Webster's Collegiate Dictionary defines the verb putter as "to move or act aimlessly or idly; to work at random; tinker. Personally, I have perfected the act and state of working aimlessly. It is the thing I do when my house gets overwhelming and I can't seem to focus on one certain task. When this happens (which is often), I resort to aimless puttering. Start by sort that pile of papers on the kitchen counter (oh, there's that school paper I was supposed to send in yesterday!), I end up finding an important paper which needs to be filed upstairs. Going upstairs to file that important paper will result in me noticing I need to organize the computer desk. Organizing the computer desk, I notice some CDs I put in my iTunes library that need to be put away. Putting away the CDs will result in me noticing we still have Dora the Explorer VHS tapes stacked by our TV (my daughter declared herself too old for Dora a while ago). I put the Dora tapes in a box to go in the garage ( until I get time to putter in there). While in the garage I notice something else, and so on... You get the idea. It begins to sound like a grown-up version of one of those "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" books. Yes, it is aimless, but certainly not idle. Running up and down the stairs to put things away is very far from idle, and always makes me realize the ludicrousness of those StairMaster machines. Even if the act of puttering lacks a goal, I still actually get things done. I find things that are lost, fill up our recycling with outdated papers and magazines, and things eventually start to look just a little bit neater and under control.
The same thing happens from time to time in my studio when I feel unfocused and overwhelmed and I'm not sure what to work on. I putter in my studio and start going through old jewelry I haven't gone through in a while. I find things that were lost, and think about new uses for things that have been laying around. These earrings are the direct result of aimless puttering. They are comprised almost entirely of recycled vintage and newer jewelry. Things that have long been discarded by its original owner get a new chance to come back as something else. Even the chandelier components where once multi-strand necklace connectors. Each one of them becomes like a little puzzle I have to put together to make them just right. I have made and sold many of these earrings, and each one I've made I've been tempted to keep because I love them so much. They are truly original and one of a kind. So my advice is to indulge in a little aimless puttering every now and then. Sometimes the result can be pretty cool!
