25 October 2011

boomerang

Photo

I was sitting at a cafe table along a walkway to a local children's craft market one Saturday morning when someone wandered past and said "Is this yours?" They were holding up a hairclip and knowing that the owlets were not wearing clips that day, I answered no... but then, YES! I made that clip! That well worn, washed and scrunched hairclip. I made that and someone's owlet wore it lots. There was the evidence in my hand... It's a lovely thing, making things by hand and seeing them wander past you from time to time, as happens on occasion in this small town. If I had some more time, I might like to do more of it. Making stuff. One day.

Have you ever had anything you've made float back into your life in a surprising way?

Is this your owlet's hairclip? If it is, I'd be happy to return it... and make them a fresh one :) xx


6 comments:

  1. Nothing I made but something my Mum did. When I was little she used to make all sorts of craftiness, amongst them were "Peg Doll Kits". They contained a wooden clothes peg (with their face and hair painted on them by my Dad) and all the bits you would need to make a dress and petticoat for it.

    I used to always want one but they were always for sale. I'm sure Mum would have given me one but for some reason I never asked.

    One birthday, not knowing they were made by my parents, a friend gave me one! I was chuffed!

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  2. Many moons and a couple of children ago I owned a cloth nappy business, back when the modern cloth industry was still in its infancy here.

    I did a road trip to Canberra with my sister at one point, and we were at a small shopping strip when a woman walked by with a babe in arms wearing one of my nappy covers.

    It was such an amazing moment for me. When you send things out into the world sometimes it feels like they stop existing, but there was this woman no doubt wondering why I was grinning at her like a mad thing :)

    Even now 3 or 4 years since selling the business I'll very occasionally be asked if that was MY business, if my big boy was the baby that inspired it. It's a great feeling :)

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  3. That is really incredible! I can't imagine the mistery behind this coincidence. :)

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  4. Not something I made but something I found in the Hobart Tip Shop - a gorgeous hand knitted vest in a very distinctive colourway. My son wore it regularly and loved it. One day he and I were in the supermarket and we noticed two older children looking at us and pointing, they vanished round the corner and came back with their mother. She came over and asked where I got the vest from, I told her and added that it came with a matching pullover. I also said how much my son loved it. She burst into tears and told me that she had knitted it for her first child many years ago and that she put a kiss into every stitch. She was so delighted to see it again and couldn't tell me how they'd come to part with it. I already loved the vest because it made my son so happy, this just made it even more special.

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  5. I soo soo love this story. I love it to bits, it's such a special and beautiful thing to have happened to you.
    I have a similar story , that one day a lady rang up and told me that her 7 year old had one of my bears, which had been given to her at birth. "Starlight" - who I had named Pickle and had some where along the lines had a sex change :) was in need of attention, his pads had worn away and her little girl was very distressed that Starlight might be in pain.
    The lady asked me if Jess the Bear Maker was also Dr Jess and would be willing to do a little bit surgery on Starlight, which of course I was. Starlight arrvied, so loved, ear nibbled. it was the most beautiful and rewarding sight to me, Starlight had become so much more beautiful from being loved. I fixed her up straight away, and when the Lady and the girl came to pick her up they hugged me and each gave me a present, a book from the lady and a card drawn by the little girl of me, Starlight and her.
    It was one of the most special experiences as a bear maker for me, that right there is the reason I do this.
    to make something that will be loved and treasured that much by at least one person makes it all worth it xo

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  6. Um... WOW! I hope you find the owner, you may even find a new friend. ;)

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