Wow! So I've tried to write this post many times. And it's hard. It's hard because it was just so special but rambling on and on about how special it was can make a person seem gushy and inauthentic. But as my Dad reminded me yesterday on the phone when he called me to tell me to "post already", I don't need to say that much as the photos will speak for themselves.
We set out to do something really different with Soul Craft. We wanted to create a space where we could come together and share, share our love of craft and share a bit about ourselves. We wanted to talk about how hand making improves our wellbeing, how it sustains us. And we wanted to create a space that facilitated connection with others - where saying hi to someone you vaguely recognised from online was welcomed.
"Clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose!" is what Coach Taylor gets his players to repeat before they go out on the field in Friday Night Lights. Now you might think that Texas high-school football and Soul Craft have little in common..... except that "clear eyes, full hearts" is exactly what happened.
Everyone arrived with such joyful, invested, interested, open energy that we couldn't help but have a good weekend. Conversations were had, and because the hearts were open and our passion was shared, the conversations were of a depth that doesn't normally happen so quickly among groups of strangers.
Lovely women you blew my mind with what you brought with you - your joy, your kindness, your enthusiasm, your stories. It showed me that it is possible to create spaces that are different - spaces that fill us up, sustain us and connect us.
So thank you! Thank you for coming. Thank you for sharing. Thank you for showing up in such a beautiful whole hearted way.
Felicia x
So I wrote last week a post asking “Is my making fast fashion?”. And then I did a video on Instagram discussing similar topics in a slightly different way. And as always, you lovely humans have helped me clarify some of my thinking with your thoughtful, clever commentary.
And while I think there is so much more to discuss, here are four key possibly-more-meta ideas that have come up for me out of those conversations.
In using the quote last week that suggested that there was no single answer, and suggesting that this was freeing, I really did mean that we should sit in the grey. Not that the lack of “an” answer to this question should mean we get to ignore the question but rather that the lack of “an” answer means that we need to keep asking bigger more beautiful questions. And keep asking them.
Is my making fast fashion?
Am I living my values or merely thinking them?
And how can I make those two things a little more aligned in this moment?
These are my big beautiful questions.
Yours might be different.
And importantly this leads to point 2.