Recently, I was going through a 'what should I make next' quandry. It became visual as I started taking out this and that - going through 'stuff', laying things down for consideration. I finally noticed that the messier I got and the more cluttered my work table became the same thing was happening in my mind.
My thoughts were messy, unformed, full of detritus that was getting in the way of what I might really want to do.
Realizing that nothing I might make would take each and every scrap of cloth or carefully saved trinket that I had on hand. A day was spent sorting, processing and stashing stash for another day/project.
Amazingly, as things got tidier and tidier so did my brain. My concept was becoming clearer. And with a more orderly studio existence I'm having fun once again -- uh-oh here comes another mess.
"In the scope of a happy life, a messy desk or an overstuffed coat closet is a trivial thing, yet I find - and hear from other people that they agree - that getting rid of clutter gives a disproportionate boost to happiness." - Gretchen Rubin
Once in awhile the whole thing gets away from me and it is time to heed those dreaded words 'clean the studio'. I can happily report that my studio stays a lot neater in my life as a 'beader' than it did when I was working with book art -- BUT how those beads can get out of hand!!! Then there are those 'things' that I've saved because someday I might use them. I'm not a big saver or collector so I have to put on my 'art hat' the one that tells me 'don't just throw everything out'. There is a 'law of disposal' you know -- that as soon as you get rid of it, you need it!! I've been known to donate something to the thrift store and then go back and buy it back a week later (hoping its still there).
And so, with spring outside it was time for a clean sweep. I went through each container of beads, I put all the colors together on shelves, I bought new plastic canisters to add to my collection. Note: the above picture is only a 'fraction' of my bead collection *smile*.
I love those decorated boxes that you can buy, I have LOTS of them - but I can't continue to stuff things into them, until their lids won't close anymore - so the lids came off and I sorted and folded and reorganized. The fun thing about this is that I found items I had forgotten that I had. Several of these came to rest on my worktable so that I can use them in something yet unplanned.
Now, you ask - did you also 'clean' your worktable? Well, no -- I mean its 'sort of' organized - but I MUST leave things strewn hither and yon - bits and pieces of flotsam and jetsom to inspire me. I love to stop a beading piece and just run my fingers through cabochons that are sitting in a bowl, or pick up the feather and shell that sit in another bowl. No sterile work table for me. But hey, I can now pick out beads from their color grouping without having to sort and sort and sort. So that's enough progress for this spring -- after all there's always time to clean but right now I have to get back to beading.
"One of the advantages of being disorderly is that one is constantly making exciting discoveries". - A.A. Milne
