creative rut

You know that feeling where you just feel numb creatively? 

Well, these last few weeks, i'd been stuck in one. 

This is the first time it lasted more than three days, and believe me i did not enjoy it one single bit.

During such time i thought it would be a good time to try my hands on other projects. So i experimented making paper flowers out of recycled paper... 

The tutorials are found here, here and here.

peony

rose

buttercup

...and some other more from fabric.

I ended up making 200pcs of fabric flower corsages (with covered buttons) for my auntie who ordered them for her shoes. She runs a wholesale shoe shop here in Jakarta and regularly works with local craftsmen who make them for her.

 

Now, i was definitely happy with the opportunity to take my mind off of Paperpleased for a while. But with the absence of my second assistant, it took me & my first assistant the whole week to make the 200pcs (!). By the third day, i was already sewing and reading at the same time, listening to TED.com while gluing the flowers, etc, simply because i couldn't stand having a mind-numbing activity. 

Before we (almost) finished it, i had missed the joy of working with paper in my hands so much that i tried out a new design in the middle of the night. 

In the end, i guess we can only be reminded that being creative is a process. It takes time but it definitely can be learned by everyone (certainly so in my case). You might just surprise yourself along the way, and the result is always worth it. My sister uses the term "breaking the glass" and i couldn't agree more :)

How about you? Do you have any tips on breaking (invisible) glasses around you?