Hanging Keys

Well, quite a lot has happened hasn’t it? Lockdown, pandemic, global crisis…quite a lot really.

My partner and I left London before the lockdown as we were self-isolating and finding it far too difficult to both work from home in our tiny flat. We’re at my parent’s home in Suffolk with my brother and his girlfriend. We miss our little flat and our world together, but I’ve been so grateful to have a garden and outside space.

Truth be told, I’m finding the transition difficult. I worry about work and have been generally feeling quite anxious, which is resulting in over-working and finding it hard to set clear boundaries in the day-to-day.

Something that has helped has been creative projects. I knew I was doing less and less art, but being forced to slow down does make you reflect on how you use your time. I’ve been working on the wedding favours and Save The Date/Invite design, so I’m sure I’ll share those in the future.

While we’ve been here it was my mum’s birthday. She had been wanting to use some old keys in the garden and have them hanging from a pergola (she was inspired by the opening of Ministerio del Tiempo). It felt so great to do something simple and crafty. The pictures don’t do it justice, the effect sitting underneath is lovely!

We cleaned the keys to get rid of the worst of any grime.

Once they were clean, we dipped the paint using an S-hook and then hung them from a coat hanger.

 

This did lead to some oddly shaped drips at the end, but I kinda liked it (plus they were easy to remove).

We hung them from the beams using invisible thread at varying heights. We cut the ends off f the thread and let them twist in the light.

We have even more to hang up, but I wanted to get this post up. It feels almost productive.

It feels odd to be celebrating and finding joy given how much suffering there has been, but it’s really all we can do right now. At the moment, I’m grateful for sunshine, pets and hobbies.

I hope that everyone has found a ray of light in these difficult times. Let’s work together to find some comfort.

(A sleepy Molly and some celebratory Cava.)