[Nfb-krafters-korner] Friday's Question Your most valuable tool.

[Jewel S.]

I know this is going to sound really corny, but the greatest tool I
have is my active imagination and creativity. I am always thinking of
ways to do things and ways to improve on a craft, a design, or even
something as "simple" as the layout of my room. I'm always imagining
what it might have been for so-and-so in the Middle Ages, or
such-and-such person in the Edo period of Japan...I always imagine and
create stories and ideas. I love to act on these ideas and stories,
either through writing or through a craft that represents the story.
For example, while I'm not a religious person, I grew up in a very
Catholic home, and I have religious friends. My boyfriend collects
Build-a-Bear animals, and one is a white lamb. At Easter time, I
decided that the lamb was truly the symbol of Easter, and started the
creation of an Easter dress for her. Not the usual Easter dress with
bright colours and flowers and such...she already had such an outfit.
No, this dress is made of a deep crimson velveteen. I chose this
because not only does it look grat against the white lamb, but the
crimson represents the blood of Jesus. The dress symbolizes the story
of Jesus on the cross, and now the lamb (named by Mike "Baaarbara") is
a true representative of Easter. She is a story in herself that I
created, and I rejoice in the story that provoked this sudden return
to the sewing that I have not been doing of late. The dress is not
one-hundred percent done (it still needs a hem around the neck and
bottom of the skirt, and the gores are not quite sewn on), but I know
it'll get done. The important thing was taking my story and running
with it. In my mind, that ability to create stories and craft ideas
suddenly and out of the blue is my greatest tool in crafting and art.
As a child, that ability is how I created many of the pieces of art I
made, from the half-cat person crawling in a picture to the abstract
collaborations of colour to the tree created entirely of squiggly
lines in green and brown...it was this ability to create and imagine
stories and pictures that always kept my art and crafts alive.

Wow, that became a bit more deep than I expected. I hope you all don't
mind my sudden urge to share.

~Jewel