Heirloom Tote

My grandmother has a slow, particular way of working that doesn't result in immense output. Neither does it result in anything showy and grand. Rather her work is modestly proportioned and the pleasure lies in the perfection within it. For example, she was not inclined to feasts and complicated dishes but to her everyday cooking she brought something alchemical so that it was always elevated beyond the commonplace.

She had been taught the gentle arts, I suspect by the nuns of her school years, and was an adept needlewoman when young. Here too her work was modest, neat and polished. She didn't make very much given her large brood and unfortunately very few samples remain of her work. For a long time she had a bag she had made (it's macrame) and then perhaps as she has got older, it got misplaced. Last year I found it amongst a pile of other things and retrieved it. Sadly, a part had faded, otherwise it is in extremely good tick. After a lifetime of moving, I am sentimental about very few things. One is a photograph of my grandmother when three, to this I decided to add the bag. Here are pictures below:

I think the thread used for the bag is not dissimilar to the one used in spinning a top. The highly even nature of the knots indicates the care my grandmother took with making it. Apart from the bag itself, which I think dates back to the 1940s, it's handle has survived well thanks to my grandmother's care. It is wood and simply carved and something about it is very handsome and reassuring.

The other bag is a beaded bag from Shillong.