...and in addition

I would like to add that sharing this stuff with all of you, goes against every fibre of my being.  It's hard for me to tell the public in general this stuff.  It is hard for any person suffering depression or mental illness to tell the people closest to them this stuff.  This too is a part of the therapy thing  (seriously, my shrink told me I have to 'engage' more...I'm new at this, I may occasionally over compensate. lol).  But also, I know that all of you totally understand this :o)

Happy New Year Everyone!

Well, its 1st January 2012.  That kind of blows me away the teensiest bit.  I know so many of you can relate.  Where have all the years gone?  #momentofawe  This year, while not my best year ever has certainly been one of the biggest for me on so many levels.

I've had some pretty interesting health issues crop up.  And in the past, that would have rendered me fairly useless to the world at large.  But this year I've also made some staggering progress in terms of my self development.  

Not many people know that I've had a life long case of PTSD and depression.  For these reasons I cant work a 'normal' 9 to 5.  But, I'm a pretty darn private person though so that's not really a surprise.  I'm 'coming out' now because I have made so many amazing new friends this year.  And some of them also suffer from a mental illness.  Having a mental illness can end your life.  To survive every day is an achievement for some.  No one should treat this lightly or as if it was some kind of shameful disease.   Having a mental illness and/or depression is a very big deal.  I want to show my other friends, who struggle daily my support by sharing this part of myself with you. :oD

Happily, I have found an amazing psychologist.  In the last year she has helped me learn whole new coping strategies and has encouraged me to take more interest in myself.  This has been life changing for me.  So much so that I've decided to take back control of my life, for the first time ever.  This feels pretty damn amazing.

In the last four or five weeks I've started seeing an exercise physiologist.  To help me lose weight, regain my fitness and conquer some of my other health issues.  Diabetes being first on the list.  And I am determined to make this happen.  I am so focused on achieving these goals that my entire outlook has changed.  This is a good, good thing.

This new perspective has allowed me to finally accept what I'm supposed to be doing.  I have found my calling and she is named 'fibre hoar'.  I'm embracing her, and the sisterhood of fibre hoars out there in general. :oD 

And this also is in part to the amazing, supportive, generous of spirit people who have, happily, entered my life.  I had forgotten what it meant to count someone a true friend.  It feels very nice to be able to do this again.  So thank you.  Thank you all for your continued support, encouragement and friendship.  You have all saved me on levels that I cannot describe.

I wish you all peace, love and wonderful times for 2012 and beyond.  Happy New Year to you all. 

xoxo

Etsy Shop Opening Soon!

Well the craziness of Christmas is over and the New Year is almost upon us. I know its time for people to start thinking about their New Years Resolutions for the year.  I dont usually bother with NYR but this year I'm making plans to take 2012 out the back and give it a good kick in the butt.  It's going to be a great year for me.  I'm determined. lol.

I've been busy busy busy trying to get some things finished and other things organised so that everything is ready for the grand opening sale over at my Etsy shop.  When is it you ask? Why its next week.  That's right, this is the announcement I'm sure you've all been dying to hear.  My Etsy shop will be open from Monday the 2nd of January (Australian time so that might be the night before if you're in the US or Canada).  I will be putting another announcement on the FB page by the end of this week with the special coupon code that you will need to take advantage of the 20% store wide discount.  The coupon code wont last so be quick to snaffle if you want to make a saving.  Its all happening people :oD

Craft and Symbolism

In the last week I've been crafting at an alarming rate.  I've been weaving more inventory for my Etsy shop opening and I've finished another of my special order feltoonies. 

Firstly, I finally finished my Saori banner that I have been working on.  This turned out to be such a reflective experience and I definitely want to make more.  I've called this particular piece "shadows on the landscape of my soul". 

The full banner. I need to do more
beading before I can call it finished.

Close up of some of the beading.  Small
clusters of silver lined crystal beads represent
bubbles in moving water.

Close up of stitch detail. Obligatory bird
flying off into the sunset?

Before I go onto the other images, I wanted to briefly discuss the different schools of thought about  symbolism in art. I placed the shadow/silhouette and the bird in flight in my weaving on an impulse, and they inspired me to come up with the name for the piece.

Jung considered the shadow (silhouette) to represent the alter ego or the part of the self that is opposite to our conscious self.  According to popular theories the shadow represents some dark part of the self that we do not want to express but its there in our subconscious self.  Sometimes it is a part of our personality that we may not even be aware of.  Here are a couple of links to sites discussing symbolism of shadows.

An article from the University of Adelaide

A seekers thoughts

Birds are thought to be symbolic of the soul.  Also, in dreams, birds can be symbolic of spiritual journeys.  Here are a couple of links about bird symbolism.

Whats your sign dot com

Scroll down to the section on Magpies and Crows.

A more in-depth explanation of blackbirds

For what its worth, I think that symbols in art or dreams mean whatever we feel they mean.  If you have a strong pull towards a certain meaning, then that's what is right for you.  But generally I believe what is widely held.  For me the shadow does represent some darker part of the self that we more often than not repress. That these dark spots exist does not mean that we are evil or inherently bad people.  They could just be a shadow created by a culmination of all the hurt or tragedy you may have experienced in your life.  They are still powerful enough to colour our perception of the world.  Which is why I think it fits so well into the brightly coloured landscape I've woven.  Some may see it as a blight of some kind but I see it as an acknowledgement of the darker spots in my subconscious, and I think that acknowledging them allows me to set them free.  I'm moving on from the things holding me back :oD

I decided to try some colour-changing yarn in my weaving and came up with a couple of scarves that I think look really good.

 

The last felt order I received was for two character feltoonies.  A Frankenbunny and a Dracula Bunny.  I finished Frankenbunny about a week and a half ago and I finished Dracula Bunny yesterday.

Merging the felts

I'm officially merging my two blogs together in order to make things easier to maintain and to limit myself less.  You can still see the previous blog posts over at the felting blog, but all new felting posts will be made here from now on.  I apologise if this causes any inconvenience to followers of my felting blog but I just need to be more organised in order to allow myself more time to create items to list in my etsy shop.

I've been pretty flat out the last couple of days.  I spent yesterday afternoon washing and pressing a chunk of woven items and I designed a drop tag to be attached to them when they're sold.  I had that printed out on nice shiny cardboard today and it looks kinda like this...

I finished my plush bunny.  I can finally put her to one side to work on other things.

I have started the last of my special orders which is great because once its done I have even more time for making items to list.

Dracula Bunny. Special order.

And finally, I got around to buying backdrop card so I could take some photos of a bunny I made a while back but hadn't had a chance to photograph yet.  Talk about a busy few days.