And Thus The Madness Begins

This afternoon, at my workbench, I cut a length of wire.

In and of itself, not so momentous an event, but it marked the official start of the 2009 Holiday Ornament Blitz.

I'd been gathering ideas and materials since early September, but today was the first time I actually started using said ideas and materials in some concrete manner.  For me, it's a relatively early start, but I have a significant workload I hope to tackle this year, and as anyone who has ever made things for the holidays can attest, there's no such thing as starting too early.

Considering that my budget may not allow for much in the way of actual gift purchases, it puts all the more pressure on to make these things perfect, beautiful, and - above all else - finished by the end of December.  Earlier, if I can help it.  It would probably go much smoother if I had a firm plan in my mind, but I usually go into these things with only a rough idea of a concept in my head, letting the rest work itself out as material choice clashes with (in)ability and (lack of) talent.  I almost never end up with what I thought I'd end up with, though over the years I've noticed that the end results tend to look marginally better as I go along.

That simple snip of wire marked the beginning of countless sessions sitting at my workbench, fighting wire or clay or paint or beads.  It marked the start of numerous rummages through disorganized boxes and drawers and untold last-minute trips to the craft store.  It marked the first of many successes and failures and frustrations and all-around hair-pulling that somehow, impossibly, tends to resolve itself into a halfway presentable "thing" in the end.  Even though I knew from experience that the creative road is never a straight or easy one, it felt good to start down it once again.


I wonder how it'll all turn out.