By Jennifer Ackerman-Haywood
In good times and bad, I make stuff.
CraftSanity isn’t just the name of my business, it has been my strategy for staying sane while celebrating the high points and surviving the most challenging things life dishes out. And when the world seems like it’s falling apart, I’m especially productive because I refuse to succumb to nonsense or sit idle in a pool of despair.
Since November, I’ve lost a lot of sleep worrying about troubling nonsense I can’t control. But I also bought a lot of power tools, sanded many boards, drilled countless holes, pounded in a buckets of pegs, and wove piles of test samples – all while feeling driven to do better, be better and make a new and better collection of CraftSanity™ weaving looms.
These new looms are part of what I’m calling the CraftSanity™ Kindred Loom Collection because I teamed up with my friend Jon to make them. These are the dream looms I’ve been wanting to make for years and I’m finally ready to put them out in the wild where I hope they will land in the hands of kindred spirits who will use them to make items for their homes, for friends and loved ones and, hopefully, some total strangers, too. Because when times get tough and you’re not sure what to do next, it’s time to hunker down, play to your strengths and make stuff. Handmade love makes a big difference, folks. It can renew your creative spirit while simultaneously allowing you to create something tangible to offer as a gift or show of support to someone else who might need a little comfort in their life. As I say at the end of every podcast, CraftSanity, my friends. It works for me. It really does.
I’ll be sharing more stories about the new loom collection in the coming weeks. And I’ll be vending and demonstrating how they work at the at Wine & Wool Festival at Sandhill Crane Vineyards in Jackson on Saturday, July 29 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and the Michigan Fiber Festival at the Allegan County Fairgrounds August 19 & 20. You can check the looms out in my Etsy shop, too.
P.S. If you don’t know how to weave and want to learn, get in touch. I’m going to be teaching workshops in West Michigan this summer and I’m willing to travel.
5 comments
Amazing versatility with your range! I was given a very old floor loom, I think it’s a heddle loom by looking at the pieces. Yes, it’s in pieces. That’s how it was given to me. I have yet to work out how to put it together let alone use it! Am a bit concerned the ‘strings’ etc are so old that when I finally work out how to put it together they will disintegrate in my hands, lol! I know I will have to get a new reed as old one looks like rust might’ve set in, but will wait in case it never goes together and I just use the pieces to make one from scratch of my own design that works with my way of doing. We shall see.
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