A long time ago, when a dear family friend died, I poured my soul into my first wreath. Our friend, who had been a farmer and a forester, had spent much of his life in the deep forests of northern Sweden. The wreath made in his memory was made with juniper and other evergreens, berries, fungi, mosses and lichen. It was wonderfully fragrant – it smelled like the forest floor! I did the same later when my grandmother died. It was summertime, so I gathered all the flowers she had loved, and poured my sorrow into creating a wreath that would celebrate her life. After that, many years went by without me making any wreaths at all. Then, a little while ago, around the Holidays, I started making wreaths, this time with the intention of giving away as gifts. I unexpectedly happened upon these awfully nifty feather butterflies, and immediately decided to use them to make a wreath for my mother who happens to love those colorful, carefree creatures. As I was working, I remembered how much I enjoyed making them. In addition, the new wreaths became an outlet for an avalanche of pent up creative energy, and I ended up making more wreaths than I knew what to do with. Someone helpfully pointed out that “wreath season is pretty much over”, but I beg to differ. I think any season could be a good season for some kind of wreath, be it humble, racy, elegant, humorous or plain ol’ beautiful!
Long story short – my husband suggested I start selling them. Soon after, a creative friend tipped me off about Etsy – a website where you can open a “store” to sell your handiwork. For now, I’m using mostly purchased, often artificial merchandise to make the wreaths, but come summer and fall, I will be on high alert for beautiful branches, reeds, cones, seed pods and other good candidates for drying. I did take a few hikes around our local green spaces to try to find suitable plant material from the past growing season, but after a few months of rain, snow and ravaging winds, there wasn’t a whole lot left in decent shape. I’m resigned to the fact that I missed the proverbial boat this time around, and will have to wait until next year to collect the goodies. Oh well, no biggie – the idea is not to switch careers, but this is indeed a very enjoyable diversion. Restful and meditative, in fact. Does it count as art therapy? Probably… Feel free to take a look at:
http://www.etsy.com/people/VerveParlor
