A Dragon is Born

I believe in dragons (and fairies, elves, hobbits, magic swords and all kinds of other things).
I believe there is magic in the things I create - that I don't actually create them, I just help them into being (or being visible in this world). Or it's the process of creation that is the magic.

When I was working in my ceramics class my mind would go somewhere else for 3 hours and my hands would make these things and when I finished my mind would come back and I would look at them and think "wow, I did this???" and the voice in my head would smile and say "yes, I did this"!!!

Over the years I have learned how to do many things - sewing and knitting (mom taught me that when I was a kid- thanks mom), crochet, painting, wood carving, lampworking (some people call it glass blowing, but that's a misnomer), stained glass work, furniture refinishing, paper making, ceramics, polymer clay "stuff", photography, pine needle basket weaving, wheat weaving and probably a whole list of other things I've forgotten I once learned how to do.

I'm curious about how things are made and so like to learn for myself. I would much prefer making a cup or teapot to buying one; making a piece of furniture; making jewelry - well, you get the idea. Making something is to KNOW something about it, to bring it into being, not just buying something that a machine made. It has a history, a spirit, a belonging.

Some of what I make isn't very good, and that's OK because sometimes it's the learning of the thing, not the finished product that is important. But some of them, a special few, are quite spectacular and I look at them and think "I did that?" Artists rarely think that their own work is good enough. I give a lot of it away. I hope that the people to whom I give them like hand made things (some people don't and that's OK) but I think most of them do. I can usually tell who understands that hand made things are "more than" and who would prefer something new and shiny and store bought.

I'm happiest when I'm making something - baking, sewing, making "stuff". I learned a long time ago to let the thing be what it wants to be rather than what I want it to be. Take that dragon, for instance. What ended up being the egg started out being the neck of a dragon. That's all there was going to be was a neck and a head. Obviously IT had other ideas. But I'm just as happy with how it finished up.

Now, if I could just be that accepting of other aspects of my life I would be SO much happier.