Friday, February 13, 2009

Dollhouse

I wouldn't have thought of myself as a craft snob.
People should do whatever brings them joy, right?
Just because I adore wool (and other natural fibers) and acrylic literally makes me break out doesn't mean someone else shouldn't use it.
For those of you who are non-crocheters/knitters/fiber folk, there have been heated discussions on acrylic (which some call the anti-yarn, with the same tone as anti-Christ) vs. natural fibers.
If I had been asked, I would have said there is plenty of room for any kind of craft from gluing beer caps to particle board to carving wood into art. (And don't get a 'true artist' started on the craft vs. art debate.)
Live and let live is what I would have said. There can be art or craft found in anything that satisfies the urge to create inside someone.
But I must have had some snooty preconceptions somewhere. I don't have any other way to explain my surprise and amazement when Oscar told me the blue-ribbon-winning dollhouse he saw at the Florida State Fair was made from plastic canvas.
It upset my hidden prejudice of plastic canvas being reserved for toilet paper covers and other fairly useless and not very pretty items. I didn't realize I had a sneer in me for any craft, and I am ashamed of it.
This is an amazing creation. The detail work in each room (do you see the wee chest in the attic? the grandfather clock in the hallway? the runner on the stairs? the towels in the kitchen? the pillow on the couch?) is cunning, charming and delightful.
I don't know who made it, but you can see the care they took with every stitch, and I fell more in love with it the longer I looked.




2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Don't be embarassed - it's all part of the learning process and we all have to go through it :) Everyone picks their own tools and materials to craft their vision - and isn't it splendid that in the whole, wide world there's such a variety of things for us all to choose from?

That dollhouse really is quite the piece of work - and yesterday I would have agreed with you about plastic canvas :)

Leslie said...

Well, picture me amazed, I would have agreed yesterday as well with your assessment of plastic canvas. Not so sure now.

The fiber people are VERY passionate about their favorite fibers, eh?