I was just thinking about my jewelry making area which is in my family room. I have a coffee table that has the mechanism to allow it to be lifted up so it's the perfect surface for laying out beads and making jewelry. Like any self-respecting designer, I have containers of beads and findings all over the place. Keeping them organized is always a struggle. Some days I spend way too much time looking for specific things, and while I'm looking for one thing, I'll find 10 other items that were hidden away in a box that I pull out only to add to another box that goes on my couch, where I sit in the family room with growing piles of stone, pearl and glass beads, necessary findings and all kinds of metal pieces including beads, filigree, connectors, wire and what-nots in silver, gold, antique gold, copper, and now gunmetal.
Sometimes I think I'm drowning in stuff.
What does that have to do with creativity? Everything!
I am always buying new stuff. New stuff sparks my creativity. I design by trial and error, which means laying out possibilities on my bead mat and stringing some of them together to see what feels right and what doesn't. So having lots of choices is very important to my design process. Based on what I've tried, I get ideas on things that aren't on my design mat and I have to go searching for specific stones or pearls or glass or metal. Because I can't have it ALL sitting on the couch next me. At least not at first....
Most of my bead stash is in my "work room" which is adjacent to the family room. My work room also has my computer, two desks, printer, paper, stamps, cutting area, ribbons, stamps, watercolor paints, stamps, paper, clay, books, magazines, paper, stamps, beads, glass, metal, wire, books, yarn, stones, and did I mention I also have stamps?
This is the room in which I take my photos for my on-line store, where I make greeting cards, book marks and refridgerator magnets, where I stamp metal, enter my beads and findings in my database, process credit card sales on-line, edit my photos, print my jewelry tags, write my blog and keep in touch with family and friends via e-mail and facebook.
So not only is my work room an organized mess, but so is my family room. Let's not even go into the spare bedroom where I store all of my craft show things like the shutters, table cloths, jewelry display busts, lights, boxes, earring turn-arounds and jewelry that is priced and tagged and ready to sell.
I could also mention the accumulation of sales books, checking account statements, receipts from purchasing beads and supplies, credit card statements and other business related paperwork that are stored in my work room that need to be organized so I can enter them into Quickbooks so it will calculate how much money I owe the state for Sales Tax. I file yearly on February 5th, and I've entered nothing in my accounting database since last February.
There comes a point when the clutter becomes a mountain that looms above me and threatens to spill its guts all over the place like a volcano spewing lava. When Too Much Stuff becomes Detrimental to Creativity.
I think I see hot red magma swallowing up the floor!
Good thing I can be creative in the family room tonight!
Tomorrow I'll worry about taming the chaos.
Cheers!
Laurel
