Saturday, March 27, 2010

Reflection & Finishing


Today, I am trying to finish up my week's batch of work so that I can put it all in the tumbler tomorrow for a good 8 hours worth of tumbling. Above, I am working on annealing some metal to get it softer for the rolling mill by the way....love, love my rolling millI'll work again for a few more hours after dinner and then it's movie night!

So, I thought I would share a few thoughts about Norbert's post yesterday. He made the point that we both have spent a significant amount of time figuring out exactly how we want our business to develop based on what we do and do not enjoy doing. This was definitely not an epiphany we had at the beginning, but rather it was, and is, an ongoing process.

One thing that I personally realized, is that at heart and soul, I get the most joy out of being creative. Knowing this, I decided to start carving out more time for myself to have this creative freedom.  It fulfills me on many, many levels and it brings me great joy. I figured this out during the Christmas rush, when for almost 3 straight months I was spending the vast majority of my time filling orders. This is absolutely not a complaint! But I did learn that I need to balance out made to order/custom orders along with my need to design and create new work. This makes sense for the business as well as for my sanity ;)

I can't wait to share my new work with you on Monday! Unlike in the past, I will post some pictures of my work here before it goes up in my shop.

Have a great weekend :)

2 comments:

littlecherryhill said...

I really enjoy seeing pictures of others bench spaces and yours looks great! Looking forward to seeing your latest work :)

Dorinda said...

I think having your husband blog about his side of your business is a wonderful idea. I, myself, am considering opening my own small business in the near future--my medium is Precious Metal Clay--it IS such a process, and while daydreaming about what I will do and how I want things to look is fun, it can also be overwhelming. Reading about your experiences and now what your husband will write about the business aspect--it's like having a mentor(s).