Struggling with Creativity

Happy New Year everyone! Is it still okay to say that, now that it's 17 days into the new year?!… it just felt wrong not to since this my first post of the new year. I do hope you each had a most wonderful holiday!

The beginnings of a shop restock.

I'm now about two weeks back from a very short, but much needed break over the Christmas holiday and things are once again starting to look much like they always do: I'm packing molds and shaping fine details on dozens of beads, and next week I'll be starting my first paint batch. One of my very favorite things! Here's a bit more of what's taking shape on my work table right now…

If you would like to know what I did during my break, the answer is simple: I made things! In other words, I swapped out bead making for other kinds of making. I made pies, cookies, and my mom and I spent many hours in the kitchen preparing all the other homemade goodies my family loves. I do love to bake! And then I made a few gifts—jewelry, a vase (I was still working on it on Christmas morning!) and some little tiny plant pots. And I started another couple gifts that weren't finished in time and had to be given as work-in-progress gifts. Have I convinced you that I really have no clue how to take a real vacation?

This was my work table 3 days before Christmas! You would have never guessed I wasn't making beads.

My heart is so very happy when I'm creating, especially if it's something special for someone I love. And I truly believe that what talents I have are a gift meant to be used and shared. So anyhoo… when Caroline asked us all about our goals for the new year, I came to the full realization that I really didn't have much planned. I had been pondering things for the past few months and even though there are so many things I want to do, there was nothing really solid, and it finally hit me hard.

A little tiny air plant pot! I made three of these little guys.

What I've realized most, is just how much my creativity has consumed me—filling up every last moment of my days. I joke that if I'm not working, I'm working: it's either my day job or my studio job, but I'm always working. I actually feel sad that some of it kept me so busy that I missed out on time with my family and friends. It's no longer a hobby, but a second job. One that I do love, for sure! I mean, who can complain about doing something that has been a life long dream? But when you miss out on the simple things like dinner and movie night with family. every. single. time. It's time to step back and rethink things.

This vase, for my mom, was my Christmas morning project. I finished just in time to open gifs… actually gift opening was delayed on my behalf. :-)

I do have a very good excuse for being so late: the gift I purchased for her arrived late and was not quite what I had expected. Handmade gifts win every time!

I know some of you might ask why I am complaining at my success. But no, it's not that at all! I'm overjoyed and am so very thankful for each and every success that comes my way. It's not at all success that I am struggling with, but how to rein in my creativity. Just a little bit.

It's the struggle on how to feel okay about a particular bead being sold out for a few weeks while I fiddle with new ideas that might come to nothing. Or when to clean up and turn out the lights in my studio early some nights. Or even for a weekend. It's about the struggle on how to handle not doing it all, all the time. For a person who thrives on organization, schedules, and lists it's an alarming thing to discover just how unorganized I've become! Take for example me editing this post at 2:58am because I was too busy making beads earlier. See what I mean?

I always laugh when someone who doesn't understand what I do comments on how nice it must be to work for myself, because it means I can take breaks whenever I want and do what I want… really!? That certainly wasn't in my business manual.

Does this all mean that I'm burnt out or should take a long vacation? Not yet and no. I think there will probably always be beads coming from Tree Wings Studio. I am often exhausted, but know I'm not burnt out when new ideas are constantly flooding into my mind. Yes—what about all the new beads that I hint at every so often? I do want to finally make them!

I really can make new beads, if I make the time for them—nothing quite like a Secret Santa gift swap to push me to create something brand new!

So, for this year, my one and only true goal is to live life just a little bit more, to stop working so hard, to actually stop creating all the time… to breath a little and relax, and be inspired by more quiet time and time with family. I hope that this will in turn fuel my determination to work more efficiently. I think it may prove harder than any other goal I've ever set…

Okay, now it's your turn! Do you ever struggle with too much creativity? Does it ever get in the way of other things you love doing? Or maybe you have found that happy balance? Do share!

