Wednesday, August 1, 2018

Confessions of a Creative junkie

I've been addicted to creating for most of my life, and it is a progressive condition... notice, I don't call it a "disease" because this kind of addiction is - in my opinion - a very healthy alternative to other addictions:  alcohol, drugs, food, sex, gambling, etc.  But it is an addiction, nevertheless. 
When I find myself inspired to try something, my pulse quickens, I become agitated if unable to dive right in... I browse google and pinterest incessantly to find images, tutorials, inspiration...and I can jump from one obsession to another in an instant, depending on the stimulus that has captured my attention! 
My current obsessions:  found object bundles, wrapped sticks, card weaving, fiber bowls, to name a few.  I have been fortunate to find information on how to make a few of these, but there are others that seem to have no documentation on how to proceed, and I stay awake nights, trying to think of how to progress!  Currently, my brain won't let go of found object bundles, aka wrapped bundles, fetishes (although that term can take me to totally different images than what I'm looking for!), totems... you get the picture, right?  On pinterest, if I find one I like and click on the image, it gathers similar items for me to browse, and I'm immediately going down a rabbit-hole of page after page of alluring images, but darn few references to tutorials! 
Not letting that stand in my way, I have started on one using a piece of deadwood I picked up - in the yard, or was it on a hike?  Anyway, here's what I have so far:

I attached a turquoise bead, a feather, some hand-dyed scrim and a few twigs using craft glue and some embroidery floss.  My original intent was to make something that could be used as an embellishment on one of my coiled fabric bowls, but this one may end up on a canvas.  Meanwhile, I have a large debris field in the back yard from a recent flood, so I will probably be culling through it for more wood or bark to add to my ever-growing collection!
And speaking of bowls, I'm also obsessing over some incredible hand-wrapped bowls by Jackie Abrams and someone else whose name seems to have slipped my memory.  Here's one of Jackie's to give you an idea of what I would love to try (when I'm not fully immersed in 10 other projects):
Jackie lives on the east coast and teaches classes there, but they are way beyond my budget and I have no love of travelling, so I guess I'll just have to play around with this on my own.
So there you have my story... hooked on creating, and no plans to swear off!  Back I go...


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