If you think about it, fibres interconnect to make wool, fabric, texture, and are tactile: you can feel them inside and out. No wonder working with fibre to create beautiful things is an experience of the heart and soul.
It brings you to a different place – a happy place – away from whatever you are feeling or whatever is happening in the world. A sense of peace and gentleness surrounds you to ultimately bring you the strength you need to live every day, knowing that you are making something with your own hands, not with a machine, following in the footsteps of those who came before.
When we create, we make something that didn’t exist before, but that we, or others, can enjoy forever. I love this quote that encompasses my own life experience:
“Creation and healing are the same energy. They transform pain, rather than being destroyed by it. Art heals by accepting the pain and doing something with it. ” (Art Heals: How Creativity Cures The Soul. By Shawn McNiff, 2004)
Making things is an essential part of who we are as human beings. We love to create, and would probably do more of it, if we didn’t have that inner voice that warns us we may not be good enough. That feeling of inadequacy, of not being capable enough, quashes many would-be creatives and makers. If only that voice could be silenced…
It can, if you just jump in with both feet and try. As an educator, I try to instil this in my students. Trying is half the battle: how do you know you can’t until you actually “do”.
As a maker, I have experienced that sense of wonder at trying something new, experimenting with materials, techniques, learning things I never knew before. The pleasure is in the “doing” and the outcome is something beautiful you have created with your own hands and mind. So wonderful and uplifting!