OK-A little background information on me. Ever since I was a little girl I have been making things. Some of the things that stand out are Barbie Doll clothes, jewelry out of Chestnuts (yes, you heard right, Chestnuts-the nut---broke a lot of needles trying to string those babies!), crocheting and knitting various items, making pottery on the pottery wheel in art class (one of my favorites), painting, drawing, cutting, taping, gluing, sewing, etc. etc. etc. I was 10 or 11 when my friend and I made the Chestnut jewelry then we hit the streets to sell them. We sold a few (I'm sure people bought out of pity) until my parents tracked us down and made us come home. The crafting continued until adulthood with some lapses in between for junior high, high school, etc, when my main focus and hobby was to be and look "cool" and "fit in". That was an art in and of itself, as any adult woman knows.
Then came the college years. Not a lot of extra time but style/fashion and necessity (lack of funds) lead to creativity and I could be found in the laundry room in the dorms bleaching and dyeing jeans, jean jackets, sweaters, t-shirts, whatever would look cool. The later years of college would bring out my flair for decorating dumpy apartments. No matter how dumpy the place was, I found, that with a few cute bed sheets used as slipcovers or curtains and contact paper used to laminate ugly counter tops I could transform it into a pretty sweet pad! I was always coming up with creative ideas. Everything I saw I thought to myself, "I can make that" so I'd go home and figure out a way to make it for a fraction of the cost.
Then came the married and baby years. As an "at home" mom I started just about every craft known to man. These included but were not limited to: paper making, rubber stamping, card making, stained glass, glass fusing in a kiln, jewelry making, soap making, lotion making, stamp carving.........you get the picture. It would have all been fine if I was one of those neat organized little crafters with a tiny little Rubbermaid box for each craft stacked neatly on a shelf but I'm NOT! Everything I do is full force, all out, 250%! I mean when I was making paper, I was ordering Kozo bark from some tree from somewhere in the world (to make Mulberry paper) and buying caustic soda to boil it in and then smashing it up to suspend it in a special gel solution to make the handmade paper. Then there were the paper presses all over the floors and makeshift clotheslines strung throughout the house with paper hanging from them. When I started making jewelry I shortly thereafter decided I needed to blow my own beads so I went out and bought some torches. Then, about ten minutes after that I decided I was going to start glass fusing and a glass kiln appeared in my little art room/studio. That's how I do things. I'm thinking that instead of the little Rubbermaid boxes for each different craft I could maybe use those portable storage containers that hook on the back of trucks. You know, the kind people use for moving, except I would use them as a modular storage system, just on a bit larger scale.
I am a visual person. When I am making jewelry, for example, I have to have ALL of my 10,000 kinds of beads out where I can see them because "you never know what you might want to use". You never know what two beads will end up rolling together and inspire a new design. I wish I could be more organized when I work but it is impossible. I want to know where and who these people are that have these neat and tidy studios that I am ever so envious of. Please tell me, do you people really work like that or do you just clean up your studios for the photos? Please tell me it's the latter, then I won't feel so badly about mine. Hey, maybe I should start an online support group for messy artists!?!
That is all for now. I hope I have not bored you. I wanted to give you a little history so you would know how I got here today. I would LOVE to hear your stories for hobbies, crafting stories, ideas, photos, etc. so please post. Goodbye for now!
