KonMari and the Sockless

Where ARE my socks?

Earlier this year, at the end of last winter, I decided to go all KonMari on my clothing. I thought that maybe if I organized my clothes, like the sweet little book promised, I'd soon find my studio extra tidy. I sorted and pondered and cleared out so many things. I reorganized and cleared and tidied. I was brutal with sweaters, shirts and skirts that did not 'spark joy in my heart.' I had a nice long chat with so many of my clothing items.

It took a week and then my closet was neat and easier to use. I was also left with a sock drawer that, to be very honest, has given me more than one shiver of joy over the summer months. Neat, folded, tidy socks. Two rows. As 'rainbowed' as you could make a drawer of (mostly) brown and black socks.

The KonMari method is a Japanese house-keeping method of tidying and neatening your home. You start with the clothing. You commune with each piece before keeping (neatly folded!) or giving away the item of clothing. As I said, this took me a week of evenings. I was agressive and got rid of anything that did not 'spark joy' as the book suggested. I was thorough. So, I'm sure I communed with each of my warm socks before I put them...where? They did not go in the sock drawer. Nope.

It was May.

It may have been kinda hot outside. 

Oh, pleasepleaseplease tell me I did not donate them? Please?

(and by the way, the studio is a mess...)

Newsletter Message, June 23rd, 2015

This week I am writing to you from a (little bit cleaner) studio space. I have tried implementing the KonMari method of house tidying and it seems to be working. This is a mystical Japanese system where you throw out 4/5th of your clothing, and afterwards reassure the remaining items that you love them by folding everything with great care. The traumatized survivor garments then encourage the rest of your house to become more tidy. I'm a bit unclear on the exact details of this last part, but I did find myself spending two hours on Sunday carefully lining up my jewelry tools on a shelf in my studioand they all fit. This has never happened before. I am going to say the tools have been scared straight by my last four tee shirts.  It's good I've been doing all this tidying, as Pop-Up Sunday is THIS weekend and the slate of vintage vendors is quite significant. Since I've decimated my clothing in order to establish my closet dominance, there's lots of room for new items. After all, who wants to look at empty closet racks?

Now, before someone writes me and says 'oh, you have the KonMari method all wrong!' let me just explain. I did read the book (in January) and then sorted out all of my clothing (in, February? March? no, maybe April?) and so this has not been instantaneous. My closet and drawers HAVE stayed cleaner and neater. I can get dressed faster. I think the clothing that remains seems VERY GRATEFUL to have not been swooped off to the thrift store. I believe the actual trick is that after looking at my tidy closet for a while (a few months) my brain just couldn't take the messy tools anymore. So the tools got neatened. I didn't eliminate any. They are jewelry tools, so there ARE NO EXTRAS.  I can get rid of a tee shirt that has weird sleeves, but a pair of pliers? I might need that exact size one day...I might...and as far as beads? Ribbon? Art supplies? Nope, there is NO such thing as extras. I haven't done any studio purging, but somehow things do seem neater in here. I'll see you soon-   this message was excerpted from our weekly store newsletter, you missed coupons, new item updates and some classes...subscribe right over there > to get your own copy, every Tuesday!

Cleaning out the closet...

We LOVE this bracelet featured on Makezine.com this week. The printer-cables are colorful and cheery, and we love the idea of putting those old printer parts to work, making you look good. See the full post on Makezine.com right here. 

Since we have a little broken-down technology hoarding problem in our house* we know there HAS to be a printer that isn't working in the closet. That closet is super-packed with items my husband knows he can get working again, or things he's saving for 'parts.' I think this bracelet qualifies as 'parts,' don't you?

This would be an  easy project to make. You just need:

end bars (find them HERE)

jump rings (find them HERE)

and a clasp (find them HERE)

oh, and you'll need a broken-down printer...but maybe you can find one in that closet?




*when I say 'we' have a technology-hoarding issue, I know you know that I mean that my fabulous hubby has a technology hoarding issue. I collect beads, craft supplies, vintage dishes and textiles. That's not hoarding...

Win some studio organization help-

Is your studio perfect? Does it have sweet little touches like this? Mine has some sweet touches, but it also has those yucky plastic bins with lids, way, WAAAYY too many supplies and a lack of great lighting. I've been dreaming of a big, day-long studio clean-out and tidy for a long time.

So far, it hasn't happened.

If you want a bit of help getting your studio organized, come to our Handmade Holiday party on Friday night. We'll have a drawing from Raleigh's Green Gables; Organize Your Life. You could win a 3 hour studio organization. This is a $225 value. Actually, when I think of how nice it would be to have my studio organized I think it might be priceless.


that picture was nicked from this blog, one of my favorites-go follow her now!

more Handmade Holiday party info can be found here

(yes, you must come to the party to enter the drawing, we'll draw at around 8:30, you don't need to be present to win!)

Get Finished Angel

Last week in our store newsletter I wrote about the angels that perch on my shoulders in the studio. Okay, maybe they perch on my glass of Campo DeBorjia. Anyway, you are familiar with the idea of the Angel/Devil pair? I seem to have a pair with the names Get Started and Oh, Look, Shiny! They keep me in a state of constant beginning and distraction during much of my (brief) available work time. This is a life-long thing for me: learning to concentrate, forcing myself to concentrate and finish the work I have begun. I often assemble the beads and metal for a project, patina some chain and then...oh, wait, I love that ribbon! it doesn't work with that chain so then I put aside the first grouping and move on to the ribbon with some crystals and, whoa, look at that silk! I gotta use that with these beads...

Okay, you get the idea. Unfinished projects abound. All just past the idea stage. All resting in tiny tea-set dishes on my table and shelves and stuffed inside a china cabinet between crystal wine glasses and my collection of broken-off doll heads. It's a mess.

The second factor at work in my studio is the habit I have of taking on repair or reworking jobs for very good friends. I know, I should just say no. I preach this all the time to designers in our stores but when confronted with the friend who has the miraculous ability to amuse my children in any situation and her slightly-broken bracelet I am putty. Of course, I say, I will try to fix this for you. It's easy, no problem.

Of course, it is a problem. Partially because I don't actually enjoy doing repairs (does anyone?) and partially because of those two angels in the studio. They make it a bit, hmm, messy, what with all the tiny dishes holding slightly-more-than-ideas projects on the table and shelves.

So, on vacation two weeks ago (was it really that long?) I read an essay in Patti Digh's new book Creative Is A Verb where she talks about not saying the word 'try.' At all. Just do the thing, Patti says.

Wow, that really hit home with me.

I have all these projects I have been trying to get done and I realized I am limiting myself when I use that very verb. Try. There is a large element of failure in the word Try. Replace this with Do and you have action, success, achievement.

Okay, done. I am no longer going to 'try' to get all those repairs finished and back to their owners. I am going to do them. Last week I reknotted this lovely pearl bracelet that I had been holding on to for at least 4 years. When I gave it back to my friend she was overjoyed. I also returned an anklet that had needed to be restrung and had been fixed for a while but was lost in the sea of tiny dishes. That friend barely recognized it but put it on immediately and it matched her outfit. Success.

I did it.

What am I going to DO this week?
restring my mom's Grandma bracelet to include her three newest grandchildren (ages 4 1/2, and 4!)
make a pair of earrings for my sister (I bought the beads two years ago, she'll love them!)

If I don't post an update by next Monday, come chase me and the wayward angels down!