Recharging- Oksana Prokopenko.

 
Blue Madonna, detail

Originally uploaded by luluvillage

One of the reasons I write is that I seem to acquire a magical ability to connect the dots previously unseen, to air out vague yet profound feelings. It is as if I rake up old, last year’s leaves of ideas off the surface to uncover a sleepy crystal clear lake underneath, brimming with new life and desire. Yet I was surprised, that while intending to write of hikes and forests, rivers and mountains (my preferred recharge environment), I wrote of etsy.
I still do not fully understand why I started an etsy shop. I am not a shopkeeper. Promoting things is not one of my strengths. I can hardly do the same item twice.
Then I had an insight why mulling over the upcoming post:
I like the freedom it gives me to experiment with new stuff. It is as if I put on a different hat and allow myself to do things quirky and odd, out of my ordinary routine. I realized that I think of myself as a serious artist- too serious, really, to my own detriment! I’ve forgotten how to have fun with all things creative. This of course explains why I could not put my name down- me? Associated with all these seemingly unrelated crazy things? No way!
And yet, I inch forward in the new direction. My etsy shop has become more of a lab: a place to try, a permission to fail, no strings attached. I understand now that it was not the business I was after, but a place to play. The shop has become my playground. I have explored with a child’s curiosity. I have tried mediums from decoupage to video in just the past six months. I am learning to get out of my own way, and silliness and joy are back on my daily agenda.
Surprisingly (or is it?), my other ‘serious’ self has only benefited!

www.luluvillage.com

Recharging - Suzanne Tate

I have had an unscheduled, chance to ‘recharge’ and have a break from torching lately. The digital controllerr on my kiln went on the fritz, and it was weeks until I could get an electrician to look at it. Then it had to go back to the manufacturer to be repaired and reprogrammed.  All in all, about 5 weeks with no kiln. And hence no torching.  Ironically, it’s only been a few months since I started garaging beads as I torch, so there is no real reason I couldn’t have gone back to batch annealing for the duration. Perhaps I did need a chance to recharge (or maybe I’m just lazy )  Whatever the reason, today was my first day on the torch for a great many weeks, and it was very enjoyable.

My day job has been quite stressful and demanding this year, and I have not been able to give my beadmaking the attention I would like. I have also been a little demoralised with the slower market for bead sales, and the need to find new venues for selling. One thing I have always dreaded is making my hobby seem too much like hard work, so the enforced hiatus from torching has not necessarily been a bad thing.  I was able to return to the torch today revitalised and looking forward to many happy hours melting glass.  My new TV and DVD player in the studio didn’t hurt, either.

Solar Flare Creations

Recharging: Lisa Liddy

Recharge: Refresh, restore, revitalize, renew, renew

I guess you could say I’m “recharging” now. Sales have been stagnant on non-essentials like jewelry for a few months and seeing more money going out on show expenses than coming in, means time to re-evaluate. Summer is coming and people have vacations on their minds more than beautiful necklaces and bracelets. (Not saying I agree with that logic!)

Do I think that the stimulus checks will see their way to boosting my sales? Probably not—in the short term anyway. And since I don’t see my style of jewelry going out of style, I am biding my time. Business from my “day” job (book design) has been up consistently since the first of the year, so that takes the front seat. I wouldn’t have had time to build inventory and create new designs, much less spend the time on marketing, so I’ve not been in panic mode. It seemed a reasonable time to go with the lull.

So now is the time to:

• Explore and master new techniques.
• Fine-tune the production process.
• Tidy up the work area (OK, seriously, I may never get to that point).
• Catch up on design magazines.
• Design new Melonhead Joolz for the summer season and upcoming charity events.
• Sign up for classes to expand my skills.
• Investigate contests and submissions.
• Research other sales venues.
• Make Joolz just for me!

I’m working on plans for a couple of home parties in different states this summer as well as planning some long weekends with bead friends.

I’ll be ready when the market turns around…refreshed and recharged…

Lisa Liddy, Joolz by Lisa

Recharging - Suzanne Tate

This month I am asked to talk about ‘Recharging’ – how do I refresh my creativity and recharge my batteries?  As a hobbyist, I guess burn out is less of a problem for me to begin with.  One of the things I always consider in relation to my bead business is ensuring it stays fun, that it does not become too much like hard work.  I often go a few weeks without torching, as I get too busy, and life gets in the way, so I am generally chomping at the bit to torch.  I did have a bit a creative lull earlier this year.  That seems to relate more to my morale about the online auction sites being so very slow at the moment, than it is about how I actually feel about torching.  Often, when that happens to me, coincidentally it seem sot be a time where I need to focus on my historical beads for awhile, so I don’t have to stress about my lack of creative flow too much. After a few weeks of making fairly simple medieval beads for an SCA event or focusing on research, I am generally happy to ‘play’ with more contemporary designs.  A change is as good as a holiday, so they say. 

