Giving Me Pause To Think

On Nov 18, Richard Hollant wrote a post at Felt & Wire on the topic of gratitude. I learned about Richard’s post via Facebook where he asked family, friends and associates to comment about “thank yous” that we have received that have meant something special to us. I thought and I thought. I thought some more. I could not for the life of me remember receiving a special “thank you”. It made me rather sad. Furthermore, I couldn’t think of a recent time when I had sent a special thank you. Why is that?

Smudging – a ritual

A week ago, I posted Facebook that I was smudging my house. Many people were really interested in that and I was surprised to find out how many of my friends also smudged or had an interest. Fielding a good many emails and Facebook inquires I thought it might be fun to write a post that would explain why and how I smudge. I’m not an official authority on smudging, that’s for sure, this is simply my process and one I’ve culled together from various readings and resources over the years.

So as promised, here is my post on smudging.

Here we go…

Designer’s Offline Toolbox: One Great Idea, Two Terrific Resources

I learned over at Samantha Warren’s BadAssIdeas.com about the Designer’s Resource Toolbox. Being completely inspired by this, I put together my own Designer’s Toolbox. Samantha’s article can tell you how to shop for toolbox items, how to collect found objects and implement these unique pieces into your work so that your designs are fresh and original. She includes a link to a tutorial by Natalie Jost on creating original digital textures using photos, scans and patterns.

I’ve taken my toolbox idea a little bit further and you can get really creative with this sort of thing too. For myself, I went and dug out one of my dad’s old toolboxes.  I included found objects from around my home and office. I didn’t go on a shopping or sight seeing expedition (which would also be nice)  but instead I collected bits of sea glass, postcards I’ve collected, notebooks, postage stamps and other various things I’ve had hanging around.  Although these items are rather random, I  just couldn’t part with them. I think every artist or designer studio must have little samplings of keepsakes in it, so why not collect them up and make a resource toolbox for yourself too.  Find yourself a really special box and paint the outside of it.  Make it really personal. I know, every time I open my toolbox it makes me happy and it has never failed to inspire me in some way.

I thought this was a great way to include the both the digital world and the offline world in one’s work. Just another example of living with art and design.

Cheers!

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