategies for Creatives. I learned a lot, though I never really intend to creative work to be my sole income. It will need...

 WARNING! This will be a long one. As part of the Maker in Residence program, I've been encouraged to find my voice, my style, my artistic identity. In the first few weeks, this caused a serious doubt to well up inside me. I work across so many mediums that, at first I couldn't see it. My mentor encouraged me to journal and to experiment to find it. Then this morning, while in the shower it hit me (I often get epiphanies in the shower). I've already done all that!!!!! Ever since my teen years I've scrapbooked, journalled, flipped from one medium to another, followed and sought many influences. For one little moment there, I just forgot. So here is an affirmation. (for those who don't know me quite as well as others, these images are all my own work done over the past 30 or so years. And I apologise to those who have seen these images before, though I think this is the first time I have collected them in a statement like this.) My voice is evident in the sparkly mate...

 There is nothing like a delivery of new materials to spur you on. So when the package arrived with these ...  I was instantly reinspired. And already today I've done this much... I know it doesn't look like a major amount, but it's several hours of work. I'm sure she will be ready by September for the ReTwined, ReImagined Fibres, Experimental Textiles exhibition at The Hawkesbury Remakery.

 The making of dolls is an ancient practice, and dolls as healing is just as old. I can't really remember the first doll I ever made. I'm pretty sure it was in my teens though. But my first spirit doll came along only a few years ago. Spirit dolls are used in the Wiccan faith, usually placed on the altar and imbued with positive intentions. I had a desire to make one that I would infuse with the promise of inspiration. Once 'inspiration' was finished I posted her on facebook to show my family and friends. One of my friends who saw her and read the story of how she was connected to a Wiccan tradition contacted me almost immediately. A dear friend of hers, who was a practicing Wiccan had just passed. My friend asked me to make her a spirit doll as a passing gift for the lady who being buried according to Wiccan traditions in only a shroud. This doll I called 'Flora' This doll was even more special as I was given the large collection of beads that the Wiccan lady h...