Just as I wrote this post about making something, putting a lot of time and effort into it, then suddenly losing it all and having to remake it, after I finished writing it, I got disconnected from wifi and lost the whole thing I just wrote…so, on the newfound vibe of remaking from the beginning feeling cathartic, I will attempt this again. As the continuation of my interview with Koniaków lacemakers, as I have promised to them and myself, as a plan to get to know them a bit better through not just talking to them but also attempting to learn the insanely difficult skill which is crocheting with a 0,6mm tiny hook and using a very thin crochet yarn, the only thing more complicated being crocheting with surgical threads, my filmmaker mum and I set on a 6h drive to the place near Poland/Czechia border. Mum took all her fab and small filming gear to shoot some additional scenes of the surrounding landscape for the documentary, which I would like to accompany the interview.
I felt humbled to meet the author of the design for the 5 metre diameter World Guiness record lace and emotional to tell her how affected I was by her story of her idea, which came from looking at a local mountain Ochodzita, as the sun was rising behind it, and being inspired to create a pattern, as well as being inspired by the dhapes of the local nature, leaves and flowers in particular. I also asked her, how it was possible that after all these years, they still make and don’t feel like stopping, what is it that keeps them going? She replied: ” What do you mean? How can we not make it? We make it so that we don’t go insane! This one lady in a small village, she lost her husband, her kids are grown up and left home, what else is she going to do? We keep the hands and heads busy this way” Simple. For them, caring is the point of life. When there’s no one to care for, that’s when you make art. Feminist in me completely disagrees. But part of me longs for life to be this simple.
It was an absolutely incredible experience to meet lacemakers from 11 years old until 93 years old, to see the insane skills, the speed at which they make, to try and not get lost in the instructions and not break my fingers in the process…after 3h each day for 3 days I was exhausted but managed to make a little bracelet consisting of 4 small 2,5diameter flowers with one very characteristic 3D flower attached in the middle.
I gave the flower to my daughter to wear as a choker, she loved it.
She wore it for about 30mins and then she lost it at the beach.
I had to remake the entire thing from scraps of thread, from the very beginning. It took me 4 days a couple of hours each day but I did remake it entirely. At first I was really upset and didn’t think I was going to be able to make it. But somewhere in the process I found peace, it was almost cathartic, realising that something you’ve worked on so hard could dissapear so quickly and that you would just have to remake it.
It was also a really nice bonding time with my mum, we rarely do things like these as there’s never time for this really. We usually bond when working together on projects, I think I appreciate it more now that I’m older and not sure how many projects together we have left to do.