What Time is It?

Please don’t tell me that the clock last night was right when I finally went to sleep at 4:00 A.M.

Sleep deprivation is no joke.

Take time for the things you need like sleep. But know when you can afford to work instead of sleep.

The clock was right, as it turned out, that I stayed up until 4:00 A.M. doing what I love to do… bead.  This is another curse of a creative mind. There are seemingly constant visual images, brain-storm ideas, “aha” thoughts just waiting to be tapped into. When the creative thoughts pile up, what do you do?

If you are like me, you act on the impulses and the mood.  While it is true that you can feel more creative at different times of the day, for me I can’t pass up the opportunity to act on the urge to be creative. The situation doesn’t seem to pass.  To suppress my creative urges end up rendering me just plain crabby.

No matter what the clock says, I have the luxury of making and maintaining my own work hours. So, if I happen to have a creative streak in the wee hours of the night, I just go with it. I have learned to just go with the flow.  Sometimes, if I pay heed to the clock and live by the tick-tick, I find myself stressed in other ways. I become tied to the feeling that I have to work in a specified time frame and I can’t explore at a relaxed pace.

 I have noticed for me that if I am working on something new or challenging, those are the times that I automatically and naturally lose track of time. When you are on a roll, you are on a roll! The time dedicated to art that I create in the middle of the night takes on a special meaning. My occasional late night or early morning work efforts are very intense and focused. I know that I could be (and maybe should be) asleep, so I am aware that what I am working on is worth my time away from getting my needed ZZ’s.

My rationalization for  giving into a work streak at odd hours is simple.  I can always take a power nap the following day if I need it.  That is my plan “A”. With that solution in my mind, I use the time that I feel the most creative to work, work , work.  Most times these bursts are very productive. It is a quiet time in my work space. No phone interruptions, no television, background noise, no radio, no foot traffic, no hunger or thirst issues, and working in the comfort of pajamas is a perk.

Whatever the underlying cause for sleeplessness, when I turn my time into productive creative time, I get a feeling of accomplishment at the start of the following day. How do you use your energy when you have a creative spurt in the wee hours? Is it worth it to you to lose valuable sleep in order to satisfy a creative urge? If you can’t sleep and can’t use your sleeplessness to a work advantage do you have a “plan B”?

Today, I woke up to eight completed bracelet projects and four pin projects. I’d call that worth the lack of sleep I may have sacrificed. Feed your creative spirit. I fed mine a heaping  bowl of  “sleep” and I am still in a great mood and alert, ready to create again.

Learn how to manage your time so you can enjoy the occasional all-niter because you may never know when it will produce great things.  Wish me sweet dreams, because I will be ready to hibernate later tonight.

My words of advice: Pace your creativity, not the floors with sleeplessness.

The Curse of a Beader

Making beautiful beads in my workspace: Club Creative Studio, Veronica Campos-Hallstrom

 

Club Creative Studio’s Feature Friday blog has a continued focus on creativity. Today, the topic is the beader, the creative jewelry maker that creates with beads. The quirks of a person who is addicted to beading is unique. If you know someone who beads or will soon get into the art of beading you can consider yourself warned and informed after reading this funny write-up from bead artist Jen Van Benschoten who is also the editor of Beading Daily at http://www.dailybeading.com

 

Editor and bead artist: Jennifer Van Benschoten

You Might Be a Beader, If…

“We beaders have very distinct patterns of behavior, wouldn’t you agree? Sometimes, I catch myself doing something, and I think, gee, only a real beader would do something as crazy as this. Do any of these sound familiar to you?”  I am sharing in a segment of the newsletter from The Daily Beader. I can totally relate and wanted to share this great point of view that others can relate to as well.

