Welcome to Studio Saturday! Each week one of our contributors gives you a sneak peek into their studio, creative process or inspirations. We ask a related question of our readers and hope you’ll leave comments! As an incentive we offer a free prize each week to bribe you to use that keyboard. The following week we choose a random winner.
This week’s winner is Karen Williams. Congratulations! You have won a pair of Jennifer’s ceramic beads. Send Jennifer an e-mail with your address and she will get it right out to you.
This week is my birthday week (August 11) and I also share a birthday with my bestie the lovely Miss Heather Powers. So I decided to have a week’s worth of giveaways on my own blog.
There is still time to enter those giveaways if you are so inclined. They all end at midnight tonight 8/13!
It’s My Party: Birthday Week Giveaway Day 1
It’s My Party: Birthday Week Giveaway Day 2
It’s My Party: Birthday Week Giveaway Day 3
TODAY is the day. Hooroo, hooray!
It’s My Party: The Aftermath Day 5
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Summer is the busiest of times for my family. And as such I seem to have walked away from my studio and creating, unless it was absolutely necessary. Other times of the year you cannot stop me. And then I look around and see that some people seem to be prolific all the time. But I just cannnot keep up that pace.
Have you ever just called it quits? Found that you have a time of the year where nothing much gets done? When you want to create yet you sit there spinning your wheels because you are tired and just need a break? When is your ‘fallow season’?
A fallow season is one in which the soil is left unseeded after having been tilled and rid of weeds. Farmers will rotate their fields so as to give the land a breather to prepare for the next big planting season. This time off conditions the soil, rebuilding the nutrients, with the potential for growth just below the surface.
I unintentionally took the month of July off with all the baseball traveling that we did. I just couldn’t find the time to be in the studio and I really didn’t want to. I know that I neglected some seeds that were trying to take root, particularly some custom orders that have been waiting for me to come back to them, but I just couldn’t put myself in the right state of mind to make them bloom. And I don’t know about you, but when I force the ideas to come they look more like weeds than flowers. I have noticed that July and January are my ‘fallow seasons.’ In January I am burned out from the holidays, and the sales are lower at that time. In July I am just too busy living my life to care about stepping foot in my studio. And instead of fighting these fallow times with all my might, I know that I should see them as a gift. I should revel in them and delight in the slowing down and the ideas that are germinating just below the surface. Becuase when I do start out planting those seeds again, I will be in a much better place to develop and grow those ideas.
I am working on the seeds of an idea right now that I hope will be planted in this newly rejuvenated brain-soil. I have the basics – the fertile soil, the right mix of seeds, the tools to help it to grow and the patience to nurture these seeds to a bumper crop. All I need is a little bit more time to plant these seeds and hope they take root!
I had hoped (and promised Heather) that this seed she is helping me to nurture would be planted by our shared birthday (August 11th) but that hasn’t happened yet. But play time is over and it is time to roll up my sleeves and get to work to grow this thing that is spreading its roots right now.
This week I am giving away one of my ‘simple truths’ pendants that is perfect for the ABS theme for the month. I was going to save this for myself, but I would really rather this went to someone else so I can see what could become of it. This tiger lily pendant has the following quote on the back:
To win, all you need to do is answer one of the following questions:
Do you have a ‘fallow season’ in your creativity? If so, does it come every year at the same time or sporadically? How do you get yourself back in the habit of growing your seeds of ideas when you have been away from them for so long?
SummersStudio
August 13, 2011 at 11:50 amI completely agree that forcing yourself will usually come up with 'weeds.' And yes, I do have fallow times and they happen quite regularly when the other parts of my life need attention. When I have a difficult time getting back into it, I sit down at my work table and do something that I may have done a thousand times before. Somehow that lets me relax enough that new ideas and solutions to problems will just kind of bubble to the surface.
Alice
August 13, 2011 at 12:19 pmWhat a beautiful Simple Truths pendant! You find the best quotes to share.
I have two fallow seasons because of a committee I am on at church. The first busy time is from September to Christmas, as we have three large events during that time which take huge amounts of planning and time. The second is April through the second week of June, again because of three large events. But when its over I'm ready to get back full swing and create, and in the wee hours of the morning the ideas begin to chrun in my head.
I hope both you and Heather had a wonderful birthday week!!!!
