Pity Parties, Emotional Roller Coasters, and Avoiding Creativity Vampires

Some people manage to get into a creative frenzy when they get depressed.

For me – it seems to strip away any shred of creativity I possess, like a vampire. I can almost feel every idea drain away from me.

I can tackle this one of two ways – spiral into depression (from which I do suffer already), or use it as a springboard to propel me into a new level of creativity.

But first things first – I have already sent myself an invitiation to my pity party.

I’m a very gracious host in my pity parties – I always have a goody bag ready for myself – too much coffee, some comfort food, really awful guilty pleasures like watching Maury, etc.

After the cleanup from said pity party – throwing away the bags of chips (finished or not!), any kleenex that missed the garbage, etc, I force myself to get busy and start creating.

Taking simple pleasures in the mundane can seem like meditation. I usually start with something that comes second nature to me – wire wrapping a nice stone. The repetitive movements are soothing.

I have tons of these gorgeous glass cabochons in green, blue, clear, brown, etc. The possibilities for these are endless so they’re always a great starting point when I’m in a creative rut.

And everyone laughed at me this summer when I dragged home BAGS upon BAGS of beach stones that practically weighed the back on my minivan down to the ground (well, not quite, but you get my drift).

The end results of forcing myself to ‘just do it!’:

Beach Stone PendantHorned Necklace

The green glass piece is what I nicknamed my “horned necklace” – I took the cabochon, wire wrapped it, but wanted to push the envelope a bit and add another linear element to contrast with the thinner wire I used to wrap the cab.

This can be seen in my shop here:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/117671647/silver-and-green-wire-wrapped-necklace

The beach stone was gorgeous on its own so I wanted to make sure that whatever I added to it didn’t detract from the natural beauty. I decided to create a juxtaposition of the organic with a bit of industrial. I created a wire frame which I wrapped to the stone.

I then wanted to ensure the viewer’s eye moved throughout the piece, so I added the spiral flourishes at the top:

This piece can be seen in my shop here:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/120271145/moonstruck-pendant-beach-stone-wire

So the moral of the post today is – always allow yourself to throw pity parties and ride the emotional roller coasters.

We’re all human.

But when it comes down to creativity – don’t let the creativity vampires out there get you! Start with what comes naturally to you and before you know it – your creativity will start flowing anew!

Happy creating – and don’t forget that my Welcome10 coupon code is still valid for 10% off all pendants in my shop at http://www.eldwenne.etsy.com through the end of January!

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