I wove this small piece for a friend—for the magical child who lives within her and for the Faeries who live on her property. I wove sunset sand castles and other landscapes to explore.
My friend brought “Saori weaving” to my attention, explaining my philosophy of being oneself and ignoring rules that limit creativity make my weavings “Saori,” since Saori philosophy is the same as mine.
But there’s always plenty of room to grow. This weaving was another step along the path to freedom of self expression. It is only my sixth weaving, so clearly I need to grow technically, but this post is about non-technical aspects of my process.
My friend gifted me with spindles, with bits of her yarn remaining on the spindles. I’m sure this wall hanging is nothing compared to what she weaves, since she’s been at it way longer than newbie-moi, but her yarn wanted to return to her in a new guise. Making that happen was a way to thank her for her support of my spinning. The weaving used most of the yarn on the spindles.
Though this little piece is light-years from what a weaving can be, fulfilling my karma this lifetime requires a commitment to sending a lot of my visual art away, out into the world.
I have a different karma when it comes to my work as a shamanic guide this lifetime. That work, whether in a class, psychic reading, direct spiritual transmission, or book, must be polished, polished, then polished. For example, I studied poetry writing so that, when I channel during a class or one-on-one session, I have verbal skills honed to capture and speak the concepts and images the Goddess asks me to relay. But my visual art must be released into community regardless of how good I think it is or not.
(… Hm, the above paragraph does not take into account two things: 1) I and many others use our visual art to provide shamanic guidance. 2) I work hard at my visual arts. It is just that I work even harder as a shamanic guide. … Well, you get the drift of what the paragraph is saying.)
Part of this weaving’s theme is letting go of perfectionism, thereby letting my energy flow out into the community and universe. When we let go of perfectionism, Faeries come play with us.
My weaving friend praised the exuberance of my thick, uneven yarn. In the process, she mentioned she spins thin. I’m so ridiculously competitive that I took her words as a challenge, though she didn’t mean it that way, and I tried to spin thin with dark-green Corriedale wool. It was boring. That’ll teach me to do something other than my own style. I must be myself and let that self expression flow out to the universe. I added some of my thin green yarn to the weaving. (By the way, later I discovered I love spinning silk thin.)
This close-up has a quarter and a nickel in it, to give you a sense of the weaving’s small size:
The glass jewel is gorgeous, but I think the photo might make it look a little tacky. I wish the photo showed how the glass shimmers like a Faerie rainbow. It might be vintage Vitrail.
The glass piece continues the theme of being oneself. It and its setting were presents from my friend Willie Zuniga, who is a remarkable jeweler. Check out her shop at https://www.etsy.com/shop/MorningGloryDesigns. Willie tried to help me learn technical aspects of layering, wrapping, and gluing metal components with stones to make jewelry. I tried hard but, though I managed to make myself some jewelry I like, mostly I could not get the hang of the techniques.
Finally, I decided to use metal components and stones I adored in ways congruent with my technical inclinations, like in this weaving.
I also wove in locks I got locally, as well as fleece and locks from Tina at https://www.etsy.com/shop/HermanHillsFarm, plus something else of hers that I think is fleece and locks. Tina is a master at dyeing and blending wool, though she humbly insists otherwise. I wonder if Tina knows how much Faeries like to watch her at her work. She’s a woman being herself.
I received no remuneration in cash or goods for mentioning anyone’s products. I praise work and link to shops to honor/support fellow artisans who do awesome work.
