Wednesday 5 October 2011

Craft is Work...

The trick to getting this right is measuring the amount of tissue paper you need.  A sharp pair of scissors are good to have around as a blunt pair tends to get snagged on the paper and rip the edges. So my hunt is on to find these mythical sharp scissors. I can never find any scissors at my house so I wonder if mum has any at her house?  I have ended up with mum’s expensive and very sharp dressmaking scissors. I hope she doesn’t walk in while I am using them!!! I need to quickly cut what I need and safely stash the scissors away before I am caught.
As humans we spend a lot of time occupying ourselves with activities that provide meaning to us. Our occupations are goal orientated activities that occupy our time, space and place (Christiansen & Townsend, 2010).  Leisure activities or work are second to labour, as it is not required for survival, but we spend the majority of our time participating in it. The on-going learning opportunities that leisure activities or work offer as we mature, enable us to still enjoy the self-motivating and pleasurable experiences (Christiansen & Townsend, 2010).
So as I sit here with my mother’s expensive dressmaking scissors, I remind myself that I am doing this because I need to do it, I enjoy it, it provides me with something to relax with, it inspires me to create something new, I get enjoyment from it, I find it interesting, it can be aesthetically pleasing if I choose the right colours, I am easily distracted by what I am doing and can forget if I have put dinner on and of course it evokes childhood memories for me. If I couldn’t do paper craft anymore, I would feel a loss of connection, it wouldn’t evoke those childhood memories that I have of doing what I enjoy.

Christensen, C.H., and Townsend, E.A. (2010). Introduction to occupation: the art and science of living. (2nd ed.). New Jersey: Pearson

4 comments:

  1. I love that fact you have kept it real - by using your Mum's good dressmaking scissors :)
    I also like how you admit that sometimes doing a craft can be a burden, doing it because you need to.
    Do we get to see pictures of your work?

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  3. Reading your blog brought back personal memories for me. It made me smile thinking back to the time when I got caught using my Mums 'special' scissors and how she growled me for doing so...

    Now that I've grown, I fully understand my mother’s anger ... because I am exactly the same and have also become a 'Scissor Protector"

    So Katy ... “buy your own scissors and become a scissor protector too!"

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  4. I love how you have made this quite playful. It is written in a fun way that makes it exciting, and like Patrina said you have also kept it real.

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