Post Christmas ruminations

For various reasons Mr Namasi and I decided to keep Christmas very low-key this year. We were content that both our sons would be joining us. Our elder son works in the hospitality industry and isn't always able to have the time off.

Dinner was pretty much the sort of roast dinner one might serve on any Sunday or Bank Holiday when the family comes to visit.

It was lovely: warm, cosy, unspectacular.

Then...

Christmas day wasn't even over before the emails started coming in to my inbox.

eBay, Preloved, Shpock, Gumtree, the various Freegle/Freecycle and Trash Nothing groups I belong to, charities..."Make money from your unwanted gifts." "Regifting is the new giving." "Don't want it? We'll take it!"

At the same time, everyone appears to be having a sale and I'm being urged on every hand to take advantage of the low prices and buy more stuff. 60% off. 75% off. Free this when you buy that. Free delivery. Spend x and we'll throw in a <something or other>. I'm not sure I can afford to save that much money! 

It's breathtakingly mercenary, isn't it? So unapologetically cynical.

It reminds me of a scene from Jim Carrey's The Grinch Who Stole Christmas:

"Do you know what happens to your gifts? They all come to me... in your garbage. You see what I'm saying? In your garbage! I could hang myself with all the bad Christmas neckties I found at the dump, and the avarice... THE AVARICE NEVER ENDS! "I want golf clubs! I want diamonds! I want a pony so I can ride it twice, get bored, and sell it to make GLUE!""

I don't really consider myself a Grinch, but as an upcycler, I also see the stuff that people throw away. It's one thing when an item has broken or clothing has worn out or been outgrown. But I see what the Grinch sees: stuff that is still perfectly useful. Stuff that someone spent money on. Stuff that the gift giver agonised over choosing (but obviously still got it wrong).

This is the side of Christmas that I don't like. And we can do something about it. Smaller, thoughtfully selected or home made gifts strike a chord that lavish impersonal things just don't. Think back on the memorable gifts in your own life. Which are the standout gifts for you?

So... during the course of this year, why not learn a new skill so that you can make something for your loved ones in 2017? Here are some suggestions:

• Attend a massage course, and give your family vouchers for massages
• Learn to make pamper products (face masks, body lotions etc.) - there are hordes of tutorials on YouTube and Pinterest
• Make a batch of wine/beer/cider
• Learn to work with wood or metal and make a shoe rack, a toy box, a key rack, a table, a <something else>
• Attend workshops on beading, sewing, knitting, crochet, calligraphy and produce something in exactly the right colour, style and size for your loved one
• Improve your baking/cooking skills and give them a promissory note for a home cooked meal with all the trimmings (for them and a plus one)
• Attend a creative writing workshop and write them a story (or a song)
• Learn calligraphy and make a beautiful plaque for their wall, or write a dedication on the fly leaf of a much loved book 

Alternatively - pay for them to attend a programme to learn/improve a skill.

The possibilities are endless...and these are gifts that are unlikely to become property of the Grinch on Boxing Day.

Giving a shout out to the independent businesses and crafters

As an independent crafter, I like to spread the 'link love' and share news of others who are in the same boat.

It was my birthday yesterday, and my friends and family took the trouble to give me gifts that supported small business and independent makers. I'd like to share their details with you. Perhaps you've already finished your Christmas shopping, but there are still birthdays, weddings, graduations, mother's/father's day and so on...

Jacaranda World Wooden Carvings

This beautiful giraffe carving was brought all the way from Cape Town when my son travelled there to attend a recent wedding. It is the work of Dennis Maguma at Jacaranda World Wooden Carvings, and is made from sustainable timber. He has a stall in the Watershed at the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town and can be reached at dennismaguma75@gmail.com.

Steampunk buttons

These pewter buttons came from someone who knows of my weakness for all things steampunk and my love of sewing. They came from Alchemy England. I shall have to think of something fitting to do with them!

Bath time goodies

This selection of handmade bath time goodies comes from FruFru. I'm a shower person 6 days a week. But on a Sunday night, when Mr Namasi is off playing ice hockey, I treat myself to a soak in the tub with my Sudoku. The friend who gave me these took account of my preferred colours and smells and my love of all things lime. As if that wasn't enough, the card that came with this gift was handmade, and included a watercolour portrait of me by an artist called Samantha Crowe.

Sammy's Scribbles

While not strictly a birthday gift, this also arrived today, so I'll include it: a lovely personalised Christmas bauble, hand painted by Henna Exquisite.

The last few months have been hellish for us. I lost my workshop under unpleasant circumstances (as you know), I had a cancer scare, my husband's company was closed down and he was made redundant. But thoughtful, handpicked gifts like this make a world of difference.

Ask the audience

The title of this post is drawn from a popular TV quiz programme in which contestants have the option to ask the studio audience how they would answer the current question. Contestants then have the right to go with the flow, or ignore popular opinion and choose a different answer. A lot money rides on getting it right.

