Cleaning up the studio again

[Chicken lady]

Or, "the hoarder completely underestimates the scope of the problem".

so on Tuesday the nice lady at the deli was putting out pickles. And she asked if she could get me anything, and I said "no, I'm good, unless you're handing out pickle buckets." (Jokingly) and she said "empty ones?" And I asked "do you give away empty ones?" A she said " all the time. How many do you want?"

i did a quick mental assessment the giant mound of plastic bags full of dried clay from my classroom waiting in my studio to be reworked, and hoping I didn't sound greedy, I said "5? If you have them."

and she she gave me six!

so today I went out and started dumping plastic bags into buckets and throwing the bags away. And it looks much better. Except, the answer was not 5. Or even six. I think the answer was nine. And that's just the clay that wasn't already in my random assortment of cat litter buckets - some with no lids.

A five gallon bucket should hold 40lbs of clay. On a good day, I can rework 25 lbs, but it leaves my arms and shoulders sore.

i think wedging clay is going to be part of my new exercise program.

[Teacher Terry]

You are tired all the time because you have too many projects/work things in progress going on. Maybe it would be better to concentrate on one thing at a time. It would give you a sense of completion.

[Ultralight]

...concentrate on one thing at a time.

Herein lies the rub.

[Teacher Terry]

It makes me tired just reading all the stuff you are trying to do at once:~)

[Ultralight]

My mom does a similar thing -- a massive garden she is not physically capable of dealing with, so many pets she can't care for them all, a "home work help" program at the local church where she watches/"helps"/cooks for like 30 kids, etc.

My dad gets roped into working on this stuff even though he is not into it. The hard labor is what she gives him to do -- a couple years it damn near killed him having to mow lawn, move stuff, chainsaw trees, etc. She don't give and F.

When I went there on July 4th she tried to rope me into helping move these big, heavy bucket planter things from one place to another on the other side of the big yard. I resisted but she freaked out: "Why?!?! Why won't you help me just move these dozen or so planters!? WHY?!"

I wonder if taking on a zillion projects and responsibilities is part of or a form of hoarding...

[Alan]

When I went there on July 4th she tried to rope me into helping move these big, heavy bucket planter things from one place to another on the other side of the big yard. I resisted but she freaked out: "Why?!?! Why won't you help me just move these dozen or so planters!? WHY?!"

A good question. One I'd be interested in hearing an answer for.

I wonder if taking on a zillion projects and responsibilities is part of or a form of hoarding.. I wonder if refusing a mother's request for help isn't also a form of hoarding...personal effort and energy that is...

[JaneV2.0]

I wonder if collecting and holding onto grudges and imagined slights is a form of hoarding.
Refusing to help one's mother lift heavy things--for any reason short of disability--is frankly shocking to me.

[ApatheticNoMore]

Maybe the planters regularly get moved from one side of the yard to the other for no rhyme or reason. The thing about dysfunctional families is you learn to ignore whatever they are on about when they are descending into crazy behavior. It's just like ok ....

[JaneV2.0]

Maybe the planters regularly get moved from one side of the yard to the other for no rhyme or reason. The thing about dysfunctional families is you learn to ignore whatever they are on about when they are descending into crazy behavior. It's just like ok ....

Maybe that's it, but still...

[sweetana3]

Just because a parent, child, friend, etc. asks for something does not mean that it has to be done if it is unreasonable, dangerous, inappropriate, etc. It is entirely possible that the planters were of a size that made moving them by family dangerous due to weight and size. They could even have been full. How many have hurt their backs doing such things?

I once asked my husband to pick up an interesting rock for me and put it in the car to take home. He just looked at me and said if I could move it, we could take it. Probably weighed 200+ pounds. I did not realize what I was asking him to do.

[Ultralight]

Maybe the planters regularly get moved from one side of the yard to the other for no rhyme or reason. The thing about dysfunctional families is you learn to ignore whatever they are on about when they are descending into crazy behavior. It's just like ok ....

Thank you.

They'd get moved all over there and then my dad would have to move them back. Or she'd want them rearranged.

