A Small Loud

🤍 The Lovers 🤍

had exactly enough energy to do Mermay and zero energy to think about it. none of this deciding what kind of fish they are etc (maybe next year). but fun to do all the same!

The items you've been squirreling away for ages, because you know they still have so much potential?

The stuff you'll never find again, because it was technically meant to be ephemera that no-one was supposed to give a second thought to before throwing it away?

The bulky packages they've been in ever since you bought them so long ago?

And, most importantly, the things that you have so much of that the storage situation is overwhelming? Hard to look at? Even harder to physically add more overlooked-by-everyone-else treasures to (which you very often do)?

This post is giving you permission to throw at least some of them away.

You can throw them all away if you want, but I know how hard that is.

Start with a little: the most broken pieces; the things already nearly used up but surely that last odd little bit will work for something, someday; 80% of each of the identical things; the parts you've tried to use for years, but it never worked out; the well-meaning gifts of generosity from people who know You Are Creative So You Will Do Something Amazing With This.

It's OK. It's not wasteful--the cumulative waste of individuals will never compare to the waste of industry. And paying attention to what you let go can help you figure out what you don't want to let back in.

And, yes, of course, giving it as a gift or having an exchange with like-minded hobby friends is an option, but make sure the recipient actually wants the stuff, and that you're not just offloading your guilt about being wasteful onto someone else.

I moved my studio out of my house for the first time ever. I left some things at home, for hobbies, and moved the rest to a space in an old mill building. The packing process was rushed. The unpacking process has been eye-opening - the things I brought that have not been touched for more than 15 years, the things I have so much of and kind of hate. The weird fabrics and strange colors and things I got for one particular project and did not make that project and also did not incorporate that material into the general stash... Let It GOOOO.

I do not need to keep all of those cardboard tubes from the centers of rolls of things just because they're really nice, heavy cardboard. I do not need to keep the pieces of packaging that are made with metallic print just because they're pretty colors. I do not need to keep the bottles of glue with about a quarter inch of possibly dried out glue in the bottom. I do not need to keep small plastic lids because they look like they should be useful for something, surely. I do not need to keep things--which were broken to begin with--that I have already cut off all the otherwise useful parts. I do not need all the cute empty food jars. I do not need to keep every cardboard package/box in odd sizes or of surprisingly nice quality. I have so much fabric that I absolutely do not need those scraps of cloth that I might be able to get one 1" square out of to use for doll-size patchwork.

The problem is that I am just so sure that they're useful! So I put them away in a box and either forget about them, or use exactly one of the many I ended up saving over time. This is giving myself--and anyone else who keeps every little disposable thing because they see its hidden potential, while never actually doing anything to achieve that potential--absolution from the guilt of throwing away things that seem so useful, but were never meant to be used like that. And maybe a bonus lesson in learning what you don't need to keep to begin with.

There will always be more trash.

“A Fragment out of Time”, published in 1974. Kirk / Spock. page 1 page 2