My Creative History - part 2

Hello again! Did you miss me?

I'm here again to continue the story telling of

My Creative History.

You can check the first part here.

So, let's begin, shall we?

By the time I was finishing Junior High and was starting High School “I’ve decided” that I wasn’t any good at neither drawing nor painting so I’ve put it aside for a while. And I say “I’ve decided” because that was exactly what I did! Only by seeing other artists’ work or even by seeing some of my classmates’ I’ve decided that I wasn’t THAT good after all and it was pointless trying. Zero self-esteem you say? Maybe… It must have been my teen age. Ok, I’ve put down painting… but I HAD to do something else! So, I’ve started experimenting with ANY material that was catching my attention. I have discovered the Gothic alphabet and I was practicing by writing all the names of my friends like that. Then I’ve started writing them down on small round rocks that I was collecting from the beach. I would write on them with permanent pen and then add transparent nail polish. (I had no idea about varnish or anything like it at the time). I’ve also would draw their zodiac sign on small rocks. During that period every one of my friends had a set of these two.

Also, as every teen-aged girl, I was making all kinds of bracelets with small beads and seashells. I really liked using natural materials; I’ve also made many collages with found “treasures” from the beach or just images from magazines.

In my early twenties my NEED to be creative had grown even more. I was studying in Athens, the capital of Greece, so I was near “the source”, I could find anything I needed to make ANYTHING I could think of. So, that’s how has started my love of making jewelry. Well, nothing fancy, just some wire, plastic thread and beads. I had plenty of free time and a lot of imagination. I would lock up myself for HOURS inside my room and I’d make stuff like crazy. It has been a really relaxing process for me.

Every one would say I was a little bit crazy, trying to catch in all these small beads, but I was finding this process to be like a therapy… focusing on this AND ONLY THIS, not having to think of anything else. During that time I’ve thought many times about the possibility of being able to sell my creations but I didn’t have the courage or the knowledge to do that. The only thing that I would do was making gifts for my friends. Painting, gluing, cutting et.c.

I had taken the Handmade Pledge before anyone had even thought about it! Hahahahaha The sad thing is that I haven’t taken pictures of many (or should I say ALL?) of my creations.

While studying I’ve also took my first lessons on book binding. After all it was part of my major. I’ve studied Technology of Graphic Arts, so many of our classes involved creativity, such as screen printing (on paper, fabric, glass, e.t.c.), book binding, stamp carving, traditional typography, offset printing e.t.c. I really loved them! I’ve learned so many things, even thought I haven’t used any of these skills for years now.

(to be continued)

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