Nope, not ornaments. My friend is going through the house where her grandma and aunt lived their whole lives and finding weird stuff. Apparently these are solid and very heavy; too heavy to hang on a tree. What are they
My son hasn't spoken at school in four months. Complete selective mutism since the kids started calling him "the weird craft boy" who makes things instead of playing sports at recess. He's eleven and autistic, and art class used to be the only place he felt safe until his teacher told him his projects were "too babyish for middle school." He stopped making anything, stopped talking about his ideas, just came home every day and disappeared into his room with the door closed.
Last week he was watching me work on snowman decorations for my shop, these whimsical couples I make and sell for people's holiday mantels. Didn't say anything, just sat on the couch observing while I hot-glued fabric scarves and painted faces. Then two days ago I came home from work and found him in the garage surrounded by foam balls and fabric scraps he'd pulled from my supply bins, hands covered in paint, completely absorbed in creating these two figures. He'd been working for six hours straight without stopping, something he hasn't done since his teacher destroyed his confidence.
He made himself and his little sister. The boy snowman has the same serious expression my son gets when he's concentrating, the same careful attention to detail in every button and hat decoration. The girl snowman is wearing pink because that's all his sister will wear lately, has flowers on her scarf because she picks dandelions for him every day after school. This is his first complete project since September, the first thing he's made that wasn't for a grade or an assignment, just pure creation because he wanted to express something he couldn't say with words.
When he finished he asked if people would think they were stupid, if kids at school would make fun of them like they make fun of everything else he makes. I told him they were incredible and he needed to see that I wasn't just saying it because I'm his mom. He finally agreed to let me post this after two days of me begging, but he's been refreshing my phone every ten minutes checking for comments, needing to know if anyone besides me thinks he's talented. I buy a lot of my supplies from other crafters on the shop app, and I keep showing him their work trying to prove that handmade art matters, that people value things made with this much heart and skill.
So what do you think? He's reading over my shoulder right now, hands still shaking slightly, waiting to see if anyone else sees what I see.
Credit - Jeanette McAllister