She is not the the kind of condition to do this crap -- which is what I told her.

[Chicken lady]

So I have all this clay...

i mean, while people are moving things. :~)

I'm not really sure how you guys see my life. I think it's sort of like "I went to school today" vs. "I did English, math, band, science, art, lunch, history, Spanish and track." I am only doing one thing at a time, usually. I did type with you and stir jam at the same time today. And I listened to a show while I did laundry....

one is always going to be doing something.

completion is sort of subjective. There will always be new laundry, food to cook, goats to feed and milk again tomorrow, another piece of clay to be shaped or book to be read.

but UA, I am trying to take your thoughts under consideration and not collect new tasks to hang over my head. I washed the buckets and put them to use, so they are not in my yard anymore. I am almost done (at the last minute) with a job I volunteered to do for fair (I asked my kid to teach me a quick tech skill and she did it for me. I showed her how to restart the washing machine when she accidentally left her clothes to soak today, so I think we're even). I turned the berries into jam before they got moldy in the fridge.

i still need to crush the cans and I'll be ahead for the week.

(now UA says "why crush the cans?" Because I only go to sell the a couple times a year. "Is it worth your time? Why don't you just dump them in the recycling bin? Why don't you give up soda?" Good questions, I'll get back to you. Maybe.)

[Zoe Girl]

Chicken Lady, I think I would love you and your hoard. It is a type of hoard I could deal with, however if I was there I might be compelled to try and clean it as well. But I totally get doing so many projects! I think people have stopped reading some of my work related posts because I can do the same thing (I am pausing on finishing my novel, okay guys, how is that for self control).

There are just so many fascinating things to do, and it sounds like you have developed skill in many areas, and choosing one thing can be mentally boring. I know not everyone feels this way but that is how I take what you talk about. I have a lot of different projects, and I honestly get a lot of them done. I wrote half the novel with a great writers group, gave feedback to other people, wrote many hours myself, but then got divorced. I also finish my crochet gift projects, do the Buddhist study I say I am going to do and cook from scratch. It sounds like you get lots of this stuff done also, maybe not in the way other people would but you do a lot.

Yeah I also get tired and overwhelmed but for me that is much better than mental boredom. I get bored easily :)

[Lainey]

Have to admit I had a question about the can crushing too: do the aluminum buyers insist the cans be crushed? because that's not a requirement in Phoenix. Or are they just easier to transport that way?

And ditto on the random parental requests: during my Dad's terminal illness, my mom got obsessed with removing the linoleum tile in their shared bedroom. So even during the last several weeks while my Dad was bed-bound, she asked us grown kids to go in their small bedroom and continue scraping up the tile. Nope.

[Chicken lady]

I crush the cans because they take up a lot less space that way and I only drive by the recycling center every 4-6 months. But now, I think I'm going to weigh an empty can, do the math, and probably start putting them in the recycling bin after the next drop.

[Chicken lady]

Depending on the accuracy of my clock and scale, at the current price of aluminum, can crushing pays $4-$7.50 an hour, not counting the time to load the cans into he car or the time to wait while they are weighed and the cash is handed over. It also uses up storage space.

at $7.50, it's tempting, but I think it's the recycle bin for the cans.

now there's the soda issue... That's for another time.

[Chicken lady]

Back to the studio today. Dh needed my help off and on all day on the siding, so I needed a project I could work on in short bursts.

i washed all the small clay buckets and lids (21) for the younger kids and loaded them in my car. Also gathered up and folded flat the small cardboard boxes for taking work home - in car, and bagged up the used bubble wrap and padded envelopes - in car. I filled a plastic grocery bag with trash, and a wine case box with recycling. Even I can't see any progress. :(

But I did find the homemade soap I wanted to enter in the fair - only 5 weeks too late.

try again, fail better.

tomorrow morning I start setting up my classroom (I have a storage closet in the hall for the boxes and bubble wrap, but I found that if I leave them over the summer, some helpful person throws them away.)

[Chicken lady]

I had a really good time setting up the classroom yesterday! Armed with a list of the teachers who are not returning and the ability to get there on the first set up day (some teachers have summer jobs) I wandered around the building, chatted with our facilities manager, and upgraded my room by "stealing" and purging furniture.

