Mastery

 

Mastery isn't about being 'perfect' but understanding your tools and materials - how far you can push them beyond their limits in order to get what you want in the end.

But that's the thing - what is it you want, in the end?

Which is why I call myself a Form Follows Function weaver.

I begin with where I want to end up, then work backwards, checking each choice of materials, design, colour, etc.  Not once but multiple times.

Since I am supposed to be giving a talk next month about being a professional/production weaver, I have been thinking a lot.  Thinking about how I have chosen to live my life.  All the myriad decisions that I have had to make.  All the 'extra' knowledge I had to learn in addition to learning how to master my craft.

Being a business.  How to promote myself (still the hardest thing I do).  Setting up tax accounts to collect and remit the provincial then federal sales taxes.  Balancing debt vs income.  Setting up production schedules based somewhere in reality - just how many yards can I actually weave in a day?  Then how long will it take to do the wet finishing.  The dry finishing.  The tagging/pricing.  Et bloody cetera.

I am not tired of weaving, as such.  I got very tired of dealing with the minutiae of what needed to happen with all the stuff associated with being a business.

And for me it was simple.  I started as a sole proprietor and ended as one.  I had to make sure I had insurance to protect myself from any frivolous suits, theft, loss through fire/water.  Insurance became horribly expensive after 9/11 and I had to up my liability insurance from 1 million to 2 million dollars.  Just in case someone came into my booth, tripped over something, then sued me for injury.

I had to carry extra insurance on the van because I transported inventory - around $40K for the last few years - plus all the booth apparatus - another couple thousand dollars, and that low only because Doug built the last set of shelving we used.

Learning the ins and outs of creating textiles was the fun bit.  Learning how physics within woven structures worked, the mechanics of the loom were interesting.  The rest?  Not so much, but necessary.

And that is pretty much the story of life, isn't it?  We find the fun stuff, then do the necessary stuff in order to be able to do the fun stuff.

How that looks is different for every person.  Some people go get a paying job so they can do their hobby without all of those considerations.  I chose to make weaving  my career and figure out a way to have that bring the money in so I could keep weaving.

My retirement (closing down my business) came at the perfect time.  I got rid of the annex at the end of February.  Closed my business and tax accounts as of Dec. 31, 2019.  Shut down my business banking.  Got rid of as much of the administrivia of being in business as I could.

This year, the year of the pandemic, turned into a perfect 'retreat from the world and just weave' time.  I struggled with the lack of social in real life meetings, found a way to make one happen by offering my carport for the summer months.

As the summer was winding down (it was a rather grey, dreary, wet and depressing summer, tbh) I flailed around looking for something to look forward to - because the out doors meetings were going to stop very soon.  They stopped the first week of October because it turned cold very quickly this year.

And as I flailed I saw the rise in Zoom offerings, and figured why not?  Why couldn't our guild also have Zoom offerings?  

We now have a solid 10 seminars lined up.  The website is being updated with the list of presenters.  It still needs some editing but it will be available within a few days.  Guild members get first crack at registering.  BUT!  We have a provision for 'associate' members - people who live too far away to attend guild meetings but still want the option of maybe taking a workshop, getting the newsletter.  We made the decision to accept anyone who wants to be an associate, no matter where they are located.

Because with the internet, and Zoom seminars?  A person does not have to attend in real life - they can log in from where ever they are.

So if you take a look at the seminar list, and you want to participate?  You can register as a non-guild member for $15 Cdn.  OR, if you think you would like to attend more you can sign up as a guild member for $25 Cdn (5% tax may be charged - I'm not the treasurer and she is dealing with that) and you'll get the member price and get the chance to register before non-guild members.

And now I need to spend some time mastering Zoom.  Because I'm doing one presentation in November, and might be doing a longer 'mini workshop' in the new year.  And I really need to know how Zoom works for that one.

Stay safe.  Stay well.  Stay covid aware.