Zenseer's Secret Garden: July 2012

Tuesday, July 31, 2012

My new handmade weaving loom / Mon nouveau métier à tisser fait maison

I got some art supplies during the weekend and found this beautiful frame with a blueish patina on, and with sculpted oak leaves and acorns in each corner. I thought it would make a nice weaving loom (the price was pretty decent too). I started hammering small nails every centimeter when my husband complained that the nails were neither aligned, straight nor at the same height ("You're such an artist!" he said). So he had to fix my doing and ended up hammering the rest of the nails himself. So here's my pretty new loom...

Je me suis procurée du materiel d'arts plastiques durant le weekend et j'ai trouvé ce joli cadre avec une patine bleuâtre ainsi que des feuilles de chêne et des glands sculptés aux quatre coins. J'ai pensé que ce cadre ferait un joli métier à tisser (d'autant plus que le prix était raisonnable). Je me suis donc mise à marteler des clous tous les centimètres cependant mon mari s'est plaint que mes clous n'étaient ni alignés, ni droits et encore moins à la même hauteur ("T'es vraiment une artiste!" qu'il m'a dit). Alors il a dû réparer les "dégâts" et a décidé de terminer lui-même le travail. Voici donc mon nouveau métier à tisser...

Thursday, July 19, 2012

My Textile Life...

There are 2 things I have always loved: books and textiles. They both tickle my senses and my imagination. There are many ways to tell stories that don't just involve the written or spoken word.
My relationship with both books and textiles isn't just about stories, it's more primal than that: it goes down to the elemental fibre, the thread.
I am currently learning to spin and weave (at least get some basics covered so that I can do my own thing after), these are ancient techniques that transcend time. I like the idea that somewhere in the lineage, my ancestors were doing the same thing and that I am repeating the same timeless movements. I like the idea that the ancestors are still active beyond the grave and influencing us, teaching us, whispering (ideas) to us and of course they are involved in our (day)dreams and creative processes.
Anyway textiles, threads, yarns, ribbons are not just for making clothes, accessories and home decoration. They can be put/woven together to tell a story (and if you consider the people who harvested the fibers and made the yarn/fabric, you get stories within stories) or at least something that talks to somebody on an emotional, visual and/or sensory level...
I think paper, ink, thread and wool are just magical (I know I may sound like a little girl in a candy store here but that's what I think). Just put them together with an idea/theme/story in mind and you weave a magical spell that will touch or affect somebody else ;).