Keys
To venture outdoors right now is to be eaten by mosquitos, no matter the time of day. However, we regularly risk it - sometimes to do the things that must be done and sometimes because it’s just too pretty to stay indoors! Bug spray is a must. Long sleeves and (usually) long pants, too.
I did a search this week for information about Curly Dock - it’s a weed that seems to grow in the wetter areas here (so, pretty much everywhere this year) and I really need to dig it up…but I thought I might collect the seeds first and use them for their dying properties. Anyhow, long story short, in my search for answers I happened upon this blog.
The author and I have a lot in common and I’ve deeply enjoyed reading a few posts each evening (usually during Remi’s last meal of the day). As is my way, this light reading has produced so many epiphanies!
What I’ve been mulling over most is the way I can do pretty much anything…as long as I’ve seen it demonstrated. Show me once, maybe twice, and I’m rolling, taking what I’ve seen and growing it into something all my own. It’s one of my superpowers. The thing about superpowers, though, is that they often also point to our greatest weaknesses - in this case, the way that it can seem impossible for me to do something if I don’t have an example. I don’t know why I’m wired this way, but it leads to feeling stuck A LOT.
I’ve been trying so hard to find a way to make space for both art and motherhood this past year - but I don’t yet feel like I’ve done a very good job. Especially because I’ve been trying to figure it out ALL ON MY OWN. No help, no outside influence, no examples. In some ways this has been great, allowing me to avoid feeling like I’m doing something wrong - in many ways, though, it’s felt like being thrown into the deep end all by myself. SO, back to my lucky find - a creative woman writing about her life and family. It’s so simple and beautiful and real.
Which is to say, basically, out of the blue I was handed a key to the locked door I’ve been banging my head against. And instead of turning away, as I have been doing, I accepted it as a gift.
Ahhhhhh…the feeling can only be described as a dam breaking. It’s cool water running down my back, an exhale and an inhale. Proof that raising Remi and making things aren’t separate parts - they are the same. It’s all art. It’s all just life. Not only can it be done, I’m doing it.
Anyhow, after getting a small glimpse into a life outside my own I realized I’d like to get back to documenting - the way I used to. More time spent capturing the little things and celebrating the lovely moments that make up my days. For more inspiration, I went back to my own, old posts. Read and read and read again. Felt better. Felt at home. Showed myself the way this time.
Remi got some new curtains in his room this week. I found the fabric on good old Etsy - and Eric and I laughed so hard at the ridiculous cuteness of the print that we decided we had to have it. Making curtains is a little boring, basically just hemming and hemming and hemming, but that’s probably why I like it. The tedious tasks are always my favorite.
I can’t wait to show you Remi’s whole, finished room - but we’re down to the final details, which probably means it’ll be another couple months before I’m done. I don’t know why I’m feeling the need to wait and do a big reveal when everything is finally complete, but I am. Maybe it’s because this will be the first (and only) finished space in the whole house? Who knows. It is crazy to think that this was my studio for a time…more and more it seems like Remi’s always lived there.
However long it takes, we’ll have fun getting there.
There’s something about inlay that makes the stone seem as though it’s about to spill out and over top of the setting - which feels exceptionally delicious to my eyes. Naturally, this means that the ring I’m working on has grown more complicated because I settled on a hollow form design to accentuate that full-up feeling.
Calculating measurements for the pattern just about broke my brain. Math and measuring have felt hard for a very, very long time now and my head literally felt tight when I was done. But I finally finished it - only to end up giggling like an idiot when it reminded me of a skimpy bikini bottom. And once I’d seen that, I couldn’t UNsee it - so the giggling continued on for a good while longer.
Slowly, slowly I’m getting it formed. Once the shape is set, I’ll get a band soldered to the inside and then I can move on to the stone itself. That’s the part I’m looking forward to most, though that’s always the case. I have always and will always love finishing a piece with a beautiful stone.