A Golden Compass, Sunshine and a little Magic

The joy of creating takes you into a world of mystic wonder where you have a chance to tell a story. The mind chatter dissipates as you cut leather and find the perfect materials to pair with it to create a unique special something for those you love. My biggest inspiration when creating always comes from those whimsical characters in my life, those real-life people that ooze magic and vibrancy into the world. This project I decided to create for a cousin of mine. Now she is no ordinary human. We would go to festivals with a whole tribe of our family, mostly sisters, and spend our time in giant circus tents dancing in top hats and stripy pants until the sun began to poke through the gum trees. This one particularly sparkly night I saw her dancing in patchwork overalls and her very special top hat covered in animal fur and feathers. She danced with a cheeky grin and a belly full of laughter. In this moment she became a forest wizard, perhaps related to Radagast, dancing completely in her joy, allowing the world to witness her playful expression. One could surmise that I am rather inspired by her trickster personality, a family trait we seem to share. When looking for her birthday present, I found a beautiful golden compass, nestled in one of those huge glass cabinets full of trinkets and misfit items. ‘Yes!’ I thought, a perfect gift for a wizard, something to guide her through adventurous dreams.

At the time I was journeying with another sister, an epic creator of jewelry, leather pouches and divine trinkets. She has built a business of these creations, using recycled materials, and making magic from leftover and cast-aside objects, always seeing the discarded beauty. She found herself living on the streets at the age of 18, using leather from the backs of couches on the side of the road, and crystals from op shops to turn dust into gold. Deeply connected to each material, she tells the tale of finding generosity in the darkest of life’s moments. Her heart is one of the biggest I have experienced; she teaches her craft passionately and charges far less than her creations are worth. Kindly, she offered to guide me as I decided to design a leather pouch to partner the golden compass.

We spent the crafternoon overlooking a valley of forest and sunshine. We began by choosing materials from intention and visualizing our creations. My imagination floated back to those circus dance nights and to my cousins very special top hat covered in fur. The first material I chose was rabbit fur, gifted by a friend who respectfully skinned this animal after it had been killed on the road. Each part of the animal was used and blessed. Sitting in the sunshine handling this skin, I closed my eyes to give my thanks to the animal and to choose a section of the fur to use. I chose a small section of the fur with a long shape. Using scissors, I meticulously cut this section and laid the fur on the ground. Next, I needed to choose the leather, our collection had been gathered from the side of the road, friends’ old clothes and op shop adventures. I chose a light-colored leather, soft to the touch, relatively thin to enable me to sew through, and the color matched the rabbit fur. I chose a wooden bead to be the button, representing the earth element and my cousin’s natural connection to the wild places.

Sitting with a fellow artist, my dear sister, I allowed myself to be gently guided through the creation process and watch as my imagination came to life. Using scissors, I cut the leather to a snug fit around the golden compass. I used a leather hole-puncher to create small holes up each side of the pouch. Choosing blue and brown thread, I sewed the pouch together through the holes, creating a crisscross pattern. Allowing my breath to transport me through the process, through the frustrations of impatience and back into presence. I continued to sew and attach the rabbit fur to the leather which gave me this sensation of complete rightness. How divine they looked together and how satisfying their colors were together. Feeling the materials fit together, and meld into a new object is something special. It is almost like feeing a romance between the materials, as they find the right place they fit together in complete beauty. Each material tells a story of intention, they each hold a memory and mean something different to each person. And in that moment of union, they shine brightly as a creation made for a specific personality, a special person. The final component was attaching the wooden button and leather loophole. Finally, the pouch was ready for its counterpart, the Golden Compass, to snuggle into its new home. That moment of finishing this piece filled me with complete happiness. There is nothing more magic that witnessing something create through you. A pouch, a painting, a dance, all flow through as if they are their own entity wanting to come through into the world and tell a tale. Allowing that process is one of the most beautiful gifts of being human.

Every part of me was in deep joy from beginning to end. From tinkering with raw materials and allowing my imagination to be transport through memories of circus tents to create something completely unique. To witnessing materials, transform into something that tells a story…the story of how someone’s inner character inspired me to see the magic in life.