What I Hope to Learn from Making Something Every Week

So January is over and with it, the making of the first four items in my Make Something Every Week project.

I’m experiencing a pleasant feeling of easing in for the long haul, and the gradually-building momentum that comes with a sustained project of this kind.

​​The last time I attempted anything similar was in 2011 - the year I made a piece of art every day, culminating in a solo show at the end of the year.

I’m not known for being fast or prolific, so that year was a real eye-opener for me as I really did produce 365 pieces of work. 

Although one of the results I hope for from this project is increased creative output, it differs from 365 in some other important ways.

For 365 I took an ‘anything goes’ approach to what I produced. As long as I made a piece of art, it didn’t have to conform to any specific criteria. In fact part of the reason for doing it was to liberate myself from too much attachment to outcome. (It worked!)

Make Something Every Week: Month 1 © Cherry Jeffs 2018
Painted butterfly box, Moorish design embroidery on small box,
hexagonal box with ribbon handle, hanging, opening bird

Goals for Make Something Every Week

​With Make Something Every Week (MSEW), I have a much more specific brief which - although it allows for plenty of freedom - will keep me orientated towards a specific direction:

I’m focussing on developing ideas for products that I could sell at an accessible price point to complement my very labour-intensive Artist’s Books.

Because of this, each ‘something’ is really a prototype and doesn't have to be a saleable piece of work. I just have to finish it in a week.  

So there can be lots of iterations of an idea, which I  gradually refine over the year.

I also recognise that - if a piece calls to me - I might go on to develop it as a finished artwork in its own right. 

I’m looking forward to growing through this project in the following ways: 
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• Making a lot more completed pieces work than in 2017
• Improving my craft and honing my creative voice further by working with the same materials I use for making my Artist’s Books.
• Getting used to working more quickly again
• Improving my ability to assess the scale of projects before leaping into them as well as avoiding function creep during the creative process.​

I'm excited to see where the project leads me (inevitably not where I imagine it will!) and I'll be blogging periodically over the next 11 months about how well the project fulfills these aspirations.

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Stay up to date with the Make Something Every Week project

​Unlike 2011, I probably won’t be posting EVERY piece on my blog. So to keep an eye on what I’m getting up to, make sure you:

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