This year I committed again to take part in the 100 day journey,  facilitated by my friend and artist Kate Hartmann who runs a little local gallery on the Kāpiti Coast. I have planned to weave 100 structures from harakeke (New Zealand flax), ideally trying to keep them small size. The idea is to spend from a couple of minutes up to a couple of hours each day to create them, depending on time constraints, ideas and flow. The purpose of the journey is to think about different ways to weave, fold, plait and manipulate harakeke with the goal to  improve and expand my techniques of rararanga (weaving).

Today is day 56 and I would like to share some of my creations and observations with you.

First of all, even if I had to stop now – it would have been absolutely worth it! I have been enjoying most days. What really works is to have chosen a creative task that I can adjust to time I have available that day; some of those little sculptures didn’t take more than 10 minutes to make. Some days have been hard, running out of time or ideas, or not having my head in the right space. The work tells…

What I like about this journey is that I am getting results that I could later translate into a bigger series of work, developing my own techniques using harakeke.

Also, I learnt that weaving, especially if it doesn’t follow traditional patterns is a ongoing occupation of solving problems and finding creative ways to achieve the wanted look. By the way some of those ‘unwanted’ looks are surprisingly successful.

What I realized the most is my growths of confidence as a weaver – which is greatest reward I could have wished for.