A treasury of carefully horded ambition and inspiration. A fragile accumulation of flimsy paper, so thin as to need handling with a held back breath. Soft blue or yellow lines impressed on tissue, meant to be transferred with the gentle application of heat. Images of flowers and swirls of design, intended for interpretation – held and preserved for decades. All tucked away in paper shells, layered up and stored as ideas and opportunities – most unrealised, but some revealed in equally fragile card, pierced with pins and dusted with pounce or chalk.
These are the treasures of a mind enthralled with creativity, yet recognising the need for the contribution of others to achieve it. Commercial products aimed at idle hands, yet destined for craftswomen – waiting for skilled fingers to translate them into vibrant colour and the shimmer of thread.
Many of these treasures are older than I am, preserved with hope, in expectation that – one day – they might be used, might ‘come in handy’ or just be *there* when the need for inspiration struck.
For the original owner of this horde, that time must have slipped by, leaving a fascinating legacy to linger after her.
Yet – here I am, taking possession of her treasures, fired by their beauty and their fragility, aiming to share them again with like minded souls,
The true value of such a treasure horde lies – not in the treasure itself, no matter how precious that may be – but in the use of it. In taking those fragile, delicate papers and sharing the captured lines and inspirations they contain. From one generation to another, giving those hidden designs a new life, a new chance to shine.
With careful fingers, I will unfold these delicate papers and capture their content with technology their original owner would never have imagined. Will share the treasures she so carefully preserved among those who might never have seen them, but for her care and her own delight in their worth.
As I do so, I will smile, and acknowledge her.
For such a precious horde must surely have been owned by a dragon. And now it has safely come to me.