Rebekah Payne

Tree Wings Studio

Two Weeks in Review - In Tree Wings Studio

Alrighty… it's time to report in:

Here's my work table after two weeks of managed studio time. Yes, I did tidy it up a bit — things were more than a little messy!

Did I meet my goals? Not quite. But I made very good progress. For my shop staples, here are my totals:

I cast, shaped, and painted 24 Queen Anne's Lace beads and pendants, and painted 22 previously cast Queen Anne's Lace beads.

I sculpted 52 sleepy critters.

And, I started painting 22 sleepy owls (sculpted a few weeks back).

I didn't do as well with new bead ideas. But that's okay — sometimes new ideas just don't come easily. I did make some of my current beads in new colors though: 5 Queen Anne's Lace pendants, and 14 (soon to be) painted speckle beads — I'll be testing new paint mixtures on these.

And the sleepy fawns are getting ready to become reindeer for Christmas, 2 new sleepy puppy dog designs are in progress, and 1 pine cone became a mold for new beads.


Scheduled for tomorrow, I have new crackle beads — they are going to go with a certain pretty copper component from Kristi…



So all in all, things did not go as perfectly as I'd hoped, but they did go nearly as well as I expected. I'm about 2/3rds of the way to where I want to be and this was only the first two weeks. But, I'm encouraged and very excited about what I can accomplish in another two weeks! There will be some more schedule tweaking and possibly an adjustment of my completed bead goals.


And… I almost forgot to mention, my sisters and I had fun trying out a new brownie recipe on my "day off"! Yum!


Yes, it was a very good beady two weeks! How did you all do? Did you find/make more time for creativity? Did you create anything new? And most of all did you have fun? Do share!

Less is More

Okay, yeah, I'm still thinking about time. I want more time! More time to be creative. But there isn't any — so, instead I will actually use less time. Yes, you read that right. Less time.

The tricky part is that that time will need to be well managed.

In my last post I brought up the topic of time management. We all struggle with it. We agonize over it. And we often fail at it.

I also shared what needed to be re-figured in my studio plan:

• What I need to do: maintain my shop and current inventory
• What I can do: keeping my production goals at what are actually humanly possible
• What I want to do: work on new designs and experiment with new techniques

Some of my shop staples

So over the past two weeks (actually it was about 2 days — I didn't have enough time to start earlier!) I sat down (with my kitty friend on my lap) with pen and paper (my computer was being too distracting) and got planning.

I started first with the realistic approach… (Some people will tell you I'm too realistic at times! ;-)

While I'd like to make gobs of beads, I don't need to. (There's nothing more satisfying than seeing that huge heap of beads on my work table — but wow is it exhausting getting there.) I'd love to work on new beads every day, but my customers want what I already have. My goal has always been that my studio be self-sufficient — never does it get any more funds than what comes out of it, so making what people want is a must. And finally, I'm only human — I do have to sleep sometime!

Next I took the artist-needs-to-be-creative-to-be-happy approach…

I need to make new things on a regular basis. Simple as that. It keeps me happy! And keeps my customers curious and interested.

New puppy dog beads

And then, finally I came up with a two week schedule that can be repeated…

Week 1

On Sunday and Monday, I don't have any studio time scheduled – as much as I love to make things, I've found I simply cannot do it 24/7 – I don't even want to. I need some time to recharge. And also these days off can be used as emergency days if needed.

On Tuesday thru Friday, I'll do shop inventory management – that includes sculpting, painting/finishing, and shop updates. And this is the part where time management comes in – I used to do this spread over about 5 or 6 hours every day, 8 days a week. Yep, that 8 is to include the late nights. Now I'm going to only give myself exactly 3 hours per day. When managed well (no checking emails!) that's plenty of time.

On Saturday, I'll spread my creative wings and poke around at new ideas. And it's really okay if I end up smushing everything because my shop will already be stocked.

A fun experiment! They turned into these.

Week 2

Sunday and Monday are still unscheduled. Maybe I'll go hiking or riding, or I could bake some cookies!