==oOo==

It is said (in a widely contested quote) that if Henry Ford had canvassed people on whether he should build a motor car, they would have said they needed a faster horse.

It seems to me that large corporations spend a lot of money finding out what customers want, and then an even larger sum of money convincing them that they desperately need a product that the corporation produces.

So how much is about listening to your market, and how much is about leading it? If you only listen, you'll produce things that people are already somewhat familiar with. If you allow your creativity free rein and produce something completely innovative and different, you might never persuade people to buy it.

Now I'm not a corporation. I'm just me. As a result, I'm even more directly dependent on people liking the stuff I make enough to buy it. And I don't have a massive budget to spend on market research. I am restricted to straw polls, and reactions to the products I have already made. I am also under some pressure to produce something different and/or original, because I can't compete on price with the mass produced output of the larger corporations.

It's a fine line: it has to be desirable and different, but still mainstream enough to attract a buyer.

Flowering chive

I recently completed a cross stitch of a flowering chive. I had bought the kit from a charity shop (I have a weakness for botanical art). It was far more complex than any of the other cross stitches I have done recently (see below), so it took quite a while to complete. Then came the challenging question: what to do with it?

People don't tend to buy framed tapestries/cross stitch panels any more. I know this, because I have bought several discarded ones from charity shops, with a view to upcycling them. They are currently quite popular upcycled as cushions, bags, clothing, seat covers, etc.

So I posted a picture of the completed panel on my Facebook page and asked my followers what they would like to see done with it. There were some creative suggestions that I would really have liked to try, but I had to be conscious of what would find a buyer.

The most popular suggestion was a cushion cover. So I decided to go with that, but I avoided the obvious approach and went with something asymmetrical with just a touch of the bohemian about it.

Completed cushion cover

Of course, now comes the real litmus test. Will it find a buyer? Did I make the right decision in listening to the audience?

I have bought several miniature cross stitch kits, as well as already completed tapestries and cross stitches, as I mentioned, and I'm having fun turning them into useful items. I haven't yet gone with an item of clothing, but I think that might be next on the agenda.

Jute carrier bag

Cotton book bag

Tea cosy (commissioned item)

Craft bag

I'd be interested to hear from other independent makers, artisans and crafters how they manage the balancing act. Have you found the magic silver bullet?

Note: at the time of writing, some of the items pictured in this post are still for sale. Please contact the author with any enquiries.

There might be a short (or long) hiatus

The last couple of days have been very difficult for me. The brief version is that I have lost my beloved workshop space. You know the cliche 'it never rains, but it pours'? This wouldn't happen while everything else was hunky dory. Oh no! It has to happen while we're trying to sell our house, and while Mr Namasi is trying to find work (in a less than ideal job market) before his notice period comes to an end, following the demise of the business he has been working for. And while I am waiting to find out whether 'the big C' has taken up residence in my body.

Thanks purely to the good grace of a friend, I have somewhere to store my tools and equipment on a temporary basis, but I no longer have a space in which to use them.

Before I was offered the space, I used to work in my garage at home. The resultant mess and clutter, was an ongoing problem - especially once we had put the house on the market.

Then a friend took out a longish lease on a shop space with an attached house and outbuilding (which consisted of a vestibule and two 'rooms').

She set up a business in the shop (unrelated to me) and employed a manager, who was to live in the house with her family.

My friend offered me the use of the larger room in the outbuilding as a workshop. The vestibule and the smaller room served as overflow storage space for the shop and the house.

My special place

I cannot begin to tell you how delighted I was with the arrangement. Of course, it wasn't perfect: I had a working space, but nowhere separate to store my finished pieces, which didn't benefit from the sawdust generated by the work on new pieces. But that was a problem for another day. I pottered away happily in my workshop, even when the light was poor, even when it became so cold that I had to wear double layer jacket to keep warm.

Sadly, things turned sour. I won't go into detail, because there may well be legal proceedings and I may be called upon to give evidence. Suffice to say, my friend and I are still solid - in fact, it is she who has offered me the use of her garage to store my kit. But the tenant of the house has determined that the space I have been using as a workshop is in fact part and parcel of her tenancy agreement, and required me to move out.

So today, we have hired a van and will be moving what we can into our friend's garage. On (ugh) Black Friday. In between doing a delivery run of this lovely piece, which found a happy home, and my husband attending interviews and and and.

Of course, I still have a studio at home, where I can do sewing and beading and all manner of other handcrafts, and I will focus on those for the time being.

Eventually.

When I have picked myself up off the floor.

Bear with me.

On appearing in print

One of my kreations is featured in the December issue of Reloved Magazine, in the section called Creative Hub. I am disproportionately excited about this.

During my time at drama school and 'on the boards', I was mentioned and pictured in various local and national newspapers.

