How I started
It was February, 2018 when our apartment walls were still empty and needed something to cozy up the living space. Typically I would have all my resin paintings lined up in a cluster (my hands were into resin once upon a time) to fill in the space, but this time I was after a piece of fibrous art. This would do the trick.. right?
I was vibing a boho, bali feel. Perhaps it was because the last place my fiancé and I visited together was Bali in 2017. I looked for inspiration through the World Wide Web and found so many beautiful fibre wall hangings including weaving, tapestry and macramé. I was inspired immediately.
If anyone knows me, I’m that person who looks at hand crafty art works and says ‘I can make that.’ By all means, I don’t intend to disrespect all the fabulous artists out there. I’m a creative at heart though and through and I love a good challenge. I also thrive on people’s reactions when I show them a finished artwork.
So I decided I wanted to learn how to macramé (məˈkrɑːmi,məˈkrɑːmeɪ). A technique that involves several knots to create a pattern used by Arabic weavers in the 13th Century. I jumped on all the videos I could find and tutorials online. The more I watched the more I was driven. I wanted to start ASAP but all I had in my craft box was a reel of white cotton string for sewing. Not thick enough for a macrame unfortunately! Off we went to bunnings to find rope - any rope at that stage. I found bundles of cotton rope that were 6mm in thickness and 15m long. This was not long enough because I knew in my head I wanted to create something large - something big enough to create a feature in my living room. So I bought a lot! We had some fallen branches lying around our place so I stripped them and treated it.
One knot at a time, mind you there a few occasions where I wasn’t happy with the pattern so I unravelled too many knots and started all over again. Slowly my brain was telling me I enjoyed the repetitiveness of this activity. It was calming and therapeutic. I became addicted.
A friend had seen the photo of my macrame piece that I was going to hang on my wall and bought it off me. I was so happy because it gave me a good excuse to make many more. And that’s when HANmademacame was born!
