I know there are many things you do know about me but one of the things I haven't shared with you is my love of textiles and fibre arts. Why? I have absolutely no idea. If you follow me on Instagram (@flannelberry), you won't be surprised at all. I just realized though, that not a lot about textiles has made it onto the blog. Well, that's going to be changing. It's a huge part of who I am and what drives me. It's every bit as important as gardening and making food from scratch. I try to do everything in my power to be a good steward of the earth - which includes slow textiles. So, as they say, forewarned is forearmed. For now, here's some indigo for you to enjoy. You know those times when you may have over committed? Yeah, I am that person, yet again. In addition to all of the home stuff I do, I also work full time. And I own a small business. And I teach textile things. Oh, and I scaled back my regular job to do more private practice work so I went to part time and added in part time. Sheesh.
I share this not for sympathy but because I'm so often curious about how people who are living this homemaking, sustainable lifestyle pay the actual bills, I thought you might be as well. I know that I often wonder if they know some secret that I don't? I'm here to tell you that there are some who have sold a house in an urban area and had enough equity to make it all work. I know a few people in that category. More often than not, at least one of the adults has an off farm income of some sort to pay things like the mortgage; you know, the things we can't pay for in eggs, or herbs or other such things. Anyway, all of this working off farm work and the on farm work, has meant I've neglected the lot of you and I'm sorry for it. Rest assured, this morning brings with it another big shift that will should mean I'm back on track for regular updates. For now, I offer you this - a kitten in a basket (and yes, drying yarn, and a spindling wheel). I am a maker. I love to make things -whether yarn, garden beds, bread, books, or messes. It's taken me a long time to figure that out. I love to have my farm and I love to write and I love lots of things but at the end of the day, I love to learn the process of making things; and I don't care about finishing them
It's also more than being a craft person or artist - I feel like it's a bigger thing. I first started thinking about this when I looked into a Craft Council membership. They had a questionnaire about how you identify - craft person, artisan, artist, maker, crafter, etc. I often use craft as a descriptor but I think there is something deeper than that and different. And, I'm told, when you say "craft" people think "arts and crafts" and glue sticks and glitter. While there is nothing wrong with glitter and glue sticks are important in book making, I can see what they're getting at. Craft person seems pretty specific and I used to identify with it - but what about all of the things I am making that don't have a purpose beyond art? That's not (technically) craft. And writing? Some people say that writing is a craft, some say art. And then there are textiles. For a while I was happy to call myself a textile artist but then I had a well intentioned friend tell me paper crafts aren't really part of textiles. And sure enough, she's right. So, back to the drawing board. Artisan has a kind of "old world" connotation that appeals to me but that's not quite right either. And while some of what I do is really old world, a lot of it has a really new world kind of spin on it. Beyond that, there is a whole bunch of social weight to all of these terms and you have to be prepared for that, no matter what you call yourself. If you're a crafter, you get the 'little kid, glue sticks, and glitter' vibe, an artist shouldn't be making things that are functional, an artisan must be using old world techniques. And what if you're a potter who makes textile items to add texture to your pottery or glazes? And maybe you sell some of the textiles as art? How do people make sense of that? And, congruent with my personality, I have no interested in being penned up in a box where I should or shouldn't be doing anything. There are some great debates on art vs craft here and here oh, and here too. Maker is just coming into the discussion. I don't love the word actually but it seems closer than anything else I've head in English. Right now, I'm settled on maker. |
AuthorI'm a 40-something writer and smallholder living in the wilds of BC with my family, our small herd of Nigerian Dwarf Goats, chickens, ducks, dogs, and cats. Archives
August 2017
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