After being in a terrible creative slump for the past few weeks, I finally feel like I'm bouncing back. I took a look through the last embroidery book I got and was like, "Omg, have to make this, NOW" instead of being all like, "I should probably do something with that at some point... Maybe." And all of this started because of an antique doll's eye.
First off, let me explain that I don't have some kind of weird obsession with eyeballs. While eyes are in fact the windows to the soul, and some eyes can be remarkably pretty, I've never collected them. To each their own, but that's a little weird. I was walking home today when I went into this cute little craft store about a block over and down from where I live. I've been in there several times and thought it might be nice to browse their selection of supplies and books once again.
Right in front of the register, there's some little bowls of tiny glass jars, itty bitty plastic charms, pencils, and some other fairly small crafty items. One little bowl was filled with small antique doll eyes. At first, I was taken aback and kind of horrified. You mean there's dozens of old dolls out there with one or both eyes pried out? Sounds like the making of a bad horror movie. The more I looked through them, however, the more I realized the creative potential. I picked up one in good condition with a swirly blue iris.
And then it hit me. Put it on a black triangle of clay, maybe add a border, bake, then apply varnish. Bam, instant necklace. It's hard to explain, but weeks of being troubled by the amount of unused craft stuff lying around my bedroom began to dissolve. All by one little idea.
This may seem unrelated, but lately, my dear stepmom and I had a wonderful talk. She's so very intelligent about pretty much everything in general and I most definitely trust her advice. One of the pieces of advice she gave me was "tread lightly." While I understood what she meant, I never thought it could be applied to the things I make and the process involved. Tread lightly, start small, start slow. Even if you were once way up high and now you're scraping the bottom of the barrel, tread lightly and build it back up. You'll get back to the top. You'll get there and it'll be okay.
As many of you could probably tell, I was in a funk there for a while. I've always thought of creative ability (and other parts of life) as a plant, and if you don't feed and water it, it'll wither and eventually die. That thought hurt me. Instead of lamenting about it, I'm going to try to concentrate on the good part, which is that I am at least experiencing the normal ups and downs of life. Some people cannot and that's unfortunate. Some people can't tell the difference between the ups and the downs and for some there's no such thing as "up."
My advice to you is to start small. Make that weird necklace. Try that new cookie recipe and make a tiny batch just for your best friend. Be as slow as you want with things. Let your ideas percolate as long as you darn well please and then let them explode out like a jewelweed plant. Or slither out slowly like a funny little snake. Rejoice in and celebrate your ups and realize that the downs will end. Most of all, tread lightly, and remember that you are loved.
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