More BOH Publicity, A Public Crafting Poll
My polymer clay group made the TV news again yesterday. This time the local Telemundo affiliate interviewed me for a Spanish version of last week's Bottles of Hope story. Here's the new story (in Spanish), and here's a photo of the angel bottle I made during the filming. (A couple of my other bottles were featured too.)
I suppose I should clarify, though. I didn't actually make that angel bottle during filming. There are several shots of me working on an angel bottle... but the angel bottle I worked on there got wadded up into a ball of clay before I left the building.
A couple of the other folks making bottles got wide-eyed when I disassembled it, and asked what I was doing. I didn't realize til I got home what a jerk I must have looked like. There we were, decorating bottles for cancer patients, and I rip mine apart as soon as the camera crew leaves.
It's not like it looked, though, honest. It's just that I'm not a public crafter. No matter what I do, I just can't seem to be happy crafting anyplace but home.
This time I tried really hard. Knowing that I have trouble thinking of ideas when I'm on the spot, surrounded by other people, I planned a project ahead of time. I even took along pictures of an inspiration piece in case I needed to reference it. Having the project picked out helped me with the other thing I tend to have trouble with — taking the right supplies. Since I knew what my project was, I had a general idea of what tools I'd need. (Too bad I got in a hurry and forgot a couple of those.) I even made an ambitious goal to try to keep myself on track: I was going to finish not just one, but two bottles while we were there.
But even after all that, I still couldn't do it. I got flustered when I realized I'd left my clay blade at home (it somehow didn't occur to me to borrow one of several others in the room). I hadn't brought enough beige clay and didn't like the replacement color I mixed up. But mostly, things just weren't looking right. The skirt didn't drape nicely. The wings weren't pretty enough. I felt like if I were at home using my own tools on my own desk, I could get it right. And so, like I've done at so many guild meetings and other public crafting sessions, I left without having created a thing.
It's not that I don't enjoy crafty get-togethers. I love being around other creatives, watching their process and absorbing their conversations. But I just don't create well in that situation. Maybe it's performance anxiety. Maybe it's perfectionism. For whatever reason, though, I prefer to do my creating in my own comfy little craft room, where I can really dig into a project and do it just right.
So is this just me? I'm curious what the rest of you think of crafting in public...?
Comments
I used to destroy my demo pieces but now offer the uncured, unfinished items/bits and pieces to the students. They feel guilty about taking it until I tell them that I will be destroying it. What we see as imperfect and incomplete, PC newcomers often see as inspiration and/or reminders of the techniques.
Posted by: Marian Gurnee | September 20, 2008 11:59 AM
It depends on why I am crafting in public. If I am just at a guild meeting or something, I will sit there with my little project and bang away at it until I'm done or the meeting is over. I can get very much in the zone in that environment (probably because it's just as full of distractions as my home life is, LOL!)
If I'm teaching or doing a demo, though, I rarely do my best work in those situations, and I usually just give away whatever I was working on when it's over. For me, there's an element of nervousness that spoils the creative process, I think.
Posted by: Lisa Clarke | September 21, 2008 12:06 PM
Congrats Angela! I hope it brings a lot of awareness to the cause. The BOH program is a great way to give back. http://www.bottlesofhope.org
Posted by: Ilysa Bierer | September 22, 2008 7:19 AM
Thanks, Ilysa! (And thanks for mentioning me in your post!)
Lisa, I think that's a good distinction. I was crafting in front of the camera, and I think being nervous and trying to work quickly made me unhappy with the results. And the goal of the project is important too. I have fun taking a class or learning a technique, as long as I treat it as a learning process and don't really care about the finished product. But if I'm trying to make something to sell, I need to be somewhere that I can do my best work.
Course, I suspect having a little one around the house will change my tolerance for distraction. Guild may be the most peaceful place for me to work then! :-)
Posted by: Angela | September 23, 2008 2:31 PM
do you feel famous yet??
you make tv a lot!
which is wonderful.
i love the angel bottle.
Posted by: leanna jackson | September 25, 2008 4:58 PM