trimmingthesails

5 in 5, Wabi Sabi

Once a month, the talented Sandie over at Itchifingers offers us the chance to join in '5 in 5': five photos taken within five minutes. This time, my kitchen photos capture something of wabi-sabi. It's the beauty of things ...

... imperfect, impermanent, ephemeral - the last rose in the jug as it fades.

 ... natural, rough, unpolished - birch bark candle-holders.

 ... humble and modest - a stone on the shelf.

... unconventional, hand-made, one of a kind - a cup and saucer fashioned by my father-in-law in his seventies, from clay in his garden.

... organic forms, irregular, idiosyncratic - our burr-elm fruit bowl.

Wishing you a gentle wabi-sabi start to the week, wherever you are :).

SSS and a reminder ...

Simple serendipitous synchronicity - one of those lovely moments when the universe gives you a nudge :). It started with a very kind message from the wonderfully creative Julie, who'd spotted in her mixed media travels a downloadable pdf, a kind of flier for a book coming out later this year - The Wabi Sabi Art Workshop.

I was, in fact, just pootling around with a bit of paint and gesso, looking at my homemade December Days album, and coming to a decision about wabi-sabi scrapbooking this year ...

As I settled in my deck-chair (yes, I have one indoors!) with a cup of tea in one hand and the pdf in the other, my eyes fell on the middle of the first page and my heart give a little skip. "... a state of mind and a state of feeling ... which can express a world of seeing, listening, smelling, tasting and feeling in the recording of a single moment".

Simply a Moment, I thought. Here, every middle of the month. That's just what it does. Though, of course, it's not just here: far from it! Across thousands of miles, there were over twenty of us in February, sharing a simple moment of our lives with each other - the beauty of things imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete ...

Should you like to join in again, or for the first time, this month (it is the 15th this Friday), then you will be most welcome to enrich the gathering of voices with your own unique one. You don't need to write a lot, remember, or even anything at all - you might just have a photo or a snippet of art journalling. The Linky will be here as usual and it will be open for a fortnight, so any time after that is fine too!

I very much liked the subheading of Serena Barton's pdf: Finding inspiration and beauty in the ordinary. Isn't that just what we are about? Do come and inspire us with yours ...

And thank-you, Julie :).

3 tomatoes, 2 concepts and 1 train of thought ...

  We were lucky this year. By dint of sawing a hole in the roof and slipping in a clear plastic sheet, the rickety allotment shed metamorphosed into a (still admittedly lopsided) greenhouse of sorts. And on Sunday we proudly picked these. Now, those of you with gardening nouse will quickly spot that our tomatoes would not win any prizes: our erratic visits and ill-judged estimates of the amount of water required inbetween has left them with pockmarked spirals on their skin. As tomatoes go, they were nicely wabi sabi (see 17th June): humble, earthy, and full of their own loveliness.

Although wabi sabi has been around for thousands of years, imperfection is becoming a hot topic these days: there are books on it, posts about it, and whole blogs dedicated to it. I can't help mischeviously wondering, given that 'perfection' is a value judgement and an idea in our heads, where that leaves 'imperfection'. Is that just an idea, rather than a reality, too? Is my blurry photo imperfect, or is it just, well ... blurry?

The one in the layout to the right (some of you may remember this page) nearly didn't make it through the photo-pruning process - the desire for perfection nearly consigned it to the trash can. Yet it seems ungracious to label it 'imperfect': it took me somewhere I would not otherwise have gone. So I'm not sure I'm going to be able to pursue perfection, or embrace the gifts of imperfection either, whether in scrapbooking or in life! Perhaps it's time to forget about both those words and just welcome and appreciate what is...

Does this mean that the half-hours with Herma, endlessly repositioning photos to get them 'just right', are no more? Or that it will be possible to settle for the first patterned paper which suits the photos, and not spend another twenty minutes covering the floor with others, only to go back to the original choice? I'll keep you posted!

Mmm... where you are in the perfection versus imperfection debate? I'd love to hear ...

 

 

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On not being intimidated (mostly) ...

First, the design ...

"Those 12x12 pieces of paper can be so Intimidating", commented Amy , on Monday's post. Yep, and how. Well, those smaller pieces of digital paper which I printed off (see Monday's post this week below) weren't quite so fearsome, but I can't say I managed to use a lot of them:

 

By the time I got the white space in, there wasn't really much room left for patterned paper. Still, I did manage to stamp a tag and add two lots of ribbon/fibres, and that was as far from very simple as I could get myself to stray today. I am trying to push the boat out here beyond my comfort zone - truly!

Next, the journalling ...

You might remember my posting a little about wabi-sabi (17th June)?. It encourages a focus on the simple, the ordinary, the unpretentious. Experimenting quickly with a sepia tint to these photos (emailed by my lovely DS), catapulted me back to snapshots we have in old family albums. Have you any like this? Often sepia or black and white, square in shape, with a white border, they frequently show small children in chunky hand-knitted cardigans, pleated skirts or trousers just below the knee, sturdy footwear, playing on a windswept beach or clutching an ice-cream ... Simple, ordinary, unpretentious moments. No posing, zooming, agonising about depth of field, white balance or ISOs - just a quick click. Ordinary life.

