Wednesday, April 12, 2017

Daily bit of creativity, #016: Japanese tray



I have this, for lack of a better word, "tray." I think it's Japanese. I bought it years ago at a flea market on the Oregon coast. I probably paid less than $15 for it.

Standing up as you see in the first photo, it looks like a heater vent on a wall. Boring.

In the second photo you can see some of the details on it. Cool stuff.

But what to do with this "tray?" In Oregon we had it up on the mantel, leaning against a rock background, and it looked good there, resting partly on a framed Ansel Adams print. No heater vent vibe in that location.

Here, however, it's a different story.

So I made a bunch of tag-like things, set the tray down flat, and then inserted a number of the tags into some of the slots.

It looks pretty good. Some people (Chris) say "add more tags." Others (CJ) say, "less is more." I'm not sure this morning. But I AM making more tags, just in case.

I have no clue. I like seeing the piece like this, with the tags and their strings sticking up. But there's a part of me that wonders, "what the heck IS this, and what's it FOR?"

I try to stifle that more critical side of me, to simply stand back, wonder, and enjoy seeing what I made.

©Carol Leigh
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