Five Warning Signs That You Might Be a Beader

Everyone’s dining room table looks like this…right?
You might be a beader, if…you haven’t seen the surface of your dining room table in the last six months. Yes, this also applies to your coffee table, kitchen table, sofa, or favorite armchair, too. In my case, the beads tend to overflow from my little corner office desk in the living room into the dining room, into the bedroom, and even into the kitchen once in a while. Do those little beads have legs, or what?  Yes, I believe that beads take on a life of their own, moving where you are and multiplying very fast too. Although I have a designated workspace, my studio sometimes expands to the same places that Jennifer mentioned as well as a few other places. Sometimes I bead in the car, in a hotel room, and outside. Beads just pile up in unexpected places.

You might be a beader, if…you’ve ever made a New Year’s resolution to buy less beads and use more of what’s in your stash. Admit it, when you thought about what you wanted to change in 2013, you probably thought that you wanted to do more beading projects to use up all the beads you have in your stash. I did, too, until I saw that one of my favorite online bead suppliers had a brand-new stock of Rizo beads. That resolution didn’t even last a week, I’m ashamed to say.  The thing about using the term”stash” only really means that we want to keep something, not really keep it to use for a later date. Beaders get attached to their beads, it is one reason why it is sometimes hard to give my art away to the public, so much of an artist’s soul goes into creating the hand-made beads that I include in my jewelry art.  I did not resolve to buy less beads but, I did resolve to make more beads!

You might be a beader, if…you start six new beading projects before you finish the first one you originally started. This could be why my beads tend to spread themselves out all over the house. I started a bead-weaving project on one of my new Bead On It boards, and then before I was halfway finished with that one, I had an idea for another beading project that I just couldn’t wait to get started! Thankfully, I had another empty beading board, so I started that beading project. But then I ran out of room on my desk, so I parked the new project on the dining room table…and so on. It’s almost like I suffer from Beader’s Attention Deficit Disorder or something.  I tend to jump from work space to workspace within my studio if I am in the experimentation mood. Otherwise, I try to discipline myself.  I try to stick to one project at a time so that I can focus and dedicate the needed attention to one piece of art at a time, and check off the customer’s project as quickly and as professionally as I can without a start and stop interruptions.

A drawer full of brown seed beads, yet I can’t find just the right color… You might be a beader, if…you have four cabinets full of seed beads, but you don’t have just the right color for your current beading project. This happens to me all the time. Yes, I really have four cabinets, each with seven drawers, that are full of seed beads in pretty much every size, shape, and color you could imagine. So why is it that I can never find just the right color for my latest beaded jewelry design idea? I have no idea, but when this happens, it’s really hard to keep that resolution not to buy any more beads and use more of what’s in my stash.  I do not work with seed beads often enough to have a large collection of them.  I can see the problem of running out of them however, because they are often sold in small quantities and you never know when you need a huge amount for a project. I am unique to this situation because I am at an advantage in making my own beads. I create custom colors so I do not have to rely on a manufacturer supplying the “perfect” matching color.
You might be a beader, if…you’ll spend $300 on seed beads, but you buy all of your clothes at the local thrift shop. Not that shopping at the local thrift shop is a bad thing. I mean, my local thrift shop is where I found my favorite cheetah-print cashmere sweater for a mere $2! Saving money on clothes means more money for beads, right? (At least, that’s what I keep telling myself.)” It is true that if you are a beader, your perspective and priorities are different from others concerning extra cash.  I love to get that spree thrill rush from being in a bead or craft store and discovering all of the treasures there.  Bringing my bag of goodies home is like Christmas. I can’t wait to open the packages and get started on a project. Inspiration can come from a bag of  buttons, findings, wire or any other supply we use in our designs.

Jennifer and I both ask if you know anyone that has or does display behaviors like the suggestions above.  We both agree that there is no cure for being a beader, and that using up beads in a vicious cycle of creation is a good thing.

If you would like to experience the beads that have been in my stash and used for Club Creative Studio art, please visit the evolving inventory on the website:

http://www.clubcreativestudio.com

 

Give Me a Break

Club Creative Studio strives to Be Creative Everyday.  Although there are times when distractions in the day prevent total focus, most days are productive work times that stretch into several hours of dedicated creative time.  What do you do when your creative brain needs a break? Do the things that make you the version of YOU you want to be.

