Do you have favorite things to find uses for?

There must be some things that fascinate you.   I can't be the only one.   There are several that I absolutely love.
 
1.  I love magnets, magnetic clips, magnetic strips, little magnets to put into greeting cards or little boxes, magnets to use to keep things handy.
2.  Dowels are another thing for me, particularly small ones, an inch or smaller.  There are so many things to make with them.  They can even be cut small and used to mix paint.  But I use them when I build little houses, holders for hanging things,  (attach them to hooks) , help polymer clay dolls stand up, make frames... all day I can think of new uses.
3.  Wood of any kind.  It is almost impossible for me to let go of any piece of wood.  I find scraps handy for making shims, make-shift shelves between two storage containers, little planks to support those flimsy wire shelves, and I use pieces of masonite not only as substrates for painting but as bookends or sturdy dividers between 12x12 cardstock packs or even canvases.   And then when it's down to nearly splinters, it can serve as kindling in the fireplace.  Sawdust is even good in the garden.  (I obviously love trees.)
4.  Glass bottles and jars.  Baby food jars, wine bottles, mayonnaise containers when they used to be glass.  Paint them or not, they are things I love to see in my studio, just being around.  Obviously they are handy for uses in painting and to wash brushes, but you can make little terrariums,  root plants in them, grow a sweet potato vine, store things, fill them with buttons, baubles and beads!

Actually,  containers of any kind.  For a long time I saved them all but I had to temper that.   There's only so many one person can ever get around to using, not to mention finding space for.

5. Pens, pencils and markers of all kinds.  Notebooks.  Legal pads.  No explanation necessary there.

What are some of yours?

Finding new ways to use old stash

People like me who work with all kinds of mixed media tend to be hoarders, and since I am in what my friend Mary calls my "twilight years" I decided this year to begin seriously de-stashing and it's amazing how much more efficiently the items I do work with can be stored.

When I moved here five years ago, things just got tossed into storage bins here and there, with no real thought to saving space.  I have kept (and accumulated more) things since then, and the chaos has contributed to my already stressful existence.  I am feeling really good now about the changes I made in the studio and the choices I am making about what to keep.

Do I really need a hundred baby food jars for paint?  Why not just a half dozen?  And those coffee cans for washing brushes, why not just one or two?  It's hard to let go of things I "might want to make something with some day," but now I'm either using them for sure, or tossing them.  Or sharing them with other artists.

In the process, I have found things I forgot about and am having fun creating a bit differently.  I'm finally enjoying monoprinting.  I'm making greeting cards, and prepping card fronts from these results.

Change is good.  Aging, not so much.  I'm slow, I'm getting a third as much done as I plan, but ideas still abound and I'm having a good time.

I will try to confine my comments about the complications of aging in my other blog, Klothospin.