- the beat up lab table - gone! The oversized desk previously used by my non-returning roommate - gone! (I will have a new roommate, who hopefully won't want a desk, but if (s)he does, there are three SMALL ones available to choose among. - another returning teacher happily claimed the big one.)

gained a waterhog mat for under the water table and wedging area - less clean up! Two plastic cupboards - needed the storage and easy to wipe down, won't warp or rust. Put in a work order, and my lockers are finally getting upgraded (current adjustable shelving in the lockers is wobbly crap)

i am feeling inspired to hit the home studio again today before I go back to work tomorrow. Tomorrow I will need to fire the kiln (the kids made "end of year" tile projects that need to be fired and cemented to the walls before fall open house - I do this every year) while that is going on, I will label lockers and deep clean and sort all my materials and small tools and equipment. I plan to bring home the cookie cutters and stamps and sort and purge both the school set and my home stuff. So today I need to create a staging area for that.

[TVRodriguez]

Congrats on getting a good start in the classroom, Chicken lady! That has to feel good. Good luck with the home studio. Keep on trucking!!

[Chicken lady]

Well, the kiln is fired and cooling, a nice parent washed my windows, blinds, blackboard and whiteboard, I have all my pre-openhouse work orders in, and most of the categories of loose stuff are in the back of my car, along with all the unclaimed plastic storage containers I could scrounge out of the supply closets.

i'm going to take a page from this forum and kondo it all tomorrow - mine and the schools (I promise not to steal anything from my school unless I discover the school has twelve identical cat cookie cutters (possible) or such and I am purging it anyway.) Also, half of this stuff I bought, and half of the rest was dropped in my room by parents who were cleaning out. (Which is why I have for example, most of the jello cookie cutter alphabet, but not all 26 letters.)

what I expect is that I will keep the best of my stuff, the school will get a pared down and upgraded set of everything, and the trash can will be well used.

I'm going to put the classroom stuff in piles (cookie cutters, stamps, modeling tools, sponges, texture tools, brushes, scrapers.....) find the container that most closely matches the size of the pile, label it, fill it, and stick it in the car. Any unused containers will go back to the supply closet on Friday when I take this stuff back, put it neatly on the shelves of my new cabinets, and label the outside of the cabinet doors.

[Chicken lady]

I think I posted elsewhere that I finished the classroom stuff and have the room mostly set up and ready to go. I'm feeling really good about it - open house tomorrow.

i worked on my stuff again today and through the magic of a big trash can, a box for additional items to take to my class, and a bag for goodwill, I have found several more cubic feet of space. Bit by bit.

[Chicken lady]

I've been spending more time in my studio because in addition to the class I am teaching starting, I am taking a class. The class I am taking ends this Monday though.

today we went to an arts festival where our son's best friend had his first booth (he's a metal worker). I was jealous. He is bravely forging (no pun intended) ahead with his dreams. I would love to do more with my pottery, but the last "career" I invested in that used up weekends (farmer's market) just made my dh angry. I know that craft fairs are often low or even not profit generating (like the farmer's market) and that it takes a while to get established. I was still jealous.

i am doing a bazaar in 7 weeks, so I am resolved to get out in my studio every day. Even if I just clean up or wedge clay. This evening I cleaned up. I washed a few things, put some stuff away, started sorting out glazes, and found about a plastic grocery bag worth of stuff that could go in the trash can. Not a huge impact, but something.

[nswef]

Good work Chicken Lady. Keep plugging away and you will have what you need and learn what you want to do. I understand the jealousy, It's just not your time, yet, but that time will come ,especially if you keep working at your art. The bazaar is a good start for a both someday...gives you a chance without using up all your weekends. I'm pleased for you.

