Making Space for Creativity – Daily Dose of Fiber Challenge
How did the first week of 2013 work out creatively for you? Did you manage to spend at least 5 minutes a day doing something creative? Did you think about where your time goes and where you could fit in more time for fiber? What did you find held you back? Do you have a dedicated space to work? Many times, it is hard to find a spot that you can be creative but I think you can make space if you really put your mind to it.
When I first started doing fiber art, I didn’t have a dedicated space to work. It is hard to work on things when you always have to clean up when you need to leave the project. I started using one of our two guest bedrooms. For the longest time, the bed stayed in the room taking up tons of space. We don’t have that many guests and usually only one bedroom is needed at one time. Over the past 5 years, we only used two bedrooms at once 3 times for a couple of days. So I decided to move the bed out of the room. We store it in a finished portion of our garage and if we need the bed, we bring it back in and set it up. Because we only have to do it every couple of years, it isn’t bad. But I love the extra space it gives me. I can leave projects out that I’m working on without worries.
Do you have a dedicated space to work? Is there a room in your house that doesn’t really get used that much? I keep thinking I should convert our dining room into a dye/paint studio. We never use it and it ends up just being a dumping ground. I’m not sure my husband would go along with this idea so I haven’t brought it up. I already take over half the kitchen most of the time. Perhaps there is a space in your home that you could convert into a mini studio such as a closet or a corner of a room. There are many magazines out now that show various studios and storage solutions. You can also search online for ideas about how to fit a studio into a small space.
Even if you don’t have a space to use, you can always create a box or container that will hold your supplies. Keep them all together and use a TV table or temporary table to work. Then when you’re finished, you can put everything back in the container and have everything ready to go for your next creative opportunity. So don’t despair if you feel you don’t have space to work. I know that people living in small apartments find ways and space to work in so you can as well.
Have you been creative this past week? What are you plans for next week. I’d love to hear what you’ve been doing. Leave a comment here or join us in the forum to join the discussion. If you didn’t read about the challenge, here’s the post that will bring you up to speed. We’d love to have you join us! The photos are all projects I worked on this week.
14 thoughts on “Making Space for Creativity – Daily Dose of Fiber Challenge”
My house is small with almost no storage room. I have a friend who designs artist’s studios. She spent some of her valuable time to give me a floor plan and ideas for organizing, building shelves in a closet and labeling everything in clear plastic boxes. It took me months to convert one of the small bedrooms into a first rate studio. Without this system, I could not function. Although I do not have a dye studio, I use my kitchen. I also made one corner of my sunroom into a painting studio. Organization is everything.
I totally agree Judy – being organized in a small space is a must.
I do so agree – everyone needs a space to call their own. I served my apprenticeship using the kitchen counter and dining table and sometimes I felt that I didn’t want to start a project knowing that I would have to clear it away to get dinner. I am lucky to have a spare room of my own now.
I am doing the challenge and I’m loving it – I could so easily have spent the first week of January just faffing around and catching up with everything else and getting nowhere creatively.
I would urge everyone to read your post.
I’m glad you’re doing the challenge Lyn. It really improves my day when I do something creative even for just a few moments. And you can really achieve a lot that way if you’re consistent.
I’ve taken over a bedroom. It’s a long narrow room, with windows along its length, so although north facing, it’s a bright space. I have a 10 foot run of cheap Ikea storage units which give me 10 feet x 16 inches of work top. I can put my sewing machine on it, make long narrow felted items, larger items have to be made on the dining table. The shelves take fibre, art materials etc. and I have lots of decorated pots on the window sill for brushes, knitting needles, pencils and general bits and bobs.
I do some dyeing in the kitchen though my husband is not keen, so I try to do this in the garage. I’m planning to take over more space there. 🙂
We’ve had family staying over the holidays so apart from knitting, Ihaven’t actually done much with fibre, but have had lots of opportunity to plan and get some ideas onto paper. Have also done lots of arty-crafty stuff with our grandchildren.
So not a bad start to the year.
By the way Ruth, love those hot colours – do I see a face in profile?
Your space sounds really nice. A ten foot long work top sounds lovely even if it is only 16 inches wide.
I didn’t notice the face until you said something. It wasn’t meant to be a face 🙂
I’m trying to make more space with clearing everything out. I bought a ‘new’ second hand desk yesterday which will hopefully give me more space. Light is always a problem here in winter, I don’t think people realise just how far north the UK is, at this time of year our day is only 7 1/2 hours, and unless it’s cold and bright, it’s very hard to see for sewing etc.
Clearing out the old stuff that you don’t really need is good. Hope the “new” desk works out well. Lighting is a big issue. I find I have a hard time doing the detailed sewing and beading because I can’t see well enough. I have a special light at home that I use for sewing. At least we’re gaining minutes of light now instead of losing them. We usually have about 8 hours of light here in the worst of winter.
Nice work Ruth and I see the face too. I have a great space but it is crowded. Slowly we are working on getting me more space. but I really can’t complain. The UK is quite north. It is in line with Hudson Bay. It’s a good thing its moderated by the prevailing current and winds. We have almost 9 hours of daylight now.
Thanks Ann. I am slowly working on getting more space too. But I am so much better off now that I have my own room.
Thank you for the inspiration and the insight to your daily challenges. I did not get to do as much felting this year due to some back issues and surgery. I was able to do a lot these past 2 months and hoping to do one of your online classifieds next year. I like the daily dose of fiber and will strive to document my own in 2018. Again thanks for the inspiration!
Hi Josie, Sorry to hear that you didn’t get to do as much felting as you’d hoped. I just find that using those spare moments, I can get so much more done than I ever thought I could. Good luck with your daily dose of fiber journey!