Daily Words refresh

Barry and I have had a daily word practice since 2004 when I made our first set of words whilst we were living in Hobart for a year. I have written several more sets over time for folk - in particular rainbow daily words. In these sets I had written 70 words (10 for each colour of the rainbow).

It has come to pass that after 21 years of use, our cards set needs replacing. One morning recently, mindfulness simply separated in two. We thought that several others could go the same way, so we sat down to work out which words of this set, the verb set of 70 and the noun set of 70 we would like to take with us into the future.

It was an interesting task. We did it separately, then came together, to discuss. There were lots of overlaps and the occasional different ones but we landed very happily on a set of 50 cards.

This allows for 7 words for each rainbow colour (49) and leaves a blank as well. We kind of like the blank; although we never really know what to expect on the days we draw it...

We love the number 7 so 7 x 7 seems like a good way to go!

The first step is always cutting up the cards. They measure 5cm x 1.5cm so a lot of it needs to be done by hand.

The next step was seeing if I could still write with a dipping pen!  I couldn't remember the last time I did proper pen calligraphy by hand so this was a real test. (I am now thinking it was maybe 2022 - a commission I did??). I had to track down my nib and find my watercolours, then mix the colour. I liked the colour but in these first few attempts I didn't have it loose enough and the pen was really scratchy on the surface. Nothing flowed, including my hand! It was wobbly and wild.

So I loosened the watercolour, cleaned out the pen and rinsed it, and then sat down and wrote and wrote and wrote for a while and gradually got back into my groove.

I also gave myself a bit of ground because working on such a small piece of card (5cm x 1.5cm) is incredibly awkward. You are working so hard to not have it slip or move that you can rarely relax and simply let it flow. The tension is real!

Here are the first seven words - in red. 

Orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo violet remain to be done!

Getting there...red, orange, yellow, green and blue done.

And indigo and purple/violet for the win!

I started out with plans for 5 sets, but settled for 4 because I used so many extras for the ones where I wrote badly. Still four sets will be great - one for us, one for a  friend and two to sell. 

Barry has begun making the bowls that will hold them. Here is the first one. 

It is such a lovely practice. It helps set the mood for the day, and gives a quiet moment of reflection before we get into things.  The bowls plus words will be available for sale we hope at the Closing Down Sale next weekend. They will form part of the new work sale - where new things re 10% off (everything else is at least 50% off!!!).