Elisabeth
August 13, 2011 at 1:41 pmHope you have the happiest of happy birthdays! It sounds counterintuitive but signing up for challenges and blog hops – something with a deadline – is what getsme back to the bead table when I've been away for a while.
JJoy
August 13, 2011 at 2:01 pmLovely pendant…its words ring so true. I always have sporadic bouts of "speed bumps"-I ride the wave with these, as I believe they are meant to occur…a way that tells me to "reset my clock", and that's when I pull out my books, walk through bead and artist venues and dig deep for inspiration. Eventually something takes hold and I'm off and running again (usually with scissors)! 🙂
Doreen
August 13, 2011 at 2:03 pmMy fallow seasons come sporadically. They usually occur when I am tiring of creating in a certain way. I let it stew and simmer for a while until it comes to a boil. Then the new ideas start to flow.
EmandaJ
August 13, 2011 at 2:20 pmI wear so many diverse hats in my regular life that my fallow season(s) fall frequently and sporadically. I heap guilt on my head instead of embracing them as I should. Thank you for putting a different spin on this down time.
Emanda
artymezia[at]yahoo[dot]com
rosebud101
August 13, 2011 at 2:56 pmHappy Birthday, Erin! I see the seeds of your creativity are becoming beautiful plants now! When I need to reinstall my creativity, I simply do something, anything, that might find it's way into the definition of creative. That will usually jump start me. If that doesn't, then I make spacers.
KayzKreationz
August 13, 2011 at 3:49 pmMine seem to fall sporadically. My problem is I usually have more "seeds" of design/ideas than I have time to "cultivate" But fall seems to be my main time, when ideas fall off, because I get so busy.
Love that tiger lily pendant. I love all flowers and that is so pretty in a pendant.
Erin S
August 13, 2011 at 4:56 pmI don't seem to have a slow time, creatively, but there are days when I plan on working on a specific project and then I just don't feel like it. Sometimes I try to force it, which seldom works, and sometimes I just choose not to work on it that day. I find I have the easiest time working on "fall" type designs, and the hardest time working on "spring" type designs, which is what I need to be working on now for Stringing…
Mel
August 13, 2011 at 5:35 pmHa, actually I have 3-4 consistent fallow seasons. I'm a student, so my this dreaded fallow season falls as I near the end of each quarter (3-4/year, depending on if I'm taking summer classes) and tend to last for about the last four weeks of each term. That means four months of each year, I start at my beads and things blankly!! However, it means I'm creatively recharged once finals are over and I have freedom again, so maybe it's actually a blessing.
gailwhitehead55
August 13, 2011 at 7:59 pmI don't know that I have any set fallow times,but they do happen.I sell my jewelry at 2 gift shops,sometimes I can't keep up,other times,it seems nothing sells.So I just make things like earrings and keychains when I don't want to do much,but it ensures that I'm usually ready for the selling times.
Kirsi
August 14, 2011 at 3:31 amI do have had one longer fallow time about half a year. It was earlier when I was starting my hobby among jewerellys. I suddenly realiced How much there is to be learned and I was not just sure am I really gonna do this because I am sort of perfectinal. Now I have come a long way ahead and I am still learning and happy about it.
Best wishes to all of you. Kirsi.
CreationsbyKari
August 14, 2011 at 9:00 amWinter tends to be a fallow time for me, for whatever reason it is the only time of year I just don't seem to be inspired…
Lubna
August 14, 2011 at 9:51 amMy creativity flows in my writing. Yes, there are fallow seasons.
I hold a day job and write a monthly column for a local financial newspaper. Too much stress, kills my creativity and yet this deadline has to be met. It is then that I turn to other artists, bead craftsmen, poets, painters, photographs (those not connected at all with my creative field of writing). Looking at their blogs/their art is refreshing and charges me again. Happy creativity.
PS: Thanks for your earlier email, I just replied and hopped here
lukathewriter (at) gmail (dot) com
substitutionqueen
August 14, 2011 at 11:34 amI don't have a fallow season per se, but several times a year there will be a fallow week or two when I must rest my brain and hands. I stay away from my workroom, my jewelry magazines and catalogs, catch up on my reading and baking. This seems to refresh me and allow me to go back to work with renewed vigor and inspiration.