That's me in front on the right

I later appeared in people's living rooms across the (South African) nation every Saturday, during my time as a (rather poor) TV presenter.

Presenter of Lekker Ligte Liedjies

Then, during my quarter of a century as a Learning and Development (L&D) professional, I had several articles published in various sector publications. I was never one of the movers and shakers, but many movers and shakers knew my name - I was even on hugging terms with some of them. I wrote a blog then, too, which was occasionally cited by other bloggers.

In comparison, my tiny little feature in Reloved is very small potatoes. But somehow, I feel just as excited about it as any of the above. I'm not sure why that should be the case, but what the heck. Much delighted squealing and hopping from foot to foot chez Romeis when I saw my mooring rope Christmas tree in print.

Note: at the time of writing, this item is still for sale, please contact the author for further information.

On being unsuccessful

This a somewhat introspective post - normal service will be resumed.

Lately, I've been seeing a lot of those 'habits of successful people' type posts and articles. Things that tell you what 'they' do that you don't. Things you need to change in your life, in order to become successful. But when you look at the people being held up as successful - people whose sterling example we're urged to emulate - most of the time, I reckon they might as well just substitute the word 'rich' for 'successful'.

Are you really successful when you have several failed marriages in your wake? Or when your relationship with your children is dysfunctional? When you make your living off the misfortune of others? If your direct reports at work loathe you or fear you? Is it all about having a guest list that reads like a who's who, even if you trampled the nobodies underfoot in your journey to the top? Is it really successful to have turned your back on people who had nothing to offer you, in order not to be slowed down by them?

I have absolutely nothing against people being rich - it's all relative anyway. I have known some wonderful and downright awful people pretty much across the board. I just don't see that wealth should be held up as the only measure of success. I also don't see why people who aren't rich should be regarded as failures.

There are solid marriages founded on little more than love and mutual respect. There are well adjusted children growing up wearing their older siblings' hand me downs. There are people who are such a pleasure to work with, that their colleagues will go to great lengths to have them on their team for a project. There are people who exude such serenity and tranquillity that just spending time with them feeds your soul.

I won't be reading any more of those lists of habits/behaviours/whatever. I don't want to be like the people idolised by the authors of those articles. Most of them (and there are always exceptions) aren't very nice.

The creative umm err OR from hmm to tada

Madeleine's collar

For an eclectic collection of reasons, ranging from practical to deeply personal, I have been away from my workshop for the past week or so, working from home in my studio.

This has meant a shift from power tools to fine handwork. I guess my sewing machine is a power tool, so I haven't been entirely without them.

It has also meant a shift in output from items made of wood and metal to items made of fabric, thread and beads.

The immersion in a different set of skills with different materials has resulted in some new ideas, which I hope will see the light of day soon. I've found myself rethinking my plans for some of the items in my workshop. Some bits of work were going to become one thing and will now (probably) become another. Just because of the shift in focus.

I haven't deliberately been thinking about this or that piece of wood. It's just that while one part of my mind is focused on the task (quite literally) at hand, another part of my mind wanders off of its own accord. There is no guarantee that it won't come back empty handed. In fact, there's no guarantee that it will come back at all, but that's another story.

I was recently asked to describe my creative process for a feature in a magazine (more of that anon). I have to say I felt like an utter fraud. I don't think my journey from hmm to tada really deserves the word 'process'. That sounds altogether too organised.

The sort of work I do at home is far more likely to have a process behind it, because it often involves patterns. I'll think of a piece of fabric in my stash and ferret out a pattern that will be suitable. Or I'll come across a beading/cross stitch pattern and dig out the materials I'll need to complete it. Following the pattern is like following a process. Of course, I deviate. A lot. Because that's just kind of who I am.

For example, I bought a series of Mouseloft cross stitch miniatures. Once I had completed them all, I turned them into a sort of patchwork carrier bag.

Mouseloft miniatures carrier bag

I liked the finished result, so I took a couple of MJ Hummel cross stitch panels, and turned them into a carrier bag, too.

MJ Hummel carrier bag

Skirt tote bag

But that's not always how it works. I came across a skirt I have (ahem) outgrown. It has a beautiful applique design on it, and I wondered if I could turn that into a bag, too, since I seemed to be on a bit of a roll with bags. I could and I did.

Sometimes it's just a case of needs must. Some time ago, I was making a necklace for my son's fiancee to wear for the wedding (which, in the end, never took place, but that's beside the point). But it transpired, she didn't want to wear necklace for perfectly acceptable reasons of her own. So I set the piece aside.

A few days ago, I came across the various bits of it that had been completed, and thought I might as well finish it. Sadly, somehow, I had lost some of the beads called for in the pattern. So I had to innovate. The finished product (at the top of this post) looks somewhat different from the original design, but I like to think it works.

Do you have a creative process? Do you plot and plan? Or do you fly a bit more by the seat of your pants?