Tuesday and Wednesday, I'll do more shop inventory management.

On Thursday, I'll work on new beads.

On Friday, I'm planning blog posts and starting some drafts for future posts. No bead making on this day.

And finally on Saturday, I'm working on more new beads.

So, you could say my biggest problem with not having enough time was actually by having too much time. How many times while creating do we jump up and do something to help someone else? How many times do we check our emails, blogs, forums, and facebook? Or our Etsy shop stats... a million times in 1 hour? How about browsing through bead shops online? Shopping our favorites on Etsy? Yes, I'm very guilty of getting distracted. That shouldn't happen. Just because I won't get fired for doing these things on the job doesn't mean they're good to do.

I had always wanted to make jackalopes!

You might think from reading these recent posts that I'm a horribly undisciplined person – I am undisciplined at least a little – actually though, I'm more than a little obsessed with schedules and time, but like so many of you all, when it comes to creative time, that's the first thing to go when more time is needed for all the unexpected things life brings our way.

By making this new schedule with less time that is strictly assigned to studio time, I'll be sure to use that time for what is intended.

And so now I'm ready to start on Monday. Will it work?

I'll let you know how it goes in 2 weeks…

I hope this post has inspired you all to go and make some time for your creativity. I know to some of you 3 hours per day is a luxury and for some of you it's a minuscule amount. I'm not sharing my schedule for you to copy (unless you want to, of course). The goal is to find what works for you as an individual – just the same way we each have different crafts that we love and have mastered – those are the things that work for us, the things that suit our talents best. A schedule should be the same.

I have always believed that being creative is a gift and that it should be shared with the world at every chance we get. Let's do that more often!

So, what about you? Did you squeeze out anymore time for your creativity in the past 2 weeks? Or did you run out of time again? Do you have plans to make more time? Do share!

Where did all the time go?

source

Time. And the lack of it. But mostly how to manage it better… that's what's been on my mind for the past several weeks. It seems everyday goes by with things left unfinished on my to-do list and it feels like each day is ending so soon after it's begun. I've tried toying with the theory that I, somehow, have much shorter days than everyone else on this planet. I know, you have that same theory about yourself, right?

You're going to laugh when I tell you that I planned to write a post on how my efforts for time management were starting to work for me and I was creating like never before… and then this week (and the week before) went absolutely out of my control and I was hardly in my studio at all. Yep, they did.

You're going to laugh again when I tell you that at the time of starting this post it was 2:19 a.m. EST. Yes, that's a.m. I ran out of time during the daytime, so now I'll use up the night hours too.

source

And so now, I'm going to sit down on the floor and cry…

No. (Okay, maybe just a little.)

(My new kitty friend would actually like if I did that — I'm his mobile bed.)

Did I mention that he's super cute?

So, the question is, why do I, and so many of you run out of studio/creative time? Or on some days we don't make anytime for it at all? When we do sneak away to our studios or creative corner, the house falls apart, family goes crazy, we forget to eat, and most of all, we cut back on sleep… right? I know I'm not the only one.

Okay, we know there is a problem. We know what we want to do (create!) and we know what we need to do (life stuff). There's a happy medium in there somewhere and I'm sure it's there even for the most busy of us.

source

I'm making it my goal for the next two weeks (since my blog posts here are two weeks apart… and I might need some extra time ;-) to get back on track, working harder at taking time every day to be creative. I'm going to start by reworking the details of my studio plan:

• What I need to do: maintain my shop and current inventory
• What I can do: keeping my production goals at what are actually humanly possible
• What I want to do: work on new designs and experiment with new techniques

Care to join me?

Lets talk about it and let's try to work it out… how are you managing your time? What hinders you the most? Do you have creative time every day? Only a couple times a week? Are you one of the lucky few that has reached (or are you getting closer to reaching) that happy medium? Do share!

source

Whew! I finished writing my post and it's now 5:31a.m. Talk about managing time well! Good night!