De cluttering-
I was , uh, strongly encouraged to do some de-cluttering in the Laundry room which is also the only storage area I have for items I don't use regularly. So, I began a couple days ago, being very strict with myself and began to sort what I call my "overflow stash". These are mainly fabrics I have collected over the years That are not cotton, or in designs that I probably won't use in my work. Ok, so I have not made any dolls in quite some time, so the fabrics I've collected for that art endeavor can go away. I decided that, no matter how cool it was to get a van load of furniture fabric samples was, I really haven't used them and they were taking up a lot of space.(despite the gifting of more than 3/4ths of it already) Ditto on the leather samples.
There there's all the antique fabrics I've gathered here and there, like the avocado green printed Bicentennial fabrics and the bark cloth, and well, you get the idea.. there was a lot I wasn't using and probably won't use. Fabric is also designed (like clothing) in spring and fall lines. While a really antique fabric is cool, fabric from 1991, not so much, unless it's a fabric design you LOVE and is flexible. Patterned fabrics tend to get dated looking.
All in all I was able to downsize to about half the amount of fabric there, which is a good show in my book! I am going to a sewing retreat in July, so I'm taking the load to my sister, then to the retreat, thinking sewers would appreciate it more than the local charity. (the samples and leather I did take to the charity though) Now, if I can do that with some of the rest of my storage issues.
Ok, so I'm a pack rat and I am always thinking, "I might need that someday" even if I might not use it in years. That breaks with the traditional view of clutter busting, but break with it I must. I may not make hand made paper often, but it's nice to know I have everything i need to do it when I want to. It makes me feel good to have all kinds of art supplies on hand when the mood strikes. Watercolor paints and papers, acrylic paints and canvases, frames, brushes, batik supplies, printing supplies, crayons, pastels, clay and glazes, stained glass and soldering supplies, On and on it goes for art supplies.
Then, there's the odd things... I collect boxes, but I'm not sure why. A good box (wooden) is hard to pass up. The idea of clean paper.. there's just so much potential there, I just can't pass up a sketch book, or notebook even though most of them are untouched because I don't want to mess them up. (my solution was to get cheap graph paper notebooks to sketch in)
One of the fun things about art supplies is that you never know when they will transfer to a different form of visual art. For example, a cheap embroidery hoop. I can do embroidery, so that's one use, but I can put screen in it instead and use it in paper making. That technique is also used in making silk fabrications, so there's another use. The other day, I saw a tutorial about screen printing using a hoop (and mod podge) too, so there's another use.
Wax can be used for batik and for candle making. Recently, I've been using Prismacolors on fabric, very similar to how I used to combine them with watercolors back in the 80's.
So, if you don't mind, I'll be keeping some of my supplies, however outdated they might seem.