Sometimes it is most helpful for me to try to break up the day into mini-work sessions, to prevent burn-out.   If there is a need for a “supply run”, I use that as a much-needed time to just chill from a project. Not to mention allowing for time to work in spurts, divides up your day so that you can do other things of importance.  When I break up my creative work day, I am able to schedule in time to get away for a few miles of running.  How about that for time management?

For the most part, I try to get a full day of creative work into each of my days, so that the weekends can be a choice work day or a day of inspiration and no hands-on work.  My job doesn’t always mean that I am at the design table.  Some days are spent in a library, at a craft store, on the computer, networking with like-minded people, in a museum, or just in an inspirational place to blog. No matter the place, I feel that I can be as productively creative as I wish with a little dedication and planning.  A task for most people is not to be creative in the first place but, to have the desire to remain creative and not fear running out of the creative juice.  Taking a break now and then gives back the full glass of creative juice.

Why are people creative in the first place? I think that although creativity can be obtained, it is a natural want and need for the art-minded folk.  It is an inborn desire to outwardly express what is inside.  There is a consistent drive to want to explore and experiment with new materials and techniques.  A need to want to figure out what can be produced with ideas and prompts.  It is a challenge to create something interesting and different and the thrill of completing something visually satisfying is worth the time invested in creation.

Taking breaks provide a chance to rest the mind from over-creativity (if there is such a thing). Recharging in any field can be an opportunity to step back and learn in a different way.  Without getting too lazy, step away but, not too long.  Take a break for a few minutes, hours, days or even a week.  You may need a break to become even more productive. It may prove to be the time you may need to appreciate your past efforts and miss the inner drive that you have to get cranking once again with your creative thoughts. Only you know what type of break you need to be the best version of YOU.

Lately for me, there is a resurgence of a new regiment that will give me added energy and drive to make my creative hours even more clear and focused.  I will write about that in another post.  It is the added regiment of running. What do you do when you need a break from creative thinking or creative production?  How does taking a break revive your creativity?

Don’t let your creativity escape you.  Use it and create a pace for it so that is ever-lasting.

Related articles

• Creativity Quotes (clubcreativestudio.wordpress.com)

>Keepin’ It Fresh

>A creative person for the most part… feels the need to create on many different levels. Creating the same type of art or craft in the same way may make for an “master of technique” but, that isn’t always enough. Speaking for myself and perhaps others, the additional challenge comes by way of how something can be created differently. Using your trial, errors, and successes to create a new product or different method of creation all together is challenging but rewarding.

Providing yourself with opportunities to “keep it fresh” challenges you to explore your own limitations and scope of imagination. Remember the phases of Picasso, for example in the Rose Period or Blue Period? If an artist does not try something new from time to time, their art may become routine to them and show in their expressive work. I even find that I am more productive if I allow myself to move around my work station, to work on several tasks at one session. If I get frustrated or distracted, I simply move to a different focus area and carry on. My productivity is not interrupted, it is merely switched in tasks. This is not always my consistent method or usual work ethic but, I allow myself the option of moving on from a project if I need a fresh view of something else. It’s a “re-focus” time so to speak.

For the sake of keeping products fresh, developing new line items is also an important expansion effort. I am on a continuous hunt for a variety of ways that I can possibly incorporate my hand made beads. Club Creative Studio is about to launch a few new concepts. Each new line item is planned and perfected to showcase the hand-made beads we create. We strive to provide a festive decorative item as well as a uniquely functional object of art. Also, our mantra/motto: “Art That Sets You Apart” is a constant reminder that our art must continue to hit the mark in originality. And it is great to have a goal to work toward on a daily basis.
It is that particular challenge that is also a rewarding aspect of creating in the first place.