Lately, I have found myself with some free time, which inevitably leads to boredom. Although I understand the negative connotations around the word "boredom", I had recently stumbled upon a TED talk by author of the book "Bored and Brilliant", Manoush Zomorodi. In it she speaks to the positive effects of boredom and its link to creativity and growth. She ends with this powerful sentence:
"It might feel weird and uncomfortable at first, but boredom truly can lead to brilliance." - Zomorodi
So...maybe in my case it did not lead to brilliance, but it did lead to a wonderful adventure and a newfound hobby. This boredom of mine led to a borderline obsession in creating tapestry art, which I researched for days! What materials I would need, examples of art I would like to create, how to make the knots, etc. I finally decided I would make my own loom, as the pre made frames were out of my price range. On a Saturday afternoon, I set out to gather the necessary materials with a budget in mind, and immediately got to work.
I know, right? No better way to spend your Saturday nights than to repeatedly hit your thumb with a mallet, I'm sure my neighbors were thrilled! Back to the process: turns out it takes time and skill to set up the base of the loom. The tension of the base is key on weaving a structurally sound tapestry. Needless to say, I had to go through this process a few times to get it correctly. As you can see, my kitten was instrumental in getting the job done:
Next step was to learn different weaving techniques, my goal was to attempt as many as I could with this first piece. It took a lot of patience, error, and youtube instructionals, and I am pretty happy with the end result! Something that started as an idea born out of boredom was now a finished product. You can see some progress photos below, as well as my weaving partner, Mo, in action.
The Final Product
Click here to access my youtube playlist of the videos I used to learn weaving techniques.