So, why am I so on about alchemy and what has THAT got to do with crafts?

Well, I decided some time ago that there needed to be more magic in the world. This concrete desert holds little meaning for someone who isn't interested in the superficialities and machinations of our current society. Everyone's got their little electronic gewgaws and widgets, and is endlessly bleeping and blooping themselves into a boring cycle of the accumulation of fore- mentioned widgets. Our culture is bent on immediate gratification, and doing so in ways that cause a gaping hole instead of a full stomach. I have no love for the entities known as corporations, nor the way in which they twist our own minds into believing that we are unhappy and need them and their products to make us so.

Mass production has caused much homogenization and created this "throw away" mentality that is wasteful not only of physical resources, but of creativity. It's hard to believe that centuries ago, people actually had to cook all their own food, or make their own clothes. Our society would be hard pressed to take up these talents now and succeed were the need to arise.

This is why art and craft items are not just appealing, but necessary. We are humans, not machines, but we let machines "run" us and dictate our lives. We forget the joy of taking up a pencil and simply drawing something on a scrap of paper, or stitching on buttons. Humans were made to create and work with their hands, hearts and minds. A machine cannot create; it does what it's told. Too many people behave as machines and cannot think for themselves. I had been working in an art supply store for a while and saw just how many people would like to get back to this creative state, but have no idea how to begin.

Crafting something original gives one a sense of pride, confidence and achievement. To be able to take raw materials that may seem incongrous by nature and assemble them together into a new form that possesses beauty, wonder and functionality is incredibly satisfying - and not at all unlike magic.

Taking things a step further - to take what seems like dross or coarse matter (trash) and to dissect and recombine it into something beautiful seems even more magical. This is where alchemy comes in. Making trash into treasure is not a new idea by any means, but it is one which does not get the retreading it deserves. At a time when our resources are strained, and yet we arrogantly refuse to stop producing and consuming, this is when the practice of recycling and reusing makes the most sense. The greatest and most important element of turning lead to gold is the power of the mind - the creativity necessary to take a cardboard box and make it into anything the mind can fashion.