Indie Dyer – Leanne Paulin, Huespun Fiberworks
Pattern Design – Kim McKenna
At the beginning of August, I decided I needed to slow down. I felt like I had been moving from one thing to the next without really giving myself the time or space to think about how I was working. So I made the decision to take the month off from making. Not to stop altogether, mind you, but to step back, reset, and create a better system for myself.
Part of that process was rethinking my workspace and reorganizing it in a more thoughtful way. For me, that didn’t mean buying more shelving, storage boxes, tool trolleys, or anything else to help me contain the mess. I already had those things. My problem was a systems problem. I had accumulated ways of storing things, but I hadn’t really considered how I actually moved through the space or what I reached for most often. The tools I used regularly were often the ones buried the deepest, while things I rarely touched, but gosh weren’t they pretty, were sitting within view and easy reach.
Focusing only my space for the month and how to make it better, gave me perspective. I took note of things I used most often, of the things that were rarely used, and how I used the space.
Here are the things I have changed so far.
1) I moved my spinning wheel into the kitchen/dining area. I liked spinning in the cozy 10 foot by 10 foot room, but my Kromski Polonaise was taking up too much real estate. I got a nice little surprise here, since I have moved the wheel, I have not only eeked out a little more space in the room, I sit down to spin more often than I did before.
2) I put like things with like. All my sewing, weaving, and spinning tools are in their own zones, and sub-zones.
3) I went through two large rubbermaid containers from my protein fibre stash and offered the bits and bobs of things that were left over from various projects over the years to some newer spinners to practice spinning with.
My next step is to go through my flax and linen, create an inventory system complete with samples of the fibre and yarn.
One interesting thing to note about this process. Organizing has never felt particularly creative to me. It has always been one of those mundane tasks I tend to put off in favour of making something. Plus I have a good memory. I know what I have in my stash. and can put my finger on what I need, when I need it.
But as I’ve been slowly working my way through the space, something unexpected has happened. With my hands occupied by the simple, repetitive task of sorting, putting things away, and deciding what belongs where, my mind has had room to wander. Ideas for my own work, ideas for workshops, ideas for experiments I want to try, and research ideas I want get back to, have been bubbling to the surface.
Stepping away from making isn’t necessarily stepping away from creativity. Sometimes, giving your hands something quiet and ordinary to do gives your mind the freedom to go somewhere entirely different. The process has not only created room for objects but room to breathe as well.