Making, crafting, creating… these are wonderful ways to spend time. Many of us participate in group activities such as guild meetings or informal groups with friends where we get together to weave or spin or knit. The worldwide COVID-19 crisis has confined many of us to our homes as we allow the front-line workers to have the best chance at conquering the devastating effects of this health threat. I believe it is helpful to have structure to our days and that weaving tapestry can be fulfilling and calming. I also think that if each of us can remain steady and have some focus, it makes a difference to the world. It changes how we show up for each other and that might well make all the difference.
With this in mind, I’m going to be doing live events from my studio most days at 10:30 am MT (That is the time in Denver, Colorado, USA). I anticipate these sessions lasting about 15 minutes. They will be streamed on YouTube on my channel here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHjPnwX7yFjsdzEC_bznjWQ
You can ask questions if you’d like and you’ll get to see some of what I’ll be working on each morning. Mostly I’d like to encourage you to spend some time weaving every day.
The video below summarizes my thoughts. (If you get the blog via email, you won’t see the video. Click HERE to watch it.)
I have a new page on my website where I will post the schedule and all ongoing information about this project. It is under the Online Learning tab and is called Change the Shed. Find it here: https://rebeccamezoff.com/change-the-shed
Why “Change the Shed”?
My number one title-helper came up with this one (thanks Emily!). There are so many things changing right now in the world. Everything feels pretty unsettled to me. One of the best things I can do to help stabilize the world is to keep changing my own weaving shed. I know our individual craft or art pursuits don’t seem like they would be important when the medical system is struggling and we’re worrying about friends and family members who might be at high risk. But I believe that our ability to remain calm and steady makes a difference. It changes how we show up for other people and the kinds of messages we pass around to others via social media or other means.
So now is the time to weave every day. Join me, use this hashtag if you do use Twitter or Instagram, and let’s use this time well. #changetheshed #weaveeveryday
At the very least our tapestry weaving skills will improve!
Take care of yourselves and I’ll see you soon on YouTube!
A little YouTube tutorial for those of you new to video-land
If you do not use YouTube, never fear. It is simpler than Facebook and you do not need to have an account to view the videos.
People who post to YouTube have a place where all their videos live called a channel. Mine is HERE.
If you want to make a YouTube account or already have one, Subscribe to my channel (the red button) to get notifications when I post a new video. And even if you choose not to get notifications, you will still see my channel listed in your subscriptions so you can find it easily.
To leave comments during a live video, YouTube requires you to have a channel of your own. This is just their word for an account. YouTube is owned by Google so if you use Gmail or use Chrome, Google Docs, or other Google products, it is a simple process of linking those accounts. The first time you try to comment on a live video, YouTube will prompt you to make your own channel. Once you have a channel, please click that red subscribe button and subscribe to mine. I need 10,000 subscribers to offer live captioning for my hearing impaired listeners and I need about 2,000 more to get there.
Going straight to the page that is my channel is the best way to find all the videos. It will look like this:
Rebecca Mezoff’s YouTube channel
The tab at the top under the circle with my photo has choices. The Home page shows a list of playlists where I’ve categorized some of my most popular videos. If you click Videos, you’ll see all of my videos. The Playlists tab gives you the playlists in a different format so you can easily find the content you’re looking for like Q&A sessions or tapestry techniques.
The playlist for Change the Shed is called just that. Change the Shed. You can find it HERE.
A current tapestry… I’ll show it in the live stream!