As I was driving back from dropping Jessie off at school this morning (she finished shooting her film, Yay!), I thought about what I had planned to do each day for the past few weeks, and what I actually had done. There was a remarkable pattern to the data, but the pattern was not in what I had planned matching up what I had done. No, the pattern was that each day I had planned to do some studio/workspace set up so I could then do some creative activity in said studio/workspace, and each day I had put off doing the set-up in favor of something else so consequently I never did any creating either.Even in Atlanta, I never had my studio completely set up the way I wanted.
Now I have four studios and one tool space to unpack, organize and optimize. At this point it's more likely that I will quit doing an activity before I have the area and all the tools and materials I've collected ready. That's especially true in the glass studio. Even after selling off huge swathes of hoarded materials, I still have far more than I could use in a lifetime. I need to continue to sell the excess off--yet one more thing between me and actual creating.
I have reached a special place in life (a new special hell): the place where you see that the stash you've accumulated for special projects is measurably greater than the time you have left in your life. Every crafter faces that moment, but not every crafter has to face it for glass (for stained, fused, and torch-worked projects); spinning fiber; knitting and crocheting yarn; book-making papers and cords; weaving yarn; jewelry findings, stones, and metals; scrapbooking supplies; rubber stamping and card-making supplies; wood; sewing/quilting fabric; Kumihimo thread; clay and pottery tools; and soap/bath product ingredients and packaging.
Dave said a few months ago (and I think I wrote about it here) that it's time for me to divest myself of all my moribund hobbies. But I hadn't thought of them as anything approaching moribund until today. (Heck, when he said it, I didn't even know what moribund meant.) Now I see that they are moribund in part from the inertia caused by their individual masses. I have to find the tools before I can use them, and it seems I spend all my time looking for them and then deciding where to store them.
Good thing we had cheese for dinner tonight (really) (we had a cheese plate) cause I have obviously still got a lot of whine to go with it. Wish I could think of a way to get through the inertia.
4 comments:
let me know when you have time for a studio elf to come out and help sort all this shit out! RUTHLESSLY! :)
In our home, we have two people, one of whom starts lots of things but has great trouble finishing them, and one who refuses to start things until that person is sure that there's enough available time to finish it, unless it's an ongoing project.
Brenda, you've always struck me as the former, though of course in your business there's been deadlines that make you complete many of your projects at least close to the necessary time. At this point, I see you adding more and more jobs to your plate because you are a terrific starter. But you have so many things to finish...I don't have any recommendations. But Bridget reminds me often that I have stockpiled more books, .epubs, .pdfs, and so forth than I can finish in the amount of time I likely have left in my life at my much more advanced age than yours.
How do you feel about setting aside nearly everything to spend a week getting your glass studio ready?
I sought you out on Facebook because I admire your glass books, 1) because you imparted so much information - enough to fill at least 12 college credits of glass courses, and 2) you writing style. Your voice come through clearly in the books and in your blog. Thank you for opening up to we who care about you, your art, and your expression.
I feel your pain even though I am nowhere near your level. I learned to knit in the 60s. I wanted to make a mohair sweater with cables but my mother wouldn't let me until I finished a smaller project. MY mother didn't do anything crafty, so a neighbor lady picked up an argyle sock kit for me. DId you ever knit argyle? WEll, the sweater would have been easier. I taught myself how to crochet in 1971, ripple afghans galore. Later the 70s I tried quilting (when you had to do it all by hand or you were looked down upon).
The 80s brought rug hooking and then weaving (with a really nice Kessenich loom my kids thought was gym equipment), That decade also saw the opening of my doll, dollhouse, and teddy bear store. There were doll houses in various stages of construction all over the store and the house. The 90s was the decade of real work (teacher, technology specialist, school administrator). Through all those decades, I moved several times, including long distance. The stashes followed me wherever I went. Somewhere along the line I tried jewelry silversmithing with a course at the community college.
With the turn of the century I moved on to beading and jewelry. I have enough beads, wire, string, etc. to open a shop. Anyway, that led to polymer clay and then silver clay. I always loved glass but I never lived in a place it would be safe to play with fire, but when I saw an ad for a class in fused glass, I signed up. I bought a little Paragon kiln that to this day has not been plugged in. I was still working too many hours, and it was easy to work on jewelry in short spurts. I moved again, and this time I lived near a soon to be famous glass studio in Florida that brought in "big name" teachers. I bought a pan 18x18x14 kiln and thought I would really produce some interesting projects once I retired. Well, retired I am, with time galore to work on glass. I moved to an area where there is a little glass studio about an hour away, but I know more glass info than the shop owner. Knowing the info and putting it into practice are two different things, and that proprietor is perplexed by my questions.
The yarn stash and quilting stash are gone. However, this year I started on the needle felting stash.
I had a little stroke this past spring and am the new owner of my own pacemaker, so now I am not to lift more than five pounds or stretch my arm in perpetuity. It's a good thing I have a husband who will move my shelves and glass. The sad part is that even though I have good books about fusing and really refer to them often, there is such a steep learning curve, and more and more things to learn about technique, glass chemistry and physics, that I make more mistakes than treasures. Being a perfectionist is not compatible with creating. I have decided to give up fusing after I have made gifts for all of my relatives and friends. I don't have too many of either. However, I am still trying to improve my work. Maybe mosaic is next?
I feel your pain. Thank goodness you are younger than I; you still have a chance to weed through your crafts and move from passion to passion. I figure I have fewer than 10 years to fulfill my urge to create before dementia and arthritis take over, and then another 10 years of sitting around discussing medical issues full time. Take up your friends' offers to help you de-stash, and move on. You have so much creativity bubbling around in that head of your, so you need to free up your noggin and your hands to fulfill your calling. Your admirers await the next treat.
I have not proofread because I will be late for my library volunteer shift. I truly wish you the best! Keep on keep in' on.
when I turned 50 I tossed out all the half completed craft projects I had laying around. it was a relief.I still have some craft supplies left over from when the grandkids were small. the youngest will be 17 in February so I can probably safely get rid of all that too. I do want to learn a new craft though since I want to mosaic the concrete step between the upper house and lower house. but I second Bill...put all else aside and devote however many days it takes to setting up your studio.
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