Tien Chiu

  • Home
  • About Tien
    • Honors, Awards, and Publications
  • Online Teaching
  • Gallery
  • Essays
  • Travels
  • Book
  • Blog
  • Dye samples
You are here: Home / All blog posts / On creative frenzy
Previous post: Flex 2 development
Next post: Mt Hamilton, and more lactate intervals

June 22, 2007 by Tien Chiu Leave a Comment

On creative frenzy

I don’t know about anyone else, but my creativity goes in phases.  I’ll be a perfectly good citizen for awhile, pursuing my hobbies quietly, and then something happens and I kick into high gear.  I find a hobby to be obsessive about, spend an ungodly amount of money on it, and wind up with what feels a little bit like a binge hangover.  I start eight projects when I know I only have time and attention to finish maybe three of them.  At the end of it I wonder vaguely what possessed me to go THAT far.

I had mostly ascribed this to being bipolar (that kind of behavior being quite common in manic and hypomanic phases), but now I’m not so sure.  I’ve been trying to reconcile my occasional creative binges with the side of me that believes in things like financial planning and not over-acquiring Stuff.  Haven’t yet succeeded; the only thing I seem to be able to do during a binge is try to stay at least slightly rooted in reality.

At any rate, I have now acquired more yarn than I can weave in a year.  I really must stop buying yarn, shuttles, reeds, dyes, and other toys.  It would probably also be good for me not to acquire more Flex 2 development books until I finish the one I’m currently paging through, but I’m not sure I’ll have that much self-restraint.  At least I can expense the latter.

Does everyone else go through phases of buying everything in sight related to a given craft?

Share this post!

  • Tweet
  • More
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
  • Share on Tumblr
  • Click to print (Opens in new window) Print

Like this:

Like Loading...

Discover more from Tien Chiu

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Filed Under: All blog posts, musings, textiles, weaving

Previous post: Flex 2 development
Next post: Mt Hamilton, and more lactate intervals

Comments

  1. Jo says

    June 22, 2007 at 6:35 pm

    I know what you mean! I’ll be obsessive about acquiring the perfect tools for a project, and then plan far more projects than I can possibly do in the given time. Fabric is my real weakness, yum, silk… The only thing that has saved me is that; being in the education field, my budget for crafty processes takes a hit from reality. Y’know, what with that pesky eating habit and all… 🙂

    Loading...
    Reply
  2. Lisa says

    June 25, 2007 at 1:04 pm

    I do the same thing – whatever is new gets top priority and all the other things I love(d) to do get pushed back. I have enough projects planned for several lifetimes. I find the same thing happens with people I meet – I want to be with them all the time until the next thing catches my attention, and then I am off. I don’t care about that person any less, but there it is.

    Loading...
    Reply
  3. Julie L. says

    June 25, 2007 at 8:58 pm

    Reminds me of another blog post elseweb that I read recently: http://elisem.livejournal.com/1059295.html

    Loading...
    Reply

Leave a ReplyCancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Archives

Tags

aids lifecycle outfits autumn splendor book cashmere coat cats celtic braid coat color study cross dyeing design devore doubleweave doubleweave shawls drawing dye samples dye study group gradient colors handwoven clothing house infinite warp jacquard loom katazome knitted blanks kodachrome jacket ma's memorial mohair coat network drafted jacket/shawl project network drafting painted warp phoenix rising phoenix rising dress phoenix rising kimono phoenix rising reloaded pre-weavolution project sea turtles taquete tie-dye tied weaves tomatoes velvet weaving drafts web design website redesign wedding wedding dress woven shibori

Categories

  • Africa
  • aids lifecycle
  • All blog posts
  • All travel posts
  • Asia
  • Bangkok
  • Belize
  • Cambodia
  • Central America
  • Chai Ya (Wat Suon Mok)
  • Chiang Mai
  • Chiang Rai (Akha)
  • China
  • chocolate
  • computer stuff
  • creating craft
  • Creative works
  • cycling
  • Delhi
  • Dharamsala
  • drawing
  • dyeing
  • Fiber Arts
  • finished
  • food
  • garden
  • Ghana
  • Guatemala
  • Hanoi
  • Ho Chi Minh City
  • Hoi An
  • India
  • Khao Lak
  • Knitting
  • knitting
  • Ko Chang
  • Laos
  • Luang Namtha
  • Luang Prabang
  • markleeville death ride
  • meditations on craft
  • mental illness
  • musings
  • Phnom Penh
  • powerlifting
  • Rewalsar (Tso Pema)
  • sewing
  • Siem Reap (Angkor Wat)
  • Southeast Asia
  • surface design
  • textiles
  • Thailand
  • travel
  • Vangvieng
  • Vientiane
  • Vietnam
  • Warp & Weave
  • weaving
  • Weaving
  • weavolution
  • writing

© Copyright 2025 Tien Chiu · All Rights Reserved ·

%d