I never wanted a job. Growing up in Wales, it seemed mandatory to hate your work. A means to an end for most, a vicious cycle for me. The only advice I ever took seriously was this; 'If you do something you love, you'll never work a day in your life'. Ever since I've worked hard at not working for someone else. Just to be and enjoy. So I can exist in a world built on my own ideals. Complete Independence and self sufficiency is my ultimate goal.
12 days ago I moved to the US to live with my fiance. We spent over 2 years living between two countries. Always in Limbo. Now I'm finally here for good I feel like I can do anything I want. Maybe it's the leap across the ocean or leaving the warm hug of the mountains. The landscape opening up has resulted in more doing and less dreaming. This comes as a relief because in 2009 I volunteered at The Do Lectures in West Wales. I washed dishes in exchange for soul nourishing talks from people who are encouraging positive world change. It was the best thing to happen to me until nothing happened. For five years. I had jigsaw pieces of a life I'd like to live but nothing fit together into a solid achievable plan. I was waiting for the eureka moment to come. I had so many more baths than usual!
The eureka moment never came. Instead, it revealed itself slowly. It was born, with peaks and troughs like contractions. In the defining moment I felt a new kind of smile grow across my face. A knowing smile. One I couldn't shake off. I'm doing it right now.
If you don't believe in fate or the power of the universe it happened completely by chance.
The first sign came a year before The Do Lectures. I was a freelance photographer and enjoying the freedom of working on my own schedule. I spent a few days sofa surfing in Camarthen where my friend was studying textiles at University. The next day she had to prepare for end of year show and asked me for some help using photoshop. We spent an hour on the computer in her class before I was distracted by the half finished projects all around me and took an interest in how they were made. So I just hung around and learnt a little about felting and using knitting machines.
This experience stayed dormant in my brain until Christmas 2012. My fiance and I had been together a while and we were about to spend our first Christmas together. I wanted to make him something special. That something special turned out to be a needle felted kiwi bird which I cut in half and added a kiwi fruit detail. This was the catalyst for other far out creations I made over the course of a year. I was free styling to say the least but learnt techniques through creative play.
My First Needle Craft Project: A kiwi bird/fruit
Then we decided to get married, I think the kiwi bird swung it. And now I'm here. We're getting married in a few weeks and I have to fill in more laborious forms until I can officially work. Considering this post started with the words 'I never wanted a job' you'd think I'd be happy with this. Well I never wanted to be idle either. I wanted to keep myself occupied with work but wanted to love it. Especially since I'd be doing it for free. I've never had the opportunity to take money out of the equation an do something just for the love of it. More than anything I wanted to be paid in knowledge.
A few weeks before I arrived here my mother-in-law to be told me about an Alpaca farm down the road. It'd been there a long time but she only just took the initiative to visit when she saw an ad in the local paper. The farm has a store with handmade Alpaca crafts. She thought it would be a great place to visit. I thought it would be a great place to work and learn. I contacted the owner and she said yes. And this is where the adventure begins.
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