Completed: #9. attempt a wood carving.

Not bad, as they say, for a first try.

Grandpa was a wood carver, so it must be in my genes.




[Original goal list posted here.]

update: #9. attempt a wood carving

There is an eagle head in this branch. It wants out. 

This is more interesting than writing report cards.

[Original goal list posted here.]

Progress: #30. make an updated web site for my art

I am going to revise this goal slightly. My latest art, of late, is sustainable crafting from my old Christmas tree. This has spawned my interest in creating a new small business. 

Here's a brief description:

"Operating on an indigenous philosophy of conservation and sustainability, Treecycle Toronto is an independent home business that turns previously-loved Christmas Trees and fallen branches into a variety of housewares, arts, crafts, jewelry, and cosmetics.

We sell both pre-made products, and fill custom orders. We provide a variety of shipping options, include local drop off (subject to fee) and local pick-up (at Runnymede Station).

Our customers can also contribute to conservation efforts through a Christmas tree drop-off. Email treecycletoronto@gmail.com for more details."

I have purchased a domain name to craft a website for this business, which will require learning a new software - and, also, perhaps purchasing a new computer. This one has been steadily dying for years now. (It's a Macbook and I've had it since 2008. Proud.)

Anyway. 

In the meantime, I've been working hard on a Facebook page, and an Etsy site. (Check them out! Join! Invite others! Official website to be unveiled sometime in the near future.)

[Original goal list posted here.]

Update: #3. buy a real Christmas tree

One of the best things about these goal lists is that they always compel me to develop these sideline hobbies that I wouldn't otherwise encounter. I used to think of these as distractions from the goals at hand - but now, well, it's been six-and-a-half years of goals. I'm older and I embrace these sideline hobbies. 

I'm more logical than I am spiritual - but, as Douglas Coupland argues in Life After God, we are all creatures with deep-rooted spiritual impulses. If I get sidetracked, but my spirit is nourished in the process, my self must require something from that supposed "distraction". 

My dad is quick to call these "meant-to-bes". I used to think that this required some suspension of free will - an admission to predetermination - but I don't, any longer, think that it does. Our lives could take various many paths. Sometimes one ends and, in awhile, another opens. Another could have opened, but we have taken this one. We can will another one to open, or we can choose to follow whatever has called us down this beaten path. I am lead by my (metaphorical) heart.

Here are some opportunities my Fraser fir has opened for me:

I crafted new ornaments and pendants. This is what I have been arriving home to do. It's simple and therapeutic and, of late, more compelling than my days. They are created only of gel pen, pencil crayon, and a Mod Podge sealant. 

I have so many more ideas, still.

I made a sugar scrub of fir and clementine-infused coconut oil.

 (1 cup sugar : 1/2 cup oil )

Oh, I have so many more ideas still.




[Original goal list posted here.]

Progress: Métis Beaded Bracelet - 4/5: #24. Make 5 Different First Nations Crafts

Métis beadwork is a combination of traditional First Nations methods, with iconography taken from European textiles. As such, originally we were known as the "flower beadwork people", because this image was not seen in beading before.

Today, I decided to bead and craft a bracelet. With the exception of the bracelet's underside, all material is from my friend Megan, who once lived and worked in the Yukon for some time. 

I have never before attempted freehand beading - though I am the direct descendent of an embroidery-pro mother, and also spent many hours on end over a loom as a child. I'd fashion my own patterns for bracelets and get lost in them all day. It was more of a math, though, that.

Today, though, I felt like I was tapping into that same capacity for attention that exists solely between me and an art. This took all day. I didn't bother to think about going back to work tomorrow after a long winter vacation. I didn't bother to be anxious or worry, and mark or sleep instead.

Crafting is meditative. I also think it's something for which I have a bit of natural skill - be it genetics, or cultivation, or interest.

I'm really happy with this one - not the least of all reasons being that I finally have a bracelet to properly fit the proportions of my miniscule wrist.

 

I plan to make my own regalia vest within the next couple years. It's good to know that the beading won't be too much of a problem. I'm sure further attempts will yield even more learned results, too.

[Original goal list posted here.]

Update: #3. buy a real Christmas tree

On December 30, 2015 at 11:00pm, I wrote to Facebook:

Here's a facet of native philosophy by which I try very hard to abide, though it may sound strange to you: See that fire and those branches and that one, long trunk? Those were my Christmas tree. It was a living being that sacrificed its life to be in my living room. I have done my best to honour that life. These branches may end up jewelry or coasters or ornaments or kindling, but they will live out that life and not be wasted. Why throw a plant out with the trash?

Today, I saw to it that I got started on making this happen.

Firstly, I visited my parents out in Pickering, dragging along my tree trunk.

My Dad and I (okay, mostly my Dad - but I helped) sawed that baby into little pieces and drilled some of them for various purposes. Here's a photo montage in Dad's workshop:

The first chunk here was drilled into a candle holder (see photos below), the second set here were drilled to be hand-decorated ornaments and jewelry, the third set will be rustic coasters, and the fourth little set will be for bolo ties, necklaces, or medicine wheels that require no drilling.

Next, I went home to Toronto and brewed up some Fraser fir-based winter potpourri in the oven. It's still baking on low heat and it smells heavenly in here.

For the last of today's creations, I'm attempting to infuse some oils to use for sugar scrubs. One is olive oil / Fraser fir / lemon and the other is coconut oil / Fraser fir / clementine. Both are accented with cloves. I'm eager to see how it goes.

Wish I could also brew some tea with the needles, but Christmas trees are probably sprayed with chemicals, yeah?

[Original goal list posted here.]

Progress: 5/30 - #18. read 30 texts that will aid in my teaching

This comic anthology, published by Toronto's Alternate Comics History Inc. was a Christmas gift from Geoff. It was brought to life by a Kickstarter project. I read it in entirety today, and I  am not surprised that it won The School Library Journal's Best Young Adult Book of 2015.

Rewriting mythological concepts from tribes all over North America into modern and futuristic contexts, it is culturally, artistically, and thematically varied. Not spanning more than about 10 pages each, at maximum, this 175-page anthology contains a multitude of stories.

They are all wonderful, but "Ayanisach", by Cree author Todd Houseman and Toronto illustrator Ben Shannon, is easily my favourite. Focusing on oral storytelling, family tradition, and industrial destruction of a planet through a metaphorical futuristic colonization, it highlights changes in civilization that occur through war and violence, but the lasting traditions of oral storytelling. The title, in Cree, means "he who tells stories".  

I intend to slot this local and cultural gem onto my independent study list for the grade 10 multicultural unit.

[Original goal list posted here.]