it's not about the good stuff

and the secret creative supply that really matter

It’s no secret that I LOVE crafty toys & pretty supplies. After so many years of making and sharing and making some more, I definitely value quality tools and consumables in my work; often it leads to a more relaxing process when things just WORK. I’ve upgraded knitting needles and marvelled on the buttery smooth slide of my stitches. I’ve splurged on good coloured pencils and been blown away at their pigmentation. I’ve passed over cheap acrylic felt time and again in favour of it’s woollen counterpart.

As much as I love those beautiful products, sometimes life comes along and reminds me the best tool is the one you can’t buy – yourself.

The lesson came to me during our recent road trip. The two photos above are almost exactly nine years apart. The left, I sketched in about 30 seconds in the car on our way to Birdsville for the Big Red Bash. The right, I worked on over a cup of coffee at Eromanga (which we first discovered on that Birdsville trip thanks to a fluke find on the caravan park noticeboard, and is now one of our favourites). The left, I used my favourite Sakura Koi travel set. The right, I used a set that came in a pack with 28 paints, a water brush, and 20 sheets of paper for the princely sum of $5 from Kmart when we were on holidays in May. Both paintings are in the same landscape A6 moleskine journal Car gave me over a decade ago.

I know which of the two I consider the better.

It was a reminder that a lot of the time, the cheap stuff does the job “good enough”. The tray and lid of the set is cheap and flimsy, and I had my doubts it would last the trip, but what did it matter? It was five dollars. The book I was working in is just my travel journal, so I wasn’t concerned going in, that the paint might be grainy or insipid or weird colours. I knew the paper (where the quality matters, and helps me be more forgiving in the quality of my paints), would hold up to a decent amount of water & working of the paint layers. I won’t be throwing out my Sakuras, but in this instance where the smaller tray of the Anko fitted my kit and my day pack better, they did the job.

The toys are nice, the magic though is in the DOING. Having a shelf full of lovely supplies isn’t going to help me make nice things if I stare at them all day, or worse, find myself intimidated by something “too good” to use, just in case it might be “wasted”. The good stuff definitely has its benefits, but sometimes, “good enough” is indeed good enough. And all the good stuff in the world can’t make up for skill and practice and growing and learning. Without that, the good stuff is just another dust collector, a hipster replication of the teaspoons our grandparents would collect. “Imagine the painting I’ll make one day” is only a step or so removed, after all, from “imagine the places on those spoons we’ll go”. We can wait for the perfect supplies, or the perfect project for those supplies, or we can grab the cheap stuff and get stuck in.

The good stuff doesn’t matter. The making does.

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ON MY CRAFT TABLE THIS WEEK

finishing some hand quilting….when the cat allows access to “her” quilt // starting on emptying some boxes of photos into actual albums // layer one of a new piece for my Feels Like Home collage/assemblage series

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IN NON CRAFTY FUN

Reading // lesson plans mainly - school break is coming and we want to finish the block strong.

Watching // The Mentalist season four, my current throw-back comfort watch as I stitch on my quilt

Listening // to the adventures of Jimmy, Mr11’s imaginary friend who seems to be well travelled and somewhat accident prone

Planning // to make Mr16 do some driving on the way to Sydney so I can finally hav no excuse to avoid my mandala crochet (it’s the only project I’m taking!)

Enjoying // everyone’s stories of their craft rooms on my last post!

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What’s on your work desk this week? I’d love to know what you’re making; and what supplies you’re willing to skimp on vs what you prioritise splurging on!

Below the cut: more behind this week’s art progress!