Then came the realisation that there could actually be two stories here: the one illustrated in the photo and another, on a related topic, hidden in the journalling. I'm going to keep an eye out for these - this economy appeals! Here's how it turned out. (Journalling at the end of the post, in case it's not clear enough to read):

Oh, and just before you go ...

I came across this video-ette today. It's one minute and twenty-four seconds. And yes, it's very simple. But a great message for a scrapbook page, too. See you on Friday?

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Layout journalling: On your first cycling holiday, you discovered cats. Real, live, furry ones that would only just allow a brief stroke before moving off into the safety of the shadows. You pointed them out, calling ‘Meeow!’ excitedly at every sighting. And your Mummy and Daddy smiled.

When you returned to the city, Daddy bought himself a new toy iphone and lots of apps. (When he was little, your Dad just loved anything techie, and he hasn’t changed a bit.) Skyping with you all one day soon after, there you were, playing with the iphone. Your favourite app? The cat. Every time you said a word, the cartoon moggy would repeat it back to you, whether in German or English. How clever was that, both of you! You giggled with such pleasure. And this time, your Grandma and Granddad smiled.

A simple solution ...

What a relief it was to discover that "scrapbook album overwhelm" is shared by others! Thank-you for all your own experiences and ideas (see Comments, Wednesday, 23 June). I'm going to give some serious thought to amalgamating all the unfinished albums, Jackie and Sian, mourning them a little, adding a covering explanatory page, and laying them to rest together in one place ...

Scanning the shelf for them, the only album project I've ever completed caught my eye, and I lifted it out with curiosity:

Yep, from Ali Edward's class, way back in 2008. Why, I wondered, did it get finished, when others did not? I flicked through the pages. The photos don't seem to have suffered from not being encased in page protectors. I can touch the items I added; the plastic hospital wrist-band, the circular pad they forgot to take off my collar-bone before they sent me home. It felt real. Earthy. Unpretentious. Nicely wabi-sabi ... It was also something also to do with its sheer simplicity. I had decided on a design of a double-page spread for each day, with a block of nine photo/paper spaces on the right and a page of journalling (in different formats) on the left, plus pockets for extra bits and pieces...

 

I also remember loving putting it together. Yes, it may have been partly due to having time off work as I recovered from minor surgery, but I also remember feeling very unwell that week (picked up a tummy bug), so each day was not unalloyed delight. Just doing it was deeply satisfying, as was watching it build up. It flowed.

You'll know how I love 'simple'. However, a 'simple' layout - the end result - may not involve a simple process (how it is conceived and put together) and may not lead to a simple outcome (how and where it's stored). Please tell me I am not the only one who also has unfinished pages which have got 'stuck', and are awaiting inspiration but gathering dust! As I set off on a (metaphorical) journey, feeling the waves lapping against the hull and the lift of the tide as the sail begins to unfurl, I'm looking for both simple process and simple outcome. Boats don't have room for bulky craft spaces. Storage on board is limited. Each item needs to earn its keep and, preferably, serve more than one purpose.

So, after much consideration, here's my solution for the year ahead ..

• Albums: I'm going to use one album. Just one. No more albums for this, and albums for that. Everything will go in it: highdays, holidays, ordinary days. Events and moments. On-line classes and projects.
• Types of layouts: a mixture. There'll be printed-out digital, hybrid and traditional. They won't all follow the same design, but they will have simplicity as their guiding principle. They may well be minimal - I love minimal. It's like simple on speed.
• Size: I'm going to go with A4. It's our European size, and I'm willing to experiment with it. It gives the option for portrait or landscape, and two A4s together makes a good size for a double-page layout.
• Paper: Sometimes card, almost certainly white. And this is where the archival quality, Photo Rag Duo double-sided art paper comes in. You can print text and photos on it beautifully and the quality is superb - I've tried. No more having to print out photos separately and stick them down. And you can use both sides with no bleeding through. It comes in a range of weights, so it can be as heavy as Bazzill cardstock, or a lighter weight but equally opaque. Cost-wise, it's very competitive (I'll post a comparison for those who may be interested). And it's great for one's own artwork, too: I am partial to the odd bit of doodling, remember?
• Fastening: Bind-It-All to punch the holes for the spiral binding, and book-rings through some of the holes to hold the pages together temporarily until there are enough to bind with a metal spiral.
• Interactive: I love turning pages, opening flaps, peering in envelopes, peeping in pockets. I like to interact with my books. I love the hidden places, the surprises, the sense of mystery and exploration. Yep, I'm going to experiment, but still keeping it clean, simple/minimal and graphic.
• Page protectors: probably not. If a page looks as it needs something, I'll take a 12x12 page protector, trim it to A4 size or slightly smaller, give it the Bind-It-All treatment down one side, and it can sit between two pages. Or - like the old-fashioned albums and their tissue-paper interleaving - I might use a sheet of vellum.
• Cover: I'll make one.