[Chicken lady]

Thanks nswef. I did this bazaar last year and it was fun - it's pretty easy because it's through the studio where I take classes now and then, and they give you a table inside the building with an electric outlet for your lighting and they use a central checkout and handle tax. They take a percentage of your sales, but don't charge very much for your booth.

it does take up the entire weekend though.

i also have stuff on consignment year round in a little local shop. She's very low volumn sales though - it's just a small town off the beaten path. Dh calls her store my "off site storage" but a sell a couple of pieces a month. Last year she sold out of my Christmas ornaments, so plan to make more of those this year.

i had challenged myself to do a second sale this year, but I never actually did it. I think next year I'll sign up for the one our friend just did. They didn't require a vedor's license or Local sales tax. The entry fee is low, and I believe in the cause. I have a feeling sales are low, but it's also low key and only one day. It's juried, but there wasn't a potter there this year. I would need to buy a tent and some folding tables.

[Chicken lady]

Yesterday I waxed and glazed 16 pieces. They were from my class, so I waxed them at home and glazed them at class and left them to be fired.

[Chicken lady]

Tuesday I waxed and glazed four more pieces and left them at class to be fired.

Yesterday I returned a crate full of stuff to my classroom, taught and threw a few pots on the wheel. I have a new design idea for the bazaar and hope to throw about 20 of them today.

[Chicken lady]

Last night I was in the studio scraping reclaimed clay out of a bucket and I wished for a tool that would make it easier. I imagined exactly what this tool would look like and even messed around trying to fashion one out of various available materials. No luck.

This morning I threw away a smallish item from the studio.

this afternoon I stopped at goodwill, and karma rewarded me - I found THREE of my perfect tool fashioned from sturdy plastic taped together for a grand total of $1.07 (including tax). They are slightly different sizes and cheerful colors. I don't know what they were originally for, (some type of kitchen task?) but they are perfect. The whole bundle is about the size of the thing I threw away.

it was half price everything today and that is all I bought.

also today I glazed 5 small things for the bazaar.

[Chicken lady]

So, the studio is still a mess, but I am working in it.

today I threw out two pots that cracked in firing that I had to admit I was never "going to use to test glazes" and 4 yogurt cups that are "great for water or glaze" (I have too many. I have set aside enough, and when I find more - out they go.).

I also threw 35 lbs of clay into 24 pots for the bazaar over the last two days. I am working on Christmas ornaments, and I glazed a few more things - so materials are slowly becoming inventory (now if inventory can just become cash.....)

[mschrisgo2]

Wow, good job on being able to let the yogurt cups go! When is the bazaar?

[Chicken lady]

The bazaar is nov 20th. After the bazaar I will take leftover inventory to the shop where I consign - I keep more of the sale price at the bazaar. My first batch of pots is partly glazed, my second batch is trimmed and drying. I will hopefully throw a third batch today. I am also about half done with christmas ornaments.

i threw all the little dried out bits of blueish cone 06 glaze into a jar of water and am making a whole jar of "mystery blue". If that works out I'm going to make some more colors. I have far too many containers with half an inch of dried up glaze in the bottom. Technically they belong to my school, but the other art teacher and the facilities manager have classified them as "trash" so now I just bring them home. Then I don't get around to reconstituting them - which is why they got labeled trash in the first place - 2% of the supply budget, not worth staff time.

i got some of the cardboard out of the studio barn this week when I put layers down under the raised bed I built. And moved a rug to dh study.

[nswef]

CL, You are like the energizer bunny! I hope the glazes do make lovely work.

[Chicken lady]

I don't feel like the energizer bunny! I feel more like the tortoise, or dory - just keep swimming, just keep swimming......

i'm really looking forward to my mom coming to visit in a month because I see this place every day, but she hasn't been here since Dd's wedding in June, so hopefully I will get to see progress through her eyes. (Also, I really just love it when my mom visits)

[Teacher Terry]

Enjoy your visit with your Mom. Mine has been gone now for 7 years and i really miss her.

[Chicken lady]

So we went to the store with the free pickle buckets again. And I got two more pickle buckets.

i don't know if that is a step forward or a step back, but they are washed out and drying in the sun and when I move clay into them I will throw out some more of the hodge-podge containers and it will look better even if it is basically the same amount of stuff.

and I washed them almost as soon as I got home (snack and started laundry first)