It is a way of surrender. He must surrender to his own mind.—Agnes Martin, ‘Beauty is the Mystery of Life’

The tiny story of how the hair sticks came to be.  

I have long hair, I love my long hair, I usually start the day with it all freshly washed and ready for work. However, about an hour into a task these locks become cumbersome, and I reach for anything to help me pull it all out of my face.  I was sticking in pencils, paint brushes and glass rods to pull my  hair up to get it out of the way.

Then in the yes cheesy moment, I thought… hang on….. The pencil came out, the sketchbook came out and shapes appeared in the sketchbook. I remembered thinking about how glass can be formed, pulled and stretched.  Then something whimsical happened, the designs where sort of taken over by my 6 year self.

This little girl who is truly tapped into girl hood- petal fairies,  lotions and potions created using the garden and the house, soil, dandelions, shaving cream, coffee all added into jars and left to ferment; of course all this was a constant horror to my brothers who just wanted to fight. I remembered how ribbons and all things whimscal were on the agenda,.

So for that evening I let her take over the pen and let the shapes appear. I realised I was sort of surrendering.  

Surrendering, is something that I'm exploring more in my practice. I’m finding more and more that lampworking as well as in painting, it is a practice of control and surrender.  Finding the discipline and play. Tapping in and letting go.

And these glass sticks / wands / pins are a ode to a childhood fairy wish. And I am so glad this has resonated with so many people with out me say much about them.

Maybe I should do some other hair accessories….