"HANDS - AN EXTENSION OF THE SOUL"

We are all artists deep down. But, unfortunately, the music that sounds in us does not always find a way out. We have to lead a normal life with a sense of incompleteness ... But there are people who can turn their ideas into practice, using the world around as an inspiration.

Hands and soul

The word handmade implies needlework. If the idea of needlework includes items made at school lessons and everything lovingly sewn, knitted and woven by industrious women who love beauty, handmade has a broader meaning. Handmade products are an attempt to convert everything that surrounds us. This is not merely an applied craft, this is art because the beauty we have in mind is embodied in the objects made with our own hands. Decoupage, crackle, macram?, Irish lace, painting, vintage, Shabby chic, soap-making - all these words, which sound like a Chinese puzzle to the uninitiated, are actually a wide, bright world of different directions and channels into which the irrepressible river of imagination and inspiration flows.

The famous Russian actress Lyudmila Chursina once said that hands are an extension of the soul. This beautiful metaphor is exemplified by the works of the young artist Ulviya Musayeva. Ulviya is an artist with little experience, just one year, but during this time, she has achieved a lot - three solo exhibitions, four master-classes and we can say that in such a short time she emerged as a full-fledged artist. Her main "trick" is that she draws without brushes or other objects using only her fingers. So we can safely say that her pictures and products (along with drawing pictures Ulviya also paints and decorates wine bottles) retain the heat and energy of hands.

As the artist herself says, her perception of the world changed at the moment she began to paint. "I wanted to touch and transform all that I'd seen around," she says.

By the way, in recent years the attitude to handmade products as an idle amusement has changed. And people started to treat everything made by hand with great deference. No wonder that handmade stuff is something from the exclusive and very expensive category around the world. And Azerbaijan does not remain aloof from global trends when everything done with all one's heart and soul is highly appreciated. But here the trend is rather changes in public attitudes as we have always had very few needlewomen and artisans.

For example, Alena Salimova, one of the famous needlewomen in the city and the only one in Baku who is engaged in weaving Irish laces, says: "My first encounter with the world of needlework happened at age 5. A neighbour showed me how to knit, and looking at my passion, my grandmother taught me to embroider in different ways. A little later, I learned to weave macram? at school. Of course, at school it was just a fad, but after the collapse of the Soviet Union, it came in handy. In those difficult years, many knitted and sewed for sale to provide for their family somehow. Perhaps, that is why the older generation perceives with hostility young people's craze about handmade stuff. I think that each of us faces questions from people around such as "what do you need it for, doesn't your husband provide for you? Do not disgrace the family." Well how can you explain that your heart is asking to do things to make your home cozy? This is a doily on the coffee table, original embroidery in a beautiful frame on the wall and a magnet fashioned by hand. And how passers-by turn around when they see on you jewels or things you cannot buy anywhere else! Several times I found myself in a ridiculous situation where particularly curious ladies chased me a few blocks before they dared to ask where something like that is sold. I am very glad that in the age of technology and assembly line production, we have a lot of talented girls who are doing unique things and even art works."

The price of work

When does a knitted cap or handmade tablecloth turn into handmade stuff? The needlewoman finds it difficult to answer this question accurately: "You need to form the right attitude in everything. What is done by hand is already handmade but the attitude to this is depressing. In the West, people appreciate manual labour, and I can say one thing - only five per cent of my works have been sold in Azerbaijan. The rest is scattered around the globe, from Norilsk to Alaska, from Dublin and Hollywood to Israel. For me it is easier to list the European countries where there are not my works than the countries where they are. This is not a question of price, we just have very few people who understand the difference between regular beads and a necklace embroidered with the most expensive beads in the world and between a simple cap and the finest handmade lace, and they cannot understand why the latter is ten times more expensive than the former. As for the financial aspect, handmade products are quite expensive because a craftswoman who appreciates herself will never work with the cheap stuff, and this forms a large amount in a finished product. For example, in scrapbooking craftsmen spend several hundred dollars on molds, stamps, figure punches, laces, ribbons and different other things to keep up with the times. Now the Shabby chic style, a kind of vintage style when things are made to look old on purpose, creating the effect of oldness, is very fashionable. But here we will just walk past and grumble that they have put ancient notebooks with gnarled and stained pages here. What can we say about those who work with beads, stones and crystals? Here we are talking about tens and hundreds of dollars, if not thousands, which need to be spent on materials, so that it is possible to choose the most appropriate materials for a particular project. After all, no matter how it looks from the side, every stone itself dictates its surroundings and the drawing on the stone leads the drawing on the decoration. So we cannot say that masters are engaged in needlework because of financial insecurity. And it's not just here in Azerbaijan. Love for brands is implanted by magazines and television, and therefore, is difficult to eradicate. I know masters from Russia and Ukraine, who could not find a market for their products for the desired price and "sold themselves" to eminent couturiers. Now their works are sold for four-digit amounts, of which the brand owner gets the lion's share. All but the buyer win, although he is also happy with the label."

"Soap Opera"

Sometimes a passion grows into a business of all your life and the reason is a pure coincidence. For example, Svetlana Cafarova, a master of soap-making, says that she was presented with unusual pieces of handmade soap. "They were beautiful and pleasant, even energetically they differed from ordinary soap. I began to make such soap for myself and my loved ones as gifts. And I realized that in soap I can realize any fantasies even within the same form."

Handmade things, according to the master, are art because a master primarily wants to see beauty in his products and then practicality and necessity. It is ideal when it is combined. Starting with soap-making and selling her works, Svetlana got carried away and now organizes master classes and soap parties. "I am very happy when I see happy people plunged into the process of soap-making and admiring the results of their efforts," she says.

Not only women are able to see the most beautiful in everyday objects. For example, Viktor Axundov (name changed at the request of the character) carves various items from wood, finding something philosophical in it. "I call what I do a pure self-expression," he says. This is probably just psychological relief. I have completely stopped caring about how the viewer will accept my works, but now with their help, I can find people close in spirit. It is nice if such works are bought, which means that many are seeing something close to themselves in them. It does not yield special income, you could sell more and take into account the demand for some things, but then all activity will turn from fun into a treadmill."

The master draws inspiration in the most primitive forms: "A project is most often born in a few minutes, as a good quatrain. Very often I see the outline of future works in scratches on the wall and spots of paint. Rorschach's theory is in action. Mostly likely, the form appears first, and the material appears second. It is wood, leather, metal, plastic ... I love to collect things from different pieces of wood, there is something symbolic in it for me. I never cut out anything from a single piece. Probably, every person's life, no matter how pathetic it sounds, consists of multi-coloured pieces and obscure items like my works. I often ignore visible emotions, intuitively focusing on areas of the subconscious."

Yet, perhaps, we can say that the basic idea of handmade products is creativity and a desire to harmonize and make the environment comfortable for yourself. And that's fine, because work is what changes our lives and makes them brighter and more meaningful.