Hi!

I’m writing to you today from deep within the trenches of personal exploration. Reinventing yourself may sound glamorous, but I’ll be the first to tell you that it isn’t easy. Two years ago my mother left her job and sold her home with the whimsy and confidence of Mary Tyler Moore in mind, no doubt.  She spent an entire year as an unwilling vagabond before she finally found her rhythm. Fortunately my case isn’t quite so serious, but right now I think I know how she must have felt. I bet you do, too.

The last two weeks have been a drudgery of research, punctuated by moments of elation, hope and sincere gratitude. But a drudgery nonetheless. It is one thing to read blogs while you eat your morning toast but it is another thing entirely to spend all day on the computer reading about other people’s successes, failures, inspirations, cravings, outfits, vacations, and aspirations. It sucks the life out of you. It makes every original idea you thought you had seem hackneyed.

The solution, I thought, would be to turn off the computer altogether and put pen to paper. But then of course, as I promptly reminded myself, I can’t draw. So I probably wound up lusting after the pages of my Pattern Sourcebook, wishing Phyllis Baron and Dorothy Larcher might rise from the dead to adopt my weary, unoriginal heart.

All this struggling had me feeling very pitiful. The real solution, as it turned out, was to take a retreat and recharge my brain. So I drove to  Seattle to spend the weekend with my road-worn Mother who, since her vagabonding, has settled graciously in a Queen Anne Studio. We went to the ballet, we spent 5 hours at Via Tribunali trying to finish a litre of wine, and we bought new shoes. I’m not suggesting that new shoes and wine should be the solution to all your problems, but sometimes they certainly do help. Especially when Phyllis and Dorothy are nowhere to be found.

The weekend was full of serendipitous encounters and many eerie coincidences, hinting that I might be on the right track after all.  And despite all the advice Corinna gave me on the contrary, my To Do lists this week are growing quite large; though she seemed proud to hear that I’ve turned them into little works of art, proof to myself that I CAN draw, even if it does look a bit juvenile.

An exercise of art in the everyday

I won’t bore you with all the items on my list, but I do want to share with you the most exciting list of all: My Creative Interests. I made this list to remind myself that this new adventure is about learning, exploration and having fun. The goal is to do 6 of these (that I’ve never done before) in 6 months.

• Knitting
• Sewing
• Printmaking
• Painting
• Drawing
• Pattern Making
• Stamp Making
• Gouache
• Dyeing
• Making Paper Goods
• Fabric Design
• Dancing
• Photography
• Designing Websites
• Designing Print Materials

This list reminds me that the trenches aren’t so deep after all. Happy making everyone.

Phase one of Project Fraserhead is complete: Make a studio.

I’ve wanted my own studio since I can remember. When I was a dancer, of course, I dreamed of a Ballet Studio. But no matter my passion du jour, I’ve always pined for a room of my own. Alas, it could be a while before the dream is fully realized but there is absolutely no reason why I shouldn’t make use of what I have now. So, armed with a vision, $100, and my own personal carpenter (my partner, Joe), I turned my living room into a real, working space.

I started by picking a suitable corner and proceeded to make some drawings. I decided on a great big table. Measuring 8 feet long, it would offer enough room for 2 separate working spaces, one for computer stuff and one for art stuff. It also allows Joe and I to work simultaneously, side by side, the way it should be. We went to The ReBuilding Center, a non-profit used building material resource center (and also my employer!), to find some reclaimed lumber for the table. We lucked out in finding some beautiful door frames made from old-growth fir and turned them into the table top.

Once the table was complete we bought an old piece of siding and some metal brackets to make shelves. To top it off, I requested a cork board; A big one. So we found some reclaimed materials to build that, too.

The entire Studio project took us a week to complete and cost $71. With the exception of a table lamp from Ikea and 8 cork tiles from Staples, everything we used to make the space was reclaimed or purchased at thrift stores. Even the pens.  The icing on the cake: While making room for our new table I discovered a check for $100! Meant to be? I think so.

Here are a few tips for those of you who are trying to make a work space on a tight budget:

- Tell your friends! Many of the items in this space were given to me by others who knew I what I was looking for. Those beautiful vintage Thonet chairs, for example, were free. They were being given away by a Parish and my mother snagged them for us.  A truly phenomenal find.

- Build it yourself. If you have the skills or can bribe someone who has the skills (in my case!) do it yourself. Our 8 foot table would cost between $500-1,500 new, but the total cost for us was only $18.

- Use reclaimed materials. Sometimes using salvage and thrift materials can take longer and require more work, but it is truly worth the effort. Fear not! In addition to saving hundreds of dollars, you get the satisfaction of owning something with a history and of knowing you are contributing to a more sustainable world. The cork for the cork board we ended up buying new, but the frame and backing were reclaimed. We ended up paying $24 for a 3×3 cork board that would normally cost between $70-150.

-Be flexible. When working on a budget with reclaimed materials it is absolutely necessary to be flexible and maintain a sense of humor. Changing direction mid-stream is part of the game. Don’t let it stress you out. Enjoy the process of discovery and creation.

I’m still working on the studio and would love to hear your ideas and suggestions. If you have pictures of your own handmade studio add a link in the comments!