Slow Cloth and Mail Art

Don't you love it when you find a term (or two) that perfectly captures what you've been trying to find the words to explain?

I've just found out about two such terms: Slow Cloth and Mail Art.

Slow Cloth is the art textile equivalent of the Slow Food movement (website here). The Slow Cloth approach fosters a deep appreciation for the history and cultural context of the fabrics used in creating a piece. It values process and contemplation, and the slow accumulation of skills to create a piece whose quality the maker can be proud of. It builds community, encouraging the sharing of knowledge and skills. It focuses on green practices. As a whole, it emphasizes the joyful and spiritual nature of creativity.

I didn't learn the term until recently, but I've absorbed the basic tenets of this approach by reading Jude Hill's blog, Spirit Cloth, which presents an essential primer on how to make Slow Cloth. Elaine Lipson coined the term, and along with Jude Hill and Glennis Dolce (Shibori Girl), sponsors a Facebook group for Slow Cloth. Lipson has written a manifesto on the movement, which can be found in this article at Hand/Eye Magazine and on her blog, Red Thread Studio.

It's definitely with joy that I've thrown myself into creating the Crewel Stones. For me, they are all about how the materials--stone and wool--come together and create a remarkable little landscape of curves to work off. With each piece I have improved my stitching and expanded my repertoire of stitches. There are times when the process is meditative and flowing, but many, many other times when I am frustrated by the huge gap between what my fingers are able to accomplish and what I want the stitches to express. (There's lots of ripping out and do-overs, especially with the matryoshka's eyes!) As strange as this sounds, it feels like I'm in a constant dialogue with each stone as I try to translate a sketch or idea onto the three-dimensional surface whose form dictates how the yarn will flow.

As I was wrapping up the last two Crewel Stones to send to Antonella in Italy and Jenn (A Trinket Treasury) in Canada, I was thinking of all of the lovely packages that I have received from Etsy sellers and blog friends. How the wrapping of each item is so carefully done and beautifully presented, an art form itself. How creating a collage of items with a specific recipient in mind is itself a customized piece of art from the heart. How the opening of the package can become a form of performance art. Those are some of the things that the term Mail Art encompasses. You can learn more about it at Jenn's From the Letter Love Files blog.

My kids are on winter break this week, and the snowstorms in Washington, D.C. last week foiled our vacation plans. So we have a full week of a whole lot of nothing planned--the best kind of vacation, really. I hope to be back next week with more posts.