This is not about old underpants

I’m possibly over-sharing here but the other day, as we stood in the bathroom flossing our teeth, my darling husband looked at me lovingly and said, Gosh they’ve been good old underpants haven’t they? And they were. Are. The elastic is still working (just) but I got his point. It may be time for new ones. The thing is that I come from frugal stock…Scottish Presbyterian roots…and I experience, sometimes, an inbuilt resistance to spending, so when it came to buying new Posca pens vs new undies (a choice dictated not necessarily by necessity) the Posca pens won.

And I have been having enormous fun with my Posca pens. I think I can safely say they are more fun than ethically sourced undies. But you may be surprised to know that over the past couple of months, I started to wonder if my days of using polymer clay as an artistic medium were behind me.

I wasn’t feeling particularly inspired and was doing that sensible thing where I wondered if I should just start something completely new. Something that would have cost me much more than a few Posca pens (or new underpants). But then…starting again from scratch seemed very overwhelming!

I was absolutely NOT over being creative!

I am expressing my creativity so much in many aspects of my life…my cooking, my funny little garden, my home, even the way I decided what earrings to coordinate with my tracky daks and uggies. And, if anything, I am even more passionate about encouraging people to create stuff to improve their happiness. We all know about physical fitness but somehow being creative seems to be reserved for the overtly creative!

What changed? Well, I did do something that wasn’t polymer. I played with my Posca pens on some origami paper and…perhaps inevitably… remembered very quickly how much fun this was on polymer.

Whether on paper or polymer, for me it’s all about colour. And layers. And patterns. I was playing and wondering and not trying to be perfect or make something to sell. I was happy and curious.

No doubt my cortisol levels were dropping. My shoulders were relaxing and my heart was singing. But I wasn’t conscious of all that. I just felt good! I drew on my paper, mixed some colours, cut some shapes and wondered…

…and realised that I needed a few more pens!

Then I remembered that I had a box of uncured polymer veneers set aside for Playing/ Layering and well…what do you know…

As I said when I posted this photo on IG, I seem to be having a colourful, layered, complex moment but that’s me isn’t it?

I am hoping that locals will be as excited as I am about The Pumphouse. It’s a makers’ space where the curious and inquisitive come to collaborate, connect and create… a haven for creative practitioners. In my words, creative practitioners are people who create. And I want us to remember that we are all innately people who create.

Which is why I still love polymer clay. It is a fabulous gateway drug for creativity because it is so accessible and forgiving. But not boring! I am STILL (after decades of working with it) doing new stuff and having fun. I am thrilled to be collaborating with The Pumphouse team and doing some workshops! Head here and here to find out more and to book!