What Is This "Maymester" You Speak Of?

Well, it's Memorial Day.  I'm looking at the last week of May and my last week before I join the ranks of the working world.

I've spent the last three weeks since graduation continuing my education.  I've been part of a small archaeological dig focusing on the Hopewell Moundbuilding society of the Midwest.  It's a class I'm taking mostly for the experience, should I change my mind someday and decide to go back into academia.  I think that this experience could be useful no matter what I do for a museum, actually.  The more I can relate to my colleague, the more informed I am and the more helpful I can be.

Even though I've been in the field for 10 hours a day in every weather condition Ohio can throw at us and then spending many evenings with my fellow field school attendees, I've still been playing with my creative side.  Unfortunately, I rarely continue with one project for very long.  There's been a lot of bouncing around.  It's like my mind really can't believe I have THAT MUCH FREE TIME and can't decide what to do with it all.  I've been drawing, writing, modeling, and even making bracelets out of Starburst wrappers.  (And I'm getting really good at it, too.)  One day at the dig last week my team hit a thick layer of soft red clay that was really easy to mold, so I made a bear out of it.  (It was going to be a dolphin, but the clay wouldn't support a long beak so a bear it became.)  And I'm going to design the T-shirts for our dig.

This is my bear.  He's made completely out of 100% natural clay I dug out of the ground.  I'm pleasantly surprised he's still in one piece.

Then, this coming Sunday, I leave Columbus to go do big-people work.  It's sad and relieving all at the same time.  For now, though, I'm just going to have fun digging and seeing all my friends before I move out.

And isn't my bear ADORABLE!?  :D

Post-It Notes Are My Best Friends

I don't know if it comes with the creative territory, but I'm obsessed with lists.  Every time I think of a new project (which is often) or am considering improvement on a current one (which happens almost as frequently) I just have to write it down.  Like, it bothers me if I can't put my thoughts to paper right now.  This can be a problem, as I tend to think a lot when I'm doing something mundane- say, walking to class, at work in the kitchens at school, or in the shower.  You know, places where writing is a bit more difficult (though I did discover Rite-in-the-Rain notebooks.  Mille grazie to my geology professors for assigning them to us!)

As a result of this obsessive-compulsive habit, I tend to have a lot of paper on me.  Old notebooks, mini notebooks, composition notebooks, the margins of my class notes, Post-It notes... If you can write on it, I probably have it stashed away somewhere I can find it quickly.  I've even used blank sticker labels at work once or twice because I just had the greatest idea ever that just had to be recorded!!!  This kind of bothers the environmentalist in me, especially because every project or subject just has to have its own notebook.  I have the same problem with my sketchbooks.  But typing it out on the computer just doesn't really feel them same.  Which doesn't really make sense, I guess, when you consider the amount of random Word documents and electronic Post-Its I have on my screen at any given time... 

My hypocrisy knows no bounds.  Also note the snazzy background from

Colonial Williamsburg's website.

Funny... My room is a space of entropic organized chaos, but when it comes to my art supplies or school work it must be organized exactly.  I claim selective creativity.  Or something.  I had a word in mind but I lost it.

Anyway.

I know I can't be the only one who does this.  But it'd be cool to hear a shout-out from my listy brethren, too.  Let me know all the wacky ways you keep your creative ideas down!

Creativity on a Budget

If you're an artist, you may know the feeling of being short on both supplies and funds.  (And if you're not an artist, I'm sure you're familiar with the term "starving artist."  There's often a good reason for that.)

One of the things that I've come to be familiar with as a hobby artist is making do with what you've got.  I prefer pencil and paper to other mediums, not just because I'm good at it but because it's often more affordable.  There's nothing wrong with using Crayola if you know how to use it.  (Indeed, be amazed by this awesome drawing- all in Crayola crayon!)  Art supplies as gifts are not uncommon in my family.  And I use Hobby Lobby coupons like they're gold.

But the best way to save and be creative is to recycle.  It's awesome for the planet, too!  (If that sort of thing tickles your jimmies, of course.  You could also look at it as saving you space in your garbage can, or not wasting things, if you so prefer.)  I have a small collection of cardboard boxes that I hope to turn into bases for dioramas, for example.  Old newspaper is a classic recipe for paper mache.  (Pinatas, anybody!?)  There's all kinds of cool things you can do, if you think hard enough.

A good friend of mine (known to the Internet community as Elrenia_Greenleaf) is one of the most thrifty and creative people I know.  She can make a spaceship out of a popsicle stick, old Styrofoam packaging, plastic wrap, bottle caps, paper clips, and an old set of headphones.  Seriously.  Her work often inspires me to design my own dioramas and props for things.  (Then I run into the problem with another resource- time, but that's something for another day.)

What creative things do YOU do on a budget?  I'd love to hear your stories and ideas!