The Joy of Making Things

I actually have a rather creative set of job roles in running my own business.  I do a lot of creative things and I count myself as very fortunate to be able to say that the hard work I do to pay bills and afford myself a reasonable standard of living is, on the whole, creative.  However, I don't make anything.  Or at least, I don't make anything that's real.  And most of my creative efforts are for other people's benefit - my clients - and very rarely for myself, my own enjoyment or endeavours. I'm like the builder who has a half-built conservatory at their own home and for whom the idea of spending the weekend making a barbecue set out of bricks would be anathema.  Except my backside is not as visible and as saggy, I don't read the tabloids over a mug of tea, and I don't have a white van with "clean me" on it.  And if I did, they wouldn't be real.  They'd be defined in HTML tags or something like that.

Anyway, I've had a bit of fun recently making things. Making non-virtual things.

First, a Christmas card for a "Secret Santa" exercise, where the criteria was that the card had to be hand-made.  I really got into this and enjoyed the process of devising something, planning it, and then actually sitting down to do it.  You'll see from the photos below that I brought out the heavy artillery for this: cutting board, craft knife, scissors, metal ruler and pritt stick.  Serious stuff, but thoroughly satisfying.  I had forgotten how nice it is to actually make stuff.  You know, actually make something out of nothing.  Perhaps it's not much of a news flash to many of my readers - particularly those who have younger children - but it was to me. For the last ten years or more almost everything I have created has been virtual... the vast majority of it web pages, designs and logos.  Nothing really tangible.  And so my Christmas card was a bit of a revelation:

Nothing too complicated or fancy but rather effective.  It's a bit of pop-up, a dash of montage and a little smidgeon of improvisation with the "baubles" (they are actually transparent adhesive rubber "feet" that I simply felt-tipped).  Not bad for someone who doesn't really do "that kind of thing".

Second, the other fun I have had with things relates to a project that has been gestating for a long time in the bowels of Jon HQ.  Again, there is end product to it (although partly virtual) and it is also something I am doing solely for its own merits and solely for me.  It's actually quite unusual for me to do anything for me, so it has been enjoyable plotting and planning this project and now seeing it come together over the past few weeks.

I'll have more to share on the project soon...suffice to say that the title of this post has something to do with it ;)