I have struggled this week to come up with a post. It is not the first time and I dare say it won’t be the last but I powered through and made this short video on how to make alcohol inks from dried up sharpie markers. It’s not academy award material but it is complete. 🙂

I was actually working on another project that has presented several road blocks, mishaps and frustrations. Somewhere in my problem solving thought process I decided to try using alcohol ink. I didn’t have any alcohol ink but I did know I could make some and so this quick project came together.

In the process of making my video I stumbled onto some videos of the beautiful art that can be made with alcohol ink. This is one that was particularly inspiring. It made me want to experiment. I have never made such elaborate designs. A few years ago I did some experimenting but you can see quite a difference in talent levels here. 🙂

Anyway we all live to be inspired and to learn new skills and improve the skills we have don’t we?  So, it is nice to see what others can do with a medium and to be motivated to try to improve ourselves.

I hope your week is full of inspiration. Until next week.

Happy Upcycling,

Still, I find myself struggling with the questions  of Quality vs Quantity. It seems the current conventional wisdom is to post regularly if you want to grow your platform. It makes sense I guess but somehow deadlines and time tables don’t always coincide with inspiration. And even inspiration does not always result in a positive outcome.

Should creativity be cultivated and sought after or waited for with open arms? I guess I believe that it is both. Sometimes we are fortunate to have ideas rain upon us from every direction other times the terrain is parched and dry it is too easy to become despondent and disappointed in ourselves and our creative endeavors.

Progress is slow. The list of things I don’t know, need to do or should do better seems to expand at an exponential rate. New knowledge only sheds light on the enormous amount of things I don’t know.

And so when my head starts spinning, when frustration and even some despair start to set in I do the only thing that I can do I return to the thing that brought me here the reason for all of it, my desire to create.

My pictures should be better, my writing is only c+ material, I don’t promote my blog or my youtube channel well enough or fast enough or know about the new and best places to promote. I can’t keep up with the newest and lastest and greatest way to do xy or z. I don’t have enough subscribers to have to interest any affiliate programs. My niche if you will is not exactly common dinner party conversation. In a world that chases new and better and more the majority of folks couldn’t care less about how to make craft project by rifling through their recycling bin. If they recycle and if they don’t well they are even less likely to want to dig through their trash.