The Reveal

I teased yesterday. Today, I reveal.

I am calling these "Ultra Pods" for their resemblence to seed pods, and the material they are made up (Sculpey Ultralight).

I must have put these silly things together two dozen ways before I started to figure out where I was going with this. But that is part of the creative process, isn't it? We get an idea, and start exploring it. Roadblocks are inevitable. I can't think of many ideas that went according to plan right from conception.

I could have said, "It didn't work. What was I thinking." But there was something there that intrigued me. I wanted to push it a bit further, and continue to play with it. Using various materials to string them, and multiple arrangements and methods. For me, this is one of the most engaging parts. It is frustrating at times to be sure, but it also is a challenge. A puzzle to be solved. Sometimes I would think I had it worked out, and then I would find out there was a problem with how a piece would lay or hang. A continuous cycling.

Even work that I have been doing for a few years now is cycling and evolving. Tweaking, playing, exploring the what-ifs. On one level it can be frustrating. There is little time to rest and settle. But on another level, it is what keeps me engaged in the work. It is not static. It is alive and vital as the process.

Have you given yourself a play day lately? Maybe it is time? And when you play, do you let yourself go down the dead ends without out recrimination? That is where the discoveries happen, and where the real fun can be sometimes. I have puzzles that are still unsolved. Some may stay that way forever. But others will resurface at another time, when I have learned something new, or seen something that triggers a potential solution for me. But the play is essential. The studio as laboratory. Playing. Experimenting. Learning and discovering.