DIY
Home Haircuts, Delicious Limes, and More Fairy Wings
What more could you want from The DIY Diaries?
I took the photo above in 2020, when some kids who live around the corner were writing encouraging messages on the sidewalk. I wish I’d taken photos of the fairy garden they’d made on the edge of their property, too; I’m sure lots of neighbors enjoyed seeing it as they took their walks.
There are countless small ways that we can reach out to each other. Imagine how many people have read your writing here without commenting, and you don’t know how much it’s meant to them.
I hope you do know how much it means to me when you share work here and create a little hub of online community, a place to share stories of our projects past and present.
We received a fun piece this week from Amanda Jean who shares her experience learning to cut her own hair during the pandemic, with selfies to prove it and links to videos to help us if we want to try this ourselves.
Before reading Amanda’s story, I’d read anecdotes from people who’d learned to cut their kids’ hair, or heard stories from people like my mom who’d learned to cut her partner’s hair (she’s officially replaced his barber as he likes her haircuts better). But I gotta say that cutting your own long hair represents a big step up, and I admire the DIY spirit that Amanda shares in her story.
I’m always happy to hear from Ali about her explorations with a range of techniques with paint, and she sent a lovely story this week about how she painted some limes. They look so real to me that they make me think of squeezing a lime wedge onto pad Thai, or sitting on a patio in the summer with a lime in a fresh, cold drink.
As ever, Ali not only shares her process with us, but she also gives us some tips we can apply to making and appreciating visual art — and we learn about how she grew up with the joy of limes fresh from the tree.
Duvy McGirr shares part three in her series on how she built a sequence of visual artworks around a fallen leaf she picked up one day on a walk. The imagination in these images is so strong that you can feel the presence of a busy and creative mind behind them.
I love that Duvy breaks her process into pieces and shows us the individual parts that come together to make the final product. The original parts merge into an unexpected whole that feels like a fantasy world from a book. I think this series is inspirational both in terms of the how-to details and in getting us to think about how we also might create a series that takes one element or idea and develops it into multiple finished works.
Editing The DIY Diaries is good for me not only as a reader but also as a writer because the stories help me to think back on my experiences with learning and doing different things during my life. I’ve been thinking a lot about how my family values DIY, too. It’s not like we ever had an explicit conversation about it — it’s just what we’ve always done.
So this week I wrote a story about my memories of wanting to be a magician as a kid, and how I taught myself various magic tricks with the support of my family and friends. I would love it if other writers would like to share experiences they remember from childhood, too, about their own DIY efforts or those of family and friends.
I hope you’ll consider writing up a piece this week on a DIY topic of your choice and sending it along. Have you planted anything in your garden or along your windowsill lately? Are you teaching yourself a skill from reading how-to books or articles, and/or watching videos? What’s something you took on as a DIY task during the pandemic that you’ve decided to keep doing for yourself or your loved ones?
It would be my pleasure to read your stories about all of those topics — and more! Thanks again for reading with me.
Your friend,
