A Year of Making

         Last night I stumbled across the most interesting of tags on Instagram- Year of Making- something about this personal tag appealed to me- it challenged me- it really excited me. I thought yes- this is something I can get behind- a personal challenge to myself to document all that I make over the course of a year! Of course for me every year is a year of making- but this year since heading back to work- I have become more focused on finishing things that ever before. That is of course in part due to the influence of my uber creative co-workers who are always pushing themselves to try new things. I think the largest part of me making more this year is for the shear joy- having a job frees me up to take more risks with my won work- as I have discussed in previous posts I am no longer working for an audience larger than myself- which is a wonderful thing!

          I have so many textile projects on the go right now- works in progress- all at different stages- patiently waiting their turn- I'm assured this is a very normal thing for knitters! I have a stack of sewing patterns that I am excited to jump into- my birthday wish this year is an hour of uninterrupted fabric time at Spool Of Thread- they have so many good things on their shelves right now- I need some quiet planning time there.

        I'm also very excited to venture out into unknown making territory- I'm taking a class with a friend- beginner wheel throwing- clay- dishes- bowls- mugs! I seriously can't wait- it's such a gift to be able to take this class. I haven't worked with clay since my art school days and way back then it was all hand building and Raku firerings- very primitive and beautiful in it's own way. Now I'm excited to be building functional objects- our current plates are in sorry state and quite frankly I just don't like them! Heres hoping I can manage to make some new useful items for own house.

         My plans sound lofty but as mentioned I have been making almost every single day for years now- if a day goes by with out some outlet of creativity I feel off kilter- quite simply making is my life. The challenge for me will be to document what I am making- often I finish something and just start wearing it- or document it in the most hideous lighting in our hall way- my challenge will be to plan out the documentation- so I can show off my finished items in a way I can be proud of! OK enough sitting around talking about the plan- I have knitting to do- followed by a trip to the fabric store!

ps if anyone wants to play along with me or even just follow my progress- head on over to Instagram- #yearofmaking