Just Walk Away, Renee!

We've all been there-- whatever we are working on is just NOT working! This usually happens when I'm on some kind of deadline and I've waited too long to finish my project in a reasonable amount of time. But, for some reason, I'm having to push the creative muse with a little kick in the fanny and she's not happy about it!

I've been working on a special order of beads, trying to copy the one in the photo below but tonight it's not flowing, what I've produced is interesting but not what's needed and I'm ready to start chopping my polymer clay canes into tiny, tiny pieces. What to do??

Just walk away. Take a nap, go for a walk, have a cookie, do some gardening-- give your mind a little breathing space. I used to do contract sewing for designers in San Francisco who did wearable art clothing and their deadlines were always ridiculous. I learned that “when you're hot, you're hot” and you know the rest of the phrase. Some days you should just be doing something else. The little angel of creativity is not sitting on your shoulder right now, and it's not worth ruining a whole bolt of something that was handwoven and took a month to produce. Your mind's in a rut and no amount of forcing it will cause that creative logjam to unstick.

Lately I've found that sleeping on it works best. Right before I fall asleep sometimes a genius idea just pops into my mind. Here's where the notebook-on-the-nightstand is handy. Sometimes I dig out one of my polymer clay books and just read until something jogs an idea. This morning I'm going to get out my Donna Kato's millefiori book and see if I can solve my little bead riddle. I had the kernel of an idea before I conked out last night – let's see if I can work it into a solution to my deadend.

Meanwhile, here's a photo of my Circus Beads-- not what I was aiming for but maybe I can string them into something interesting later on.