Working in my comfort zone

It's time for the monthly Jewelry Artisans Community's blog carnival again. Our topic today is "comfort zone".
What's the comfort zone?
Wikipedia tells me that "the comfort zone is a psychological state in which a person feels familiar, at ease, in control, and experiences low anxiety. A person in this state uses a limited set of behaviors to deliver a steady level of performance, usually without a sense of risk".

I'm not going to talk about all of my comfort zone, just that little spot in the corner where I have set up my studio.
What is my comfort zone as a jewelry artisan, anyway? And how are creativity in artisan crafts and comfort zone linked? How much of it is how to promote yourself? Is it important if you are doing it full or part time or maybe even just as a hobby?

Let's get to my limits that I can think of at the moment:
I limit myself to three techniques mostly, wire crochet, wire knit, and bead looming.
I hardly ever make really big pieces. That doesn't mean I always go for instant gratification and knock out 15 minute pieces. I do spend hours on some pieces and patterns, but sometimes I also lose patience during a project which turns it into a forever WIP if it's out of luck.
I avoid tutorials.
I don't deal well with some styles or colors, especially if I don't wear them myself.

Now do those things hold me back? Should I step outside my comfort zone? Am I maybe just trying to convince myself if I say that I'm happy with what I'm creating? Should I ask for more criticism? Should I try to get my pieces juried? Enter them into challenges? Send them to magazines to push myself? Look for shops that would take them on consignment?
I'm not saying these thoughts never haunt me, but so far I have always ended up back in the studio corner of my comfort zone because frankly, when contemplating it I really am quite happy at the moment with what I do. I haven't run out of creative ideas yet and it makes me feel good to create and to experiment with things within my limits.
Maybe my goals are not high enough, maybe I'm too lazy, maybe the hammock in my comfort zone is too comfortable or maybe I'm just frightened and won't admit it to myself.

The thoughts will come back, no doubt, and that is a good thing, too. They will kick me and eventually the kicks might be hard enough to throw me out of that hammock. We'll see.

Here's a video about the comfort zone, the learning zone and the panic zone which was interesting AND fun to watch.



What do our other JAC members have to say about their comfort zone? Hop over there and have a look.
I'll add more links as they come in.
 
Jewelry Art by Dawn
Echoes of Ela
Ponder the cat


P.S. At the time I am writing this post I have eleven more days to come up with an idea for a steampunk challenge piece. I'm not a steampunk person and I don't know much about it. The only thing that comes to mind are watch parts of which I don't have any at the moment.
If I haven't had an idea until now when this post goes live, I'm in trouble because it will be only three more days.
I am tempted to say that I'll skip that challenge, but this is one opportunity for a very small walk outside of my creative comfort zone into the learning zone and I shouldn't miss it.
I guess I'll start with watching this episode of Castle for inspiration as there is not much else to do at this time of night. Wish me luck!

Creativity

The other day my friend, The Crafty Chimp, wrote about "That Creative Gene". She tells us that she is from a creative family and encourages others to go look for their creative gene.
Her post made me think about my own creativity. I usually just take it for granted. I wasn't one of those kids who made maccaroni pictures, I have a glue trauma as I like to point out at any possible occasion, and if had to sew my own clothes, I probably would get arrested for indecent behavior after showing myself in public. I used not to knit half bad, though, when I still did it ... even though I only started knitting because my bad doodling wasted too much paper.

Then I found the wire and the beads, the big ones and finally the tiny ones, with a little adventure here and there like polymer clay.
Now it makes me wonder why we stick with some things and not with others.
Why is it so appealing to me to turn yards of wire into a mesh of stitches while I hated crocheting with yarn? Where did I find the patience to put tiny beads together on a loom, but not the patience to do it without a loom? Why can I waste wire experimenting for hours, knowing the project could well end up in the trash while I can't find the patience to look at a thirty minute video tutorial?

Sometimes people tell me I should make this or that, and they probably think that I'm very stubborn if I ignore it (yes, I am stubborn, but about other things).
Why don't I feel the urge to even try some things - wire wrapping, off loom beading, bead embroidery only to mention some of the things that could be seen as natural for me to try. I have most of the material around, I could jump right in and see if it's for me, but there is still so much I want to try in my own line of work, patterns are lined up in my bead program, wire ideas fight for that last bit of space in my brain, and then there is my need of keeping it fun and relaxing for myself.

Last night I spontaneously forgot all my patterns and ideas, instead I took a necklace I had been given by someone from a former life and which I never wore, cut it apart, and then there was only my wire, my crochet hook and the tumbled stone beads.
About 145 cm later I had a new necklace and felt good. I may not have the answers to my questions, but as long as what I do makes me feel good, all is well.

The necklace will be in my shop eventually after I had better light for pictures.