Because I Love to Make Things

August 24, 2012

I didn't mean to be away so long. I got to thinking about why it is that I keep showing up here. Days turned into weeks and, although I'm embarrassed to say it, weeks turned into months. I kept trying to write it down but I couldn't even get it to sound right in my head. The number of false starts I made could easily rival all of the olympic running events combined.

So why do I show up here?

The short answer: I can't help myself. I have fun looking at my life from different angles, documenting it with my camera and then writing a little something about it. And it really is that simple.

The long answer: Even though the quick answer is straight forward and simple, I found ways to complicate it by looking at the big picture. Let's face it, this blog is a time sucker. I could be doing laundry or dishes or designing new and exciting things to print. Instead, I seem content to relive what I've already done. But like I admitted in the short answer, I just can't help myself. Keeping this blog is a given. I'll probably always have it. Then the question becomes what to do with it. I tried to put some parameters on what I put here. From experience, I know that too many self-imposed rules are a sure-fire way to kill my interest in putting anything here. At all. Ever again. I considered limiting it to letterpress and letterpress related things but I get bored just thinking about it. I need more creative room than that. I also need more structure than the willy-nilly approach I've been using lately. Now that I've had two months to think about this, I can see the pattern emerging: I love to make things. All kinds of things. I design. I print. I cook. I sew. I take pictures. I draw. I write. I garden. I knit and crochet. Not a day goes by where I don't pick up at least one of the tools in the picture above (and often a bunch that didn't make the photographic cut) and make something. My abilities in each discipline vary as much as the simplicity or complexity required to complete them. The parts that stay the same are the excitement at the thought of new projects, the highs and lows of working through them and the satisfaction of completing them. And being able to share all of that is what keeps me coming back. I just can't help myself.