 

So, for me, I try not to make to many demands on my beadmaking – that’s why I don’t do wholesale orders for shops, as I don’t want to ‘have to’ make a certain number of beads a week.  As long as my glass is self funding, I am generally happy, although I am trying to fund a trip back to the states next year. 

 

Keep it fun – it would be a terrible thing to me, to let my joy in glass be damaged by burning out, or too many demands re sales etc.

 

www.solarflarecreations.com.au

How to Recover & Recharge from Creative Burnout - Alexia Petrakos

Creative types sometimes go through dry spells, times where nothing they create works, if they even can bring themselves to create. Whether you call them dry spells, burnout, or just plain old fatigue and boredom, they’re not pleasant and creatives can find themselves depressed and unmotivated if they’re not aware of what’s happening.

Creativity comes in cycles. One month you’re churning out piece after piece, everything you put your hand to comes out fabulous. It seems like it’ll go on forever. You are the Productivity Queen! Next month you crash and burn. You can’t even bear to look at your studio, let alone make something. This is when you need to recognize the signs your body is sending. After a time of great creative work, your brain, spirit and body need a break. You’ve spent your creative energies and your well is dry. It’s time to recharge.

Here are a few ways to recharge your creative batteries:

* Dump it all out. Vent. Write in your journal. Cry on a friend’s shoulder. Just let it all out. There’s something in crying and letting your emotions have a voice that helps.

* Escape for a while. Leave your studio as it is, messes & all. Go to your favorite museum, go see an art film or watch a play. Or go further. Take a vacation - grab your closest friends and go on a road trip. See if you can pick out things on your trip that interest you, things that may fill your creative well.

* Read a book. Make sure it’s something you enjoy, and not a self-help book. Fiction works nicely in times like these. Try Madeline L’Engle’s “A Wrinkle in Time” or Isaac Asimov’s “Robots of the Dawn” or even some encouraging memoirs and biographies like Anne Lamott’s “Bird by Bird”. Fantasy, fiction, and memoirs of creative folks can breathe life into your breathless creative soul.

* Take a walk outside. Exercise clears the mind as well as helps the blood flow. Try to make this a part of your everyday routine. Fresh air and nature can refill your well.

* Sleep! A long period of productivity takes a great deal of energy. Adequate sleep is essential for a healthy mind and body. Indulge in naps. As SARK says “We all need more naps!”

Don’t take too long recharging. Sometimes too much rest can lead to laziness. Ease back into your creative endeavors by tackling small pieces of projects, one earring of a pair, a small corner of canvas, one paragraph of your book. Don’t dive back in, but go slowly and build back up as you regain your energy. After all that recharging, your creative well should be more full than it was and it’ll come pouring out again.

Burnout or creative fatigue is just part of life’s roller-coaster. Don’t be too discouraged if you’re faced with burnout, just know this will pass. And in the meantime, treat yourself to some fun.

 

 

Recharging - Annette Piper

 

I am currently at the start of my spring and summer show season here in the southern hemisphere.  This is what I have been workingall winter for and I am very excited to finally be moving forward into my prime sales season.  I love springtime, not only for the beautiful weather after the cold, dim days of winter, but because people start to bare their necks and realize that they need something beautiful to put there!  This means a selling frenzy in some instances and I can guarantee by the time that January arrives I will be exhausted! All the hard work of sourcing stones followed by rushes of designing and making as the muse takes me will finally be paying off not just financially but in the satisfaction I receive in seeing other people enjoy wearing my pieces.   

But what happens after this flurry of activity?  Traditionally things slow down for me  in the sales and order department from mid- January through April.  This is my time to sit back and enjoy the ‘fruits of my labours’,  a time to recharge.  I think creative people get burned out after a particularly busy time and I am surely no exception to this rule. If you have been very ill, you need a time to recuperate and to get back some energy and it is the same with your creativity.  I will work at every opportunity for days on end designing jewellery, then I go for days without doing a thing in that department.  Not very efficient, I know, but it works for me.   I recharge my energy levels by taking it easy, going to bed a bit earlier, reducing my commitments and taking a step back from the bench.   But recharging my energy levels doesn’t always mean that I have recharged my creativity levels.  Fortunately the muse doesn’t desert me for long.  

Luckily for me, my chosen work really is my passion.  There is always something waiting to burst forth.   What is my passion, you ask?  Gemstones!  And working with them every day makes me inordinately happy.   I take my inspiration from the stones and let them lead me on the route to how they will look best in jewellery.   I studied gemology too many years ago to happily admit, but when I looked at gemstones under a loupe or microscope and saw the little worlds that existed within the stones, unheeded by all but a few, I was hooked for life.   Gazing into a few stones, appreciating their differences and their beauty can quite quickly send me into an almost feverish designing phase!

At the moment, I really have no time for gazing, except into pieces that I have already made. This allows me to share my passion with my customer, which we both appreciate!    However I do look forward to the time, still a couple of months distant, when I can unwind, relax, perhaps read a book. I am secure in the knowledge I will have always have new gems to look at and use in my designs.