Line
August 14, 2011 at 12:38 pmI also have a fallow field, mine is in the summer during July and August. My kids are home and I am kept too busy with holidays, trips, soccer, friends and music concerts to have much left over for creating. I let ideas that come in my head float in and float out trusting that they will come back when I need them. by the time, the children are back at school I'm brimming with creative juices that need time to spill. I feel like a horse who is kept behind the gate until the bell rings. For me the bell rings in 14 days. Yahoo!
KmoRakefet
August 14, 2011 at 12:39 pmLove your work !!!
How do you stamp these little words ??
Lisa Peters Russ
August 14, 2011 at 1:44 pmThat is exactly how I create & exactly how I feel…Sometimes I am just creatively "spent"..and I cannot begin to create again until the time is right. It is something I know inside when the time is wrong and the time is right. It is OK, NOT to feel creative all the time – and it is very okay to get out, enjoy life and take in your surroundings because it is from these experiences that new idea's are born…for our work. I hope you continue to have an amazing summer Erin.
Lisa P.
cw
August 14, 2011 at 1:51 pmFirst of all, Happy Birthday!
In regards to a fallow time, I think we all need to have a time to rest our minds and creativity, get away from it all, hopefully to recharge ourselves. I think that is the time we reflect on what is important, and cherish those simple times, small pleasures, even more. I think we see things differently, appreciate nature, family, the world around us more. Then, for me, it's usually the change in season, the autumn, when you see the dramatic change in color, the smell and feel of change in the air on crisp mornings. The sunshine is different now. You take time, as they say, "to smell the roses".
I hope you will see and appreciate the simple things as the summer ends, and have a renewed spark of creativity and energy in your passions. 'love your work. Enjoy, life is too short, love the work you do, love your passion, whatever that might be.
Thanks for your generous giveaway.
Chris
CreekHiker / HollysFolly
August 14, 2011 at 2:01 pmI take time off several times throughout the year. This is usually brought on by a lack of sales. I have to get out of my own head and worrying about what might (but probably won't) sell and just start making what I want to make. My last torch session was for me and my "customer" is quite happy!
Cabby Crafter
August 14, 2011 at 6:58 pmOur lives are like a wheel where we go to a cycle of ups and downs. It has happened to me, yes, even if my craft life. There are days when I just go blank and stare at all my materials hoping that I would come up with something.
We just have to let it go… slow down and get recharged and be inspired. Happy Sunday!
Beadroe
August 14, 2011 at 10:21 pmMine are sporadic and really I do not understand why they occur or I would fix them.
Diane
August 15, 2011 at 3:59 amYes, I also have those "fallow periods". And you're absolutely right-it's a bad idea to force yourself. I usually get past it by leaving a few beads that I love in my beading tray along with a few coordinating "companions". Then I ignore them and after a few days I'll find myself working again.
Happy (belated) birthday!
Ashleigh Becker
August 15, 2011 at 12:45 pmI too unintentionally took July off! My seasons of no creating happen when the rest of my life get crazy busy & I have to put family ahead of beads. It's easy for me to get back in – I get the itch to create & can't help myself!
Cynthia
August 15, 2011 at 7:49 pmI hit periods of nothing good coming out, creatively. So, I usually will look at some of my favorite art beads, or dig through a box I haven't touched in a while, to see if it creates a spark. When all else fails, I buy NEW beads to inspire me.
For My Sweet Daughter
August 16, 2011 at 4:06 amI haven't kept track of my down times although they do seem to follow times when I am extremely stressed or creative. I will take time off, crochet or reorganize and clean to help my jump back in. Your pendants are beautiful!
missficklemedia.com
August 16, 2011 at 12:32 pmYes, I am in mine now.
Shannon
Shaiha
August 18, 2011 at 3:32 amI don't have fallow seasons as much as times when my health doesn't want to cooperate. I mean right now I just received my Bead Soup ingredients, I have 2 things already worked up in my head and my fibro has hit my arms/hands.
Off the Beadin' Path
August 18, 2011 at 6:03 pmThe tiger lily pendant is gorgeous! So "fall" besides. My fallow times are probably when I'm just too sleep-deprived to care, I just slog around my work area, dare I call it a "studio"? I open my planned projects drawer, then close it, and so on. This is a good time to sort things, open jump rings, find an item to take apart or otherwise make it disappear. On a creative day, I know I will make up for the down time. It's all good!