When Troll / Faerie / Creative Things take FOREVER…

Posted by admin on May 9, 2017 in Musings | 0 comments

Done. Done. Done. Took two years. Sitting mostly on back burners, haunting me because there’s a point where the grandgirls might get too ‘old’ to want to finish them – perhaps not appreciating the work they put into the creatures’ faces when we started two years ago.

The enchanted things are really quite trollish and more adorable than they look in the photo. Gold flickery stains did not photo well. Originally  we thought they were ‘faeries’,  but I inadvertently kept calling them trolls while the older two grandgirls were in the final finishing phases.

 

One child (9) thinks hers a gypsy faerie.  Another (6) thinks hers is ‘sort of faerie-ish’. They are happy with them. They each did all the work to create their faerie/troll plus help with the other two. The littlest grandgirls weren’t in town, or old enough, to make clay faces, hands and feet (2 years ago), paint clay parts(1.5 years ago), wire bodies, add hair (8 months ago), wrap with stuffing (6 months ago), and needle felt the clothing (last week!). But they were gifted theirs a couple of days ago! Me? I am so hugely relieved that this ongoing very thoughtful and magical project involving the grandgirls was not going to get stuffed in a shed and never finished. Also me… delighted to finally present these treasures to the youngest children. The two year old thought it curious. The four year old wondered why hers doesn’t have a darker green face. Ha!

“BECAUSE YOUR FAIRIE INSISTED ON THE COLOUR IT IS!”  I announced gently with the loud voice only yelling in my head.

At my writer’s group recently I reported that I have been very focussed on 400 different projects.  “Eventually they will start to pull together,”  I insisted. Well, one is done. I might nearly be as excited as when my book Beyond All Imaginings was finished. (Okay. No.)

So, the enchanted creatures will not get stuffed in a closet to haunt me.  Pleased because I know how much unfinished projects can haunt me.  And can haunt most all creative folks.

It can go like this…

1. You are creative. You will get inspired and start a project. The initial adrenalin-creative rush will fade. You will get another idea. You will head that way. You will need storage space for the one left behind. It will haunt you. But at least you are creating something sometimes, if not that particular project.
2. Or WORSE... you will not create because you ‘are one of those people who never finishes anything, or gets all involved in some new art and craft idea, buys lots of stuff, and then loses interest.’  So, then you think, “Best not to start anything.”
3. ALSO WORSE, you have a precious project you want to complete. Like, maybe a novel or a fantastic quilt. You are not getting to it, but you think you must finish it before starting something else. Oh, the weight of it all!  And stuff keeps getting in the way! Like doing dishes.  Or feeding the children. Or a new season of Dr. Who. Or you should get a blog post written.

Ringing bells, I bet. It’s just not easy to be a creative sort, is it? (Believe me, I know some of you are thinking, “it only took her two  years… what’s she whining about?” I get it. These would have taken much longer if not for feeling accountable to four grandchildren.)

But at least the troll.. er.. faeries are done.

And I’m going to just press publish on this post. Finished or not. I’m calling it done.

 

(The lucky thing for me is being a creativity coach and life coach; sometimes I use those magical methods for getting things done for myself! Other times, I’m like the plumber whose own pipes leaks, but, that’s okay, too)