My first memory as a maker is when I was around 8 or 9 years old. My mom was selling hand-painted wood sculptures at craft shows. This was long before the age of the internet and local craft shows were the only way to sell. I wanted to be just like my mom. I wanted to sell at the craft show. I spent weeks turning plastic pony beads and elastic into bracelets.
I set up a small coffee table in the front corner of her booth and sold my work. I brought home around $30 and in the late ’80s, this was a TON of money. I was rich.
My path into making has been crazy. I eventually went to school for graphic design only to graduate and not want to be told what to make. These days I run Porter & Hazel with my husband. We make custom leather jewelry.
But the truth is I have never really felt at home in the artist community. Not because I’m not an artist, or because I’m not a creative person… But because I could never choose one medium to focus on.
It seems as though artists making a living today are focused. They have one discipline they excel at. They are quilters or seamstresses. They are illustrators or graphic designers, they are bakers or gardeners. They do absolutely stunning home DIY projects. And this one thing is what they grow their career and their businesses around.
I can’t pick one thing to focus on. I’ve tried. It’s like going on a low-carb diet. Once you swear off bread the only thing you can think about is a bagel.
The more I try to focus, to exclude things the more stuck I get. I can’t make anything. I don’t finish things. And worse, I pass moral judgment on myself. As if somehow I am a failure because I love to do all the things.
I am not one thing. I want to learn and do all the things. I want to sew and paint and become an amazing bread baker.
2021 Is a New Beginning.
I’m done trying to be what everyone else is. Because clearly, I will never really be able to focus. So it is time to stop trying. There have to be other people out there who want to be inspired to dabble in all the creative things. Right? Leonardo da Vinci managed to paint the Sistine Chapel and invent helicopters.
So I am going to blog here about all the things I make. This will most certainly include:
- sewing bras, quilts, clothes, and toys.
- knitting and crochet
- weaving
- making jewelry
- baking bread and probably cookies.
- watercolor illustration
- embroidery, cross-stitch, and fiber art
- home improvement DIY
- growing all the house plants I can without living in an actual jungle
- gardening with food and flowers
- dying yarn and fabric (and probably my fingers)
- running a creative business
- and a few other things I haven’t realized I want to do yet.
So 2021 is the start of a new creative journey where I learn to fall in love with the artist I am. And hopefully, inspire you to live your most creative life.