Fruits of the Loom

When I was a lad, in the 1970's, there were all kinds of nifty crafts kits that you could find in toy stores.  We didn't have Toys R Us, but we had something simply wonderful called "Child World," and just walking into the place brought a child's dreams to life.  And Child World was full of way-cool items from Hasbro and Mattel that involved making fancy designs with stencils or making potholders with by weaving loops together or - best of all - Light Bright, Making Things With Li-i-ight, as the commercial for Light Bright ran.  Light Bright was a grid pattern, illuminated from within by a bright light (hence the name), much like a television, into which you could stick any number of transparent colored pegs to make the design of your choice - always with the lights turned out in your bedroom at night so you could enjoy the way that the pattern lights up.  I was fascinated by these clever gizmos, but there was a certain cultural taboo to them - they were considered girlish, so girls could bring them to slumber parties or get-togethers, and perhaps a boy could theoretically play with them at home, but a boy would never want to be seen by other boys indulging in these secret arts.

But in this new century, things have changed, and I think we can partially thank Rainbow Loom for the liberation that the lads of today enjoy.  I don't really know how to describe the material - it's like a kit consisting of a pegged plastic loom of sorts, onto which you stretch out these tiny, colored,  rubberish bands, assisted somehow by hooks, and you can make glorious chains of colorful loops as a result.  I'm sure I would never be good at it - I have no fine motor skills and no patience or curiosity for little fingery crafts.  But this thing - whatever it is - has captivated both Daniel and Ian, and it's really intriguing to see them caught up in the new hobby of choice.

They both received Rainbow Loom kits lasts week, and it's hard to get them to focus on anything else.  Wherever the boys go, there goes Rainbow Loom.  Both boys brought Rainbow Loom to church on Sunday.  Ian ran out to the car to get his Rainbow Loom during the meal after church, and when I degenerated predictably into my chatty self in the parking lot, the boys busied themselves with their new art in the car.  It gives them something to talk about, to compare projects, and it's quite something to see two very young  men so content in their parallel labors.  On Saturday, Daniel was tearing up because he managed to lose the little bag of plastic hooks that hold the bands together into structures.  A major search was undertaken, and when Ian finally found the hooks, which had slipped off Daniel's bed into the crack between bed and wall, Daniel was very happy.

Needless to say, one of Daniel's first projects with the hooks was to make a pair of handcuffs.  Ian, by contrast, has been working on a necklace made entirely of smaller necklaces.  But Daniel, for all of his odd fascinations, has a remarkable knack for the craft, as for so many other artistic endeavors; the loopdy-loop wreathy things that he makes with these thingamajigs are really beautiful, elegant, and elaborate in their design patterns.

This past evening, Daniel was showing me some of his creations - most looking like minature wreaths.  One was for Christmas.  Others had other themes.  And then there was the patriotic wreath:

"And this is for when the army-guys fighted for us."

"You mean Veterans' Day?"

That was exactly what he meant.

(November 29 - December 2, 2013)