So there you have it. Now that I've nailed my colours to the mast (gosh, these sea-faring metaphors just won't go away), I'll have to deliver! I'm hoping you'll surf or cruise past to see how it's going ... By the way, if you love books, and colour and illustrations, pop over to Julie's post (especially 23 June) at The Copy and Paste Project. Prepare to be utterly charmed!

Wabi-sabi moments ...

It's a few years since I first came across wabi-sabi, in this slim volume. And it's a little hard to describe. Linked originally with Japanese Zen, it's a way of looking at life, and a way of living. A philosophy and an aesthetic, at its core is simplicity, the acceptance of what is impermanent, incomplete, imperfect, ambiguous, unpretentious. Wabi-sabi nudges us gently towards the acceptance of the inevitable (including our own mortality), values the fleeting moment, with a sense of bittersweetness and yet an inner tranquillity. Beauty is to be found in unexpected places, in the simple, the humble, the earthy. I've begun to notice these moments a little more, and here is one of them below. You don't have to say a lot, with wabi-sabi. Things don't have to be spelt out in detail: a few words about the time and place, just enough to be a signpost to something that might itself be beyond words, or hovering just on the edge of the unspoken. And, of course, the design can be simple too ...

(Journalling: We really weren’t sure if we would be able to help them down through the trees, over the
rough and rocky ground to the edge of the lake. They came here one early autumn day at the start of
their retirement twenty years ago and remembered it with such joy, that we were determined to find the spot
again. And we did. As they gazed out across the water silently together, I caught Mum’s eye and she smiled.
But in there I also saw the sadness ... 23 MAY, 2010).

Thank-you for all your thoughts and comments this week - I've really valued hearing your own experiences of scrapbooking and paper loving! And my thinking cap in on (see Wednesday!). Whatever you are doing, I hope you find some tranquil and happy moments this weekend...

Where it actually began ...

[Don't panic, don't panic! There'll be no occasion for coffee-spilling or tea-splurting today - your keyboard is safe here. After yesterday's comments, I just can't take the responsibility ... ]

You may remember where it could have begun? Here's where it actually did...

Many moons and adventures later, across the seas and in a town far away, a bell clanged noisily as a shop door opened, and a conversation began. Seemingly mundane and of little consequence to those browsing nearby, it was of huge import in a Greater Scheme of Things.

- Hello, can I help you?
+ I’d like to put together an album for my daughter’s twenty-first birthday. Is there such a thing as an album with perhaps plastic pockets in, for holding other bits and pieces as well as photos?
- Ah, you want a scrapbook!
+ (Hesitant and uncertain) Well, I was looking for something a bit more substantial than grey sugar-paper.
- (Laughs). I think you’ll find things have moved on a bit! Would you like to come round here? Let me show you …  

And so it began. With another clang of the bell, she stepped out into a new world with a copy of Scrapbook Inspirations, a pack of coloured card, some random papers, and three of these...

... ... along with a not-much-used credit card whose sixteen-digit number she was to learn off by heart. Surprisingly quickly. That night, she sat down with a clutch of photos and a Pritt Stick (yes, I know - but she didn’t), and made her very first layout, though she had no idea it was called that at the time. She was so very pleased and proud of it; especially when she worked out how to download and recolour a free image of a shell. Her DH was mildly encouraging, but she could tell it wasn’t ever going to compete with The New Scientist he continued to wave slightly impatiently in one hand. And here it is.  

What would she say about it now? And her scrapbooking style from then? Well, here’s what I think she’d say:

Keep …

• The clean, more graphic look.
• Photos, plural.
• Mixing ages and occasions to illustrate a theme.
• The journalling (but add more).

Ditch ...

• The uneven spacing between the photos.
• Sticking photos on a background layer of flimsy coloured paper: use card.
• Spending time on finding just the right additional element/decoration: keep it simple.
• The funny photo corners top left and right: you don’t have to fill all the space.
• The sand-paper. Or at least, if you're using it, for goodness' sake make sure it lines up on the page-join!
  

Is she going to re-do it? I hope not – she has plenty of other things to be doing. Is she tempted? Without a doubt, because there’s a little bit of her likes to have things ‘just right’ (whatever that is). But another part of her is now firmly in what she calls ‘wabi-sabi-scrapbooking’ mode, so re-doing old layouts isn’t an option.(Wabi-sabi? Ah, well that’s another story, for another day …).

So, do tell, please. I'd love to know, in a kind of gentle, not-too-intrusive fashion: in conversation with your early-scrapper-self, what would your own Keep and Ditch be?

(PS Typepad and I are are trying to make threaded replies from me possible. There's a bug-type glitch - I am not ignoring you!).