Dont you just love that ridiculous word? For those of you in the know, you are just as excited by it as I am, and for those of you who are just now thinking "what the #$%^&* is she talking about?," you are in for a treat. Pluckyfluff gave me my fledgling wings to fly back into painting. Pluckyfluff saved my creative life!!
Alright, let me explain...
Lexi Boeger is an art yarn spinning extraordinaire. She pretty much trail blazed the world of art yarn making. Online she goes by Pluckyfluff and I am so excited to add her
blog to my list of inspirational reads on my side bar.
My relationship with Art Yarn Making started when I was 7 months into Stay-At-Home-Motherhood, and my son was becoming seriously on the move, availing me very few options for a creative outlet without him having to eat it, wear it, or destroy it.
I dont knit, I barely crochet, I had never weaved a thing at that point, but one morning while escaping the house to a local bookstore with my son (you other SAH moms know what I mean when I say "escaping"), I found Lexi's book.
I couldnt help but pull it off the shelf and flip through, my jaw dropping and heart soaring with every page turn. I had never seen anything like it! She made yarn look like art!
Textures, colors, shapes, contrast, interest, focal points, she incorporated all these art design elements into spun fiber.
It blew me away and I bought the book and spent days on end studying the pages and the techniques described inside. It was at this same time that I was really struggling with feeling happy staying home all the time. I felt isolated, bland, dull, and BORED! I missed doing creative things. I had pretty much left all my artsy-ness behind in the wake of my graduate studies, pregnancy, and arrival of my first child. At the end of it all that sacred inner creative personality that I used to trust, rely on, and find passion in just faded away. (blogged about it a few months back
here)
But that moment I found this amazing book on making art yarn, a spark of that creative person ignited inside me.
With no logic or plan behind it, I decided to enroll in a yarn spinning class that next month. (BTW never failed to be a very funny moment for me when I tell someone that I am taking a spinning class and they ALWAYS assume I was going to a gym). Three months later, I was spinning yarn, playing with colors, textures, crazy combinations, and themes. It felt like painting!
My Pluckyfluff Inspired Ballerina Yarn 2008
I started to feel that excitement, that rush of energy and intensity of life I remembered from my painting days, only this was not a messy toxic thing for my child to play in, and (glory be!) I could work on it for a few minutes at a time then tend to baby and come back hours later without worry of drying paint or ruining brushes. It was heavenly!
My Very First Art Yarn! 2008
But it did result in a TON of crazy arty yarn that was mostly useless for anything except making funky wool beanie hats and scarves (never very popular in the 75 deg Florida winter) So I started trying to sell it on Etsy and eventually, when my son started warming up to having sitters and gave me chunks of time to myself, I worked up the courage to paint again. But I will always have a soft place in my heart for Pluckyfluff Art Yarn and my sweet Louet Spinning Wheel (which looks adorable collecting dust in my dining room right now) that gave me a push back into creating and art making. Take some time and check out
Lexi's website, her
blog, and of course the
Book, you wont be disappointed, I promise.
(PSST...speaking of art making, dont forget to enter in my
giveaway this week! Spread the word and join in the fun :)
