5 Ways that Polymer Clay has Impacted My Life
1. It's Therapy
Creating art, and working with your hands is simply therapeutic. There is something peaceful (yet also sometimes exhilarating) to make something with your hands. To see it literally transform before your eyes simply because your mind and body are working in tandem to create something from nothing. Studies show that spending time working on art can significantly reduce anxiety and depression. Creating with your hands, literally makes you happier.
2. It's Living in the Moment
Art requires us to be present; we have to find a way to clear our minds and be in the now. All too often as a small business owner, I am thinking “well, what about this”, or “maybe I should do that”, or “I’ve got to get that done soon.” The rabbit hole can get crazy deep, things piling up super fast, right?! But when I find myself sitting in front of a piece of clay, sometimes with literally no idea what I want to create, those pressing thoughts eventually melt away, and I can be wholly focused, and fully present in the moment, allowing the design to slowly (and purposely) reveal itself to me.
3. It's About Forgiveness
Fact check: Things don’t always work out how we plan them, and sometimes we might even feel like a failure. Clay reminds me that something (or someone) can be remade again, and become even “more” than first envisioned or believed. Clay has a great way of working out just like it should, flaws and all. It is the acceptance of those imperfections that allows us to reshape, remold, rethink, offering us grace right as its needed. It reveals to us wholeness over perfection, mirroring this principle in our own lives about the power of forgiveness for ourselves and others. Because we all have the capacity to be “more” along with a big dose of compassion, humility, and an open heart.
4. It's Honoring the Past
Creating something with your own hands in today’s culture is nothing revolutionary. For most artists, it is creating something they enjoy looking at or wearing. But how amazing it is to think that for centuries and generations, civilizations and cultures were built by those who created things they needed not just for enjoyment, but most often simply for survival. Their most simple yet useful items, are now art history. We consider art in its many forms to be new and unique, but we are actually standing in the footsteps of some amazingly gifted people. Because of their trailblazing efforts, artists now have the tools and techniques to create for the sheer sake of creating. We should be proud and humbled to stand amongst such incredible individuals.
5. It's Bigger than Me
Art is meant to be shared. It shouldn’t be hoarded away and never seen or experienced. Every piece of jewelry that I make has an intended person who I believe is meant to be its steward, to continue “carrying the torch” if you will. I may not have a clue who the person is that takes that particular piece home, but as I create, I think about them, who they might be, what they do, even who they love. All of those things play into the finished pieces of my art. Each one is unique and special just like the person who wears it.