Stack, stack, stacks! What fun, no need for difficult creation, just stacking, with or without cement, glue, or sand. I keep at it, no need to come up with ideas, I can start right away. I don't even have to keep it, because a stack can always be taken apart again. What do I like to stack? Well, stones, for example, the old roof tiles from the ridge of our renewed roof. They turned out to be huge half-cylinders in the color of red brick, broken into shards, laying there in the garden one fine day. I found them so beautiful that I started stacking them, maybe as an eco-hotel for various garden creatures, and it became an interesting stack artwork. Others working in the garden didn't see it as art and moved the stacks or added more stones on top.

That was a bit annoying, but no big deal, do it all over again and do stack with taste. But what exactly is "with taste"? Well, simply put: that it stays stable, preferably balanced, or that the outer form shows a nice pattern, or that the colors match nicely... Or perhaps that it's surprising when you walk around it, all considerations that may play out in my head, half consciously, half unconsciously.
I also love spinning, and weaving, but especially spinning. When I was young, around fifteen, I learned to spin wool on a spinning wheel. I learned how a thread can be spun from fibers. You pull the fibers apart and they simultaneously interlock. As you slowly pull and twist, a strong fiber is created that you can't pull apart anymore, a clever technique. I loved refining the spinning technique, I got the hang of it and with the best parts of a wool fleece, mainly the wool that grew on the sheep's back, I could spin beautiful thin wool threads. I also learned how to make the thread even stronger by playing, that's when you twist together several right-spinning spun threads counterclockwise.

Much later, in my forties, I got a dog and sometimes I got bored during walks and started weaving wreaths from branches. I didn't know what to do with them so at Christmas time one year, I made very artistic Christmas wreaths and they were sold at a small art market. The spinning technique came in handy when making wreaths because a branch that you want to bend around does so more easily if you also twist the branch around its axis a little. The movement is now so ingrained in my system that I do it automatically. The other day I was playing with my granddaughter. We both had a branch in our hands and without thinking about it, I had already twisted the branches together, a practical joke you can only do with a child or my little girl, it was probably a surprise that grandma is so handy with branches.
In recent days, I've had a new obsession with spinning again. I've saved a lot of old jeans to experiment with. Since they were taking space in the studio (quite a lot) I had to make up my mind: " What on earth am I going to do with them???? " You guessed it: spinning, stacking, and weaving!

For example, as an experiment, I twisted together two colors of jeans, blue and black, after coating them with wallpaper glue beforehand. Well, that's become an incredibly strong cable, stronger than expected. Because the jeans were of inferior quality, they weren't solid when new. I also think that expensive jeans are made of longer fibers and cheaper ones of shorter fibers. At first glance, there seems to be no difference, but ultimately, when you wear them and the fabric turns out to tear so easily, then you know why the expensive jeans are worth the money. The tensile strength is simply much better.
Sometimes I amaze myself, I have such an unstoppable urge to stack or spin. It's a game, I think to myself, it shouldn't become an obsession. Besides, often when I've mastered something, I quickly stop doing it altogether. This shows that play and learning are essential to what I do. The fun thing about what I'm doing in the studio lately is that I can always start with curiosity about something new, a new experiment that I haven't even thought of yet.

gewoon lekker exploreren, sta het jezelf toe, gun jezelf de pret, in plaats van jezelf te bekritiseren dat je iets niet afmaakt bijvoorbeeld! 💃🐎😘
echt heel leuk om te lezen
"Besides, often when I've mastered something, I quickly stop doing it altogether. This shows that play and learning are essential to what I do."
zo had ik er nog niet over nagedacht. ik denk dat dat voor mij ook geldt
nu heb ik ook zin om iets te stacken of te draaien
ook grappig met de dakpannen in de tuin
"Others working in the garden didn't see it as art and moved the stacks or added more stones on top."
ook grappig van karel met de twist broek
allemaal heel leuk om te lezen! ik stuur hem door naar hugo
liefs xx