today we BLOCKPRINTED!!!!

this craft project kind of crept up on me. asa wanted to once again see my speedball wood carver. (he is fascinated by any sharp tool that you have to use carefully with your hands) until today, he has only examined it closely, and with slow and deliberate digging motions he practiced woodcarving into the air. i remembered that i had a ridiculously overpriced piece of rubber that i had purchased along with dyes and fabric paint over a year ago. i pulled it out hesitantly, not because i was afraid he would cut himself (he has been cooking with his parents and using knifes since his motor skills allowed him to slice with one), but because i (selfishly) thought about the price of that rubber, all the possibilities of designs i had envisioned for it, and all the future dyed hemp fabric with my very own blockprinted patterns! as i handed it slowly to this wide eyed child, i realized how insane it was that i had kept these things unused for so long! i sat there in the kitchen floor, holding his sister, as we both quietly watched him dig. he would pause, shake the cut outs onto the floor, examine, and dig again. he was even more deliberate than when he practiced in the air. he asked me to change the blades/cutters. after he used each one, he decided it was time to add the paint. we picked out four colors which i poured onto the surface of the block. he went to the craft basket to retrieve two paint brushes, one he handed to me, "his best friend." he quickly became comfortable with loose smudgy brushstrokes after all the careful attention given to the carving. i handed him back my brush so he could paint with two hands. we found two t-shirts under my sewing table, both too big for the children, but close enough for art. we stamped the image on the shirt. WE BLOCKPRINTED!!! i finally learned to blockprint!!! we learned together, although i give him full credit for this incredible piece of art!! it is so satisfying to spend time with him doing something that i am so interested in, something that engages his four year old attention span for so long while supplying him a creative outlet! i am learning to clean out my creative storage spaces, to loosen up, to create with out a plan! it seems like i am learning daily with these kids, tiny buddhist lessons of compassion and letting go of things! and you don't have to have a large studio with a deep sink to blockprint! i shouldn't have so many piles of projects to do later. and if i am not sewing with the really nice, all natural, 100% cotton thread (that i could only purchase because the store was going out of business), then certainly it can be turned into long winding spider webs stretching the length of my house!! deep breaths and let go! i am happier for this!