Easing away, returning, and turning
When we need to ease away, and when we need to keep something close by too, and when we return to it, knowing well it has changed...
When I first started conceiving of this healing chime, it looked different. I had imagined using painted ginkgo leaves and light indigo silk thread.
The ginkgo leaves had long thin stems that fanned out to a saturated yellow, which I had then painted with white dash marks. They were fun and cheery to me and I so wanted to use them.
The light indigo silk thread glistened and swayed in my hands. It was naturally hand-spun and hand-dyed from Laos. I had used the silk thread before and it brought back memories of my many times at the Houey Hong Vocational Training Center in Vientiane, Laos, one of the places where I sourced threads and fabrics and took workshops.
Easing away
But when I tried using the ginkgo leaves and silk thread together, it wasn’t working somehow.
The silk fibers were beginning to un-spin slightly, enough that the fray was getting caught on itself and snagging as I wrapped the ginkgo leaf stems. The long stems of the ginkgo leaves were long, and fragile, and couldn't take the repeated tension of wrapping. Too many stems had snapped and that’s when I stopped.
I eased away from it and let months pass. The fabric, twig, ginkgo leaves and silk thread remained on my desk, then moved to another table, but I wouldn’t put it away. I needed it close by so it could return to me and not be forgotten.
Returning
I was cleaning my studio and opened up a small box of spicy-rust colored leaves – strong, short stemmed leaves. Seeing them sparked something and I knew the next step of returning to making the healing chime.
I remember finding the leaves on a walk in my neighborhood last summer. They just needed an uplift – like I had written about previously in the post, Accentuating what’s already there.
I painted them a copper color. I painted the front, and the back, and then the stems. That’s the first time I painted the stems! I remember hearing from Sush (another Patron supporter, thank you!) that acrylic is just plastic after all, and so I thought painting the stems would strengthen them, as these stems were fragile too. It worked!
Craving the rhythmic pace and meditative flow that comes with hand-stitching, I chose handmade and hand-spun indigo-dyed cotton thread this time. I had worked with it before. It’s easy and resilient, and it’s also sourced from Houey Hong Vocational Center in Vientiane, Laos.
I hand stitched seven narrow columns on the gray fabric. It had been a while since I had the patience and focus to hand stitch, and this time I just settled into an easy rhythm with it. No resistance, no fraying.
Then I wrapped the indigo cotton thread around the copper-painted leaves. The sensation of twirling the thread around the stems over and over was a delight. No snagging, no breaking.
I strung the leaves through the columns, and wrapped them to the “twig” which, interestingly, is coiled fallen tree bark from St. John, USVI, where I picked up a handful along the Reef Bay Trail last December.
Please click the link in the video above to see a two minute video clip of the whole process of creating this healing chime!
This healing chime was becoming something different from what I originally thought. I had the willingness to continue with it, even if easing away from it first. I had wanted to figure something out, and to keep at it, and try again at some point. I had wanted to return to it with an idea, even if it meant to see it change.
Turning
Something else I noticed about this healing chime – it’s an expression of turning – from the painted copper leaves that gently turn inward; to the motion of wrapping thread around and around leaf stems and twig; to the coiled tree bark that holds it all; and finally, the fabric, curling at the edge and turning inward.
How do we know when we need to stop and ease away, and sometimes keep something close by too, so we don’t forget?
And when we remember and there is a returning, knowing it has changed, this endless turning of life.
“Easing away, returning, and turning” was originally published as an exclusive post to my Patreon supporters in April 2022. Now the writing, photos, and video are public to you, too!
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