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Enchanting Our Crafts
When writers marry artists…
pigments and pens
papers and paragraphs -
tools of enchantment
Friday, we walked all over Florence, with purposeful steps, visiting the exotic shops we each covet for the advancement of our art. While Roxanne found a lovely watercolor travel kit at Manzini’s, I ducked into the Florentine verb shop across the street, Coniugata’s, to see if they might have something to offer a struggling writer. It was a bit of a tourist trap, though, offering more adverbs and spit infinitives than anything transitive that a serious writer might want to use.
Next, we went in search of paper stores. One of Roxanne’s favorites in Florence is Eredi Paperone Bottega d’Arte on Via del Proconsolo, very near The Duomo. They offer beautiful, handmade marbled papers featuring flames and other wonders. Roxanne selected a lined journal covered in blue flame paper. The helpful shopkeeper carefully unwrapped the plastic cover and brought the book close to his nose: “This one was just made yesterday.”
As a modern writer, of course, I favor digital papers, and while the traditional marbled papers are beautifully rendered, they tend to jam the iPad’s magic keyboard. Mine is probably a more spiritual need than a material one, so I took Roxanne to Santa Trinita church on Via de Tornabuoni.
There is an Anglican Parish, St. Mark’s, just across the river that might have been a better fit for an English writer, but they were closed that day, so the Catholics had to do. Santa Trinita has breathtaking paintings and frescos… though I’m not fond of the more penitential aspects of their theology, which might mean just a little more editing than I normally have to do.
Finally, while Roxanne went to Zecchi the Pigmenter’s, I located a special surprise—Francesca’s Hypenated-Word-Hoard Shop, hidden deep in a dark side alley among the most ancient buildings in Florence. I have heard of this shop, mentioned only in whispers on the Dark Web… itself, not a place for the faint-hearted storyteller. The door had a knocker-of-power and the patina of age. Opening it carefully, I knew right away I had found a home. Top to bottom were old paper boxes of hyphenated words, a ladder to access the most remote ones, and a bespectacled old man, who might have been a brother to Dante himself, ready to serve.
“The hyphenated word chooses the writer,” he said with a wry smile. Soon, I had been selected by several from Francesca’s “lyrical prose” line that seemed to suit. I can’t wait to use them!
All in all, it was a lovely day to enchant our crafts. May your own enchantment come with a wink and a smile….
Here’s a story I love by another Medium writer, Maxine G.:
Anything with bees captures my imagination, and Maxine did well by me there…
If this resonated, there are more:
The Rev. Ron Steed is an Episcopal Deacon in Southeast Connecticut and a chaplain at Lawrence & Memorial Hospital in New London, CT. He writes haiku and lyrical prose that he hopes will help others put the head and heart in right-relation.
Top writer in Art, Watercolor, Haiku, Sermons, Refresh the Soul Weekly, and Episcopal Church.
