I do not make resolutions in a yearly manner. I don't feel compelled to make a particular change on a particular day, but this year I have been thinking about words for creative exploration.
After some thought I have come up with: mend, random, intuit.
mend: I am in love with stitches that are not intentional. Or perhaps I should describe it as stitches that are purposeful without the willful intent of beauty or symmetry.
random: disparate imagery cobbled and pulled from different sources. The connections might be evident or private, you never know.
intuit: I don't want to use the word intuitive. Intuit. Intuit feels more present-tense somehow. Ituit feels embodied, trusting, internal.
I have been exploring stitch. Hand Stitch. Slow stitch. Slow cloth. I have joined a group on facebook called Slow Cloth and am enjoying thinking the idea through. The term is akin to slow food, as it might to compared to the more ubiquitous, fast food.
Slow Cloth is intentional, takes time, energy and thought. It doesn't necassarily mean that you sew by hand, it also means you make the cloth you use, paint or dye, it can mean that you sew by machine. But more often than not it means that you engage in the path of mastery, intention and wonder of materials.
This weekend, my Man and I went to Sri Threads here in Brooklyn. The man who owns the gallery collects Boro cloth and garments. Indigo dyed cloth-rags and tatters, for the most part that has been mended and repurposed for long term use.
I beelined it for the rag basket. I really want scraps. I found a few gems, I didn't go overboard because the lil buggers can be expensive. Now I need to search my cloth bins for some other pieces that will go with.