One thing I've really embraced in the past 8 years (since retirement) is papercrafting. In the past 23, crafting in various forms has become my replacement for academic research & writing. Once the dissertation was finished, I had that odd relief/distress of the disappearance of The Diss as The Thing I Need to Do. Gradually it filled with crafting: first sewing (a life-time habit and 'hobby'), the gardening, stained glass, then fused glass & jewelry-making. Moving into the PNW meant that glass became much more difficult - the nearest glass shop was two plus hours away, and while I had an ample supply and a good physical set up, it just never really started up again here. It is/was sporadic and not nearly as tempting, whereas in my previous space/place it consumed my interest and time.
Up here, there was a charming little papercraft/art shop in our charming downtown (which is all of one block long, a mile from my home), and lots of ways to meet new people. So I dove into papercrafting, starting with scrapbooking (that lasted about a month) and card making. And now, eight years on, I'm still deeply into card making although that has expanded into design & engineering. The craft room has finally been reconfigured too: over the summer I got new floors installed (LVP), and had to completely empty that room. So the empty space allowed and encouraged a thoughtful reorganization: out went the last of the stained glass tools and supplies, to be sold/donated to some one who will enjoy and use it. I purged much of the sewing stuff years ago, but what is left is now where I can get to it and use it for only those projects that I want to do: mending, gift bags, whatever. Small projects of my own design. I also purged my papercraft supplies, passing along or selling stuff I no longer want/use. Where I've been making do with mismatched cube storage units and side walk finds, I rethought and reconfigured and reorganized, so that what was unused space is now floor to ceiling cubby space with labeled cubes. I converted the awkward closet that had been used to store unused glass supplies to a sewing/computer nook. I hung the pegboards into a more usable configuration, painted them in bright colors to encourage energy and creativity, and added art to the upper reaches of the walls. Between the consolidation, reorganization, additions and deletions, I created a space that feels fun and creative and serene and roomier than ever. I really like being in there.
But I haven't really created anything since the middle of April. And I went from creating 15 cards a week (all for a regular mailing list of friends who I wanted to let know I was thinking of them) to zero. Long after the floor chaos (22 May), the room remained mostly empty. I moved stuff back into the room a bit at a time.
There's still a lot in the garage that needs to make the short journey back into living space. I purged my library - well over 1,000 books went off to the library's donation place. Long-time friends were stunned to see empty shelves - lots of empty shelves - where books used to be two deep. (Oddly, what didn't go were most of the nick-nacks that I've had perched precariously on top of or in front of the books.) In the craft room - again - is space I've never had.
But even when I feel like creating, what I end up doing when I get self into the craft room, is organizing. God knows I'm still buying craft supplies & tools. Temu has been both lovely and deadly: their offerings are, to me, mesmerizing. Stamps and dies are 60-90% less than exactly the same things from the craft stores. Right now I'm waiting on two orders - roughly $70 total - of things I can't find or won't pay the price of in US stores. If I were able to find it here, that $70 would be well over $300 from US retailers and - here's the crux of it - I wouldn't have bought, period. So even as I purged a bunch of stamps/dies, I've now added different stuff at a price and rate that is far less and wouldn't have bought had it not been so cheap. My Temu habit must be broken!
So new stuff comes in, gets cataloged and organized and put away...but not used. I'm procrastinating procraftinating even as I avoid doing the things that need doing...
The joys and challenges of retirement...
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