Featured artisan - Rena from LilyCobWeb

I'm happy to feature another artist today so you can hear about her work and what got her into her creations. Her name is Rena Roohipour and her store is called LilyCobWeb. She has stores on Etsy and Dawanda.

I asked Rena to share with us something about her work....and this is what she said:

I’m fairly new to selling online, but not new at all to crafts and crochet. I first learned to crochet at the age of eight or nine. I was taught by a neighbour of ours who did beautiful Irish crochet, and I used to marvel at her skill and patience.

I stopped doing any handcrafts for years, with occasional forays into making christening shawls for family members. I came back to crochet about three or four years ago, in a very roundabout way……

I'd been an art teacher but decided I'd give that up for family reasons - ie I have four children! I’d started painting, loved it, but realised that my lifestyle was too busy to allow the time I needed. Then three years ago, I went to Boston to visit my eldest daughter who was studying music there. As I was walking down Newbury Street, I visited the Boston Society for Arts and Crafts Shop where they had a jewellery exhibition. And that was the first place I saw bead and wire crochet jewellery! I couldn’t believe you could crochet wire! I went straight to Windsor Button, on the other side of Boston Common, bought myself some 28-gauge wire and some beads and I was off! I made so much bead and wire jewellery and had no trouble selling it. I’ve since gone back to yarn and thread, but I still use beads and wire a lot to make my creations. I don’t exclude any material, and I experiment a lot! Crocheting leather is my latest favourite thing!

The beaded cuff in the photo is one I made for a commission. Beaded cuffs have now become quite a trademark with me. I love making them as they combine yarn, beads, wire, ribbon and magnetic clasps-all the things I love! Creating them is quite a challenge, as they have a lot of stages in the making.

Crafting is more precarious than teaching, but a much more fulfilling occupation. I struggle to get as much time as possible to develop my ideas, and get really frustrated sometimes when ‘life’ gets in the way. My time management could definitely be better!

Creating in the medium of crochet is very satisfying for me. Crochet always amazed me with its possiblities. It’s very sculptural and I love that. In a strange way, it links me to my childhood and my home. Rudolf Steiner, the educationalist, says crochet has a link to breathing because of its rhythmic qualities. It relaxes me and energises me at the same time! I love the design process, experimentation with new yarns and old ones, and playing with colour.

At the moment, I’m obsessed with leaves and flowers and ways to crochet them. I want to do a series of leaf pendants connected with Celtic tree lore.I like to feel a link to nature, and I think that finds its way into my work.

Selling online is a whole new challenge. It involves having a bit of business sense and taking good photographs, neither of which I’ve perfected yet. But I’m getting there!