The little things

As one gets older, different activities from different times of one's life seem to merge together.

I always like making things, and discovering how to make things.  When I was small, I hacked some sisal plants and spent the next few hours hitting it with a rock. I might have been bored, or perhaps I was trying out the science of extracting fibers from the thick leaves. I don't know, I was only seven. And my parents let me play with knives but I managed to not cut myself too severely, so I grew up to be a physically complete adult. 

When I got my first camera, I enjoyed taking landscape photos, but what began to intrigue me more were the little things. First flowers- not the roses- the tiny ones- the ones we walk over or just pass by because we can't see them immediately. Then insects- they were far more challenging- they moved, hid, and you had to take about a million photos to get the one perfect shot. It's one of my favourite hobbies, but one, alas, that I don't get to do so often. For me, it's an activity that's best done out in nature, where nobody else is around me, asking questions or breathing heavily. 

I recently started setting up my metal-smithing gear again- on a tiny space, just a desk - with the soldering torch, the various pliers, the bench pin, the saw, the mini-drill, etc. 

 I've made plants and flowers before, back when I was a student and it was fun. Flowers are nice to look at, and pretty much everyone likes them. The flowers I looked at and took pictures of, however, weren't pristine, and it was often the insects that I was interested in. 

And so, the flowers have evolved from "just flowers" to recognisable plants- ground sorrel, Jacob's ladder, etc. 

What I'm happy with is the evolution of what's I'm doing- that it's continuing, and perhaps many other aspects of my life will merge into it.

Time for a shameless plug: https://www.etsy.com/in-en/shop/SugarimpProductions