studio notes #5
Unsurprisingly, I have less to report today. I’ve made some headway on the next sample, and I have done some reading and taken notes.
Since I don’t have much to share visually, and most of the ideas are still percolating, I thought I’d use this week’s check in to talk about my idea binder instead.
When I was in school I created power points for each of the projects for my metals classes. I did this mostly because my anxiety was high during that time and I had a hard time keeping my thoughts straight when my mind was full of unhelpful opinions. I was also on a medication that gave me serious brain fog. But! When I created a powerpoint for my project proposal, I felt supported by the images and ideas I had already put together at home. So now, if I spaced on an idea I could literally just look to the slide for help. Even though I don’t have to present my ideas before doing them anymore, I have found creating idea and process documentation for work still helps me focus or jump back in to a project if I needed to put it away for some time. It also just helps me think. The act of making it helps me slow down and process my thoughts.
Over the years I’ve experimented with different ways of organizing projects. For smaller ones, a slide deck is enough. Bigger projects seem to need something more flexible. A binder allows me to rearrange pages, add different kind of media and let the structure change as the project changes. This year I have been using these smaller a5 binders. I appreciate the smaller page size limits how much can go on a single page.
As far as what goes in, I kind of just play it by ear. Right now the binder has visual inspiration, historical jewelry, notes from books, sketches, technical research and ideas that don’t fit anywhere else yet. The binder allows me to shuffle, add categories and remove pages as the project itself changes. I have made them for general inspiration, something that feels more like a common place book for artistic inspiration, but this is the first time I have done something like this for a bigger project.
One thing that I am keeping in mind as I am building this series is this question: What do I wish I had slowed down and documented when I was making Year of Plastic?
One thing I am noticing already is that it just feels really nice to have a book I can come back to when I am feeling lost.
sample #2 - navette/eye shape macramé grocery bag
idea binder - notes from a book I am reading.