Brittany Stanton: Welcome back to the Creative Practice Series. Today we're going to talk about something that might be a huge game changer in your creative lifestyle, and that is starting small. If you've ever felt like you don't have time to be creative, then this episode is going to feel like a breath of fresh air because we're going to talk about using small bits of time to build your creative practice. And this is very personal for both of us because we've had to relearn this process over and over in our own creative endeavors. It's something that takes practice and consistency to develop and learn how to take small chunks of time to work on your creativity and work on your creative projects. Hey everyone, welcome to the Textile Indie Podcast. name is Brittany Stanton. I am one of the creators behind the Textile Indie brand. And here we're sharing lots of creativity ⁓ advice and things that we've learned. my co-host Cheri She's. Also my mom and a co-owner in the textile Indie new brand. So we're super excited to be sharing this topic with you today. Cheri: We have also made a free worksheet for this episode. It will help you make your own 15 minute creative plan. It's perfect if you need to start building creative momentum again without overwhelm. It's simple, super doable, and we're going to show you how to get it at the end of the podcast. If Now let's get into why small starts matter so much. Brittany, let's start out by defining what it means to start small when it comes to creative practice, especially in the realm of fiber arts. Brittany Stanton: Yeah, so starting small, idea of trying to develop something that you can do in small moments of time, and that can be a window of five minutes to 15 minutes. The idea behind this is that you're choosing very or even tiny steps that are repeatable that you can come back to. Fiber arts, there's a lot of repetitive work, whether you're you know, you're doing row after row. If you're weaving, there's a lot of the back and forth and just developing your fabric. If you're ⁓ weaving a basket, you're doing building up the walls or doing each section of the basket. So like we talked about in episode one, those moments of building consistency are super important because you develop a ability to come back to your project and pick up where you left off more easily. And so breaking things down into those tiny chunks is really helpful to make sure that can do these things in short blocks of time. So with idea of small, tangible that can do in small chunks of time, ⁓ it really breaks the concept of the all or nothing mentality, which I think is pretty prevalent in society that the concept if you're not first, you're last, or if you don't finish, then you failed or, ⁓ you know, there's all these kind whether it's internal dialogue or external dialogue about ⁓ should be accomplished or whether it was achieved good enough. The mentality being ⁓ you to ⁓ spend large of time or do the entire project all in one go ⁓ or you to do it perfectly the first time. There's just a of barriers to that mentality. It's kind of a fixed mindset kind of thing rather than a growth mindset where you're stuck in this needing to do it a certain way rather than opening up to the ability to either try new things or just do a small amount at a time and not have to do it perfectly. that shifting an all-or-nothing mentality to hey I've got five minutes I could sit down and read the pattern so that I know what's going to happen next or I have 15 minutes today I'm going to sit down and knit one row or whatever your technique is or project is that you're working on what is the minimum thing that you could do today one stitch one row breaking it down to that level so that you are still making forward progress, still putting your place, yourself in the place of taking time creatively. I think there's a lot of value in that and shifting from that all or nothing mindset to a what's the small amount that I could accomplish today because those small amounts build up on each other and there's I think this is a personal opinion but I think there's nothing sadder than someone that says well I can't be all in so I'm not going to do it at all. Cheri: you Brittany Stanton: ⁓ that just feels it feels sad to me because if you're if you never tried it then you're missing out on a whole lot of creative effort and creativity that you just dabble in and you could still have a little bit of time for and still gain a lot of benefits from mental health wise and and creativity wise but if you don't look at it in small pieces, then it can be really easy to have excuses to not do things. Cheri: Okay, so this idea of breaking things down into very tiny, repeatable moments means that you are breaking that cycle of all or nothing productivity. You are able to find those micro spaces in your day to actually move something forward. And you're preventing this idea that your creativity is just checking a box for the day as if it's some kind of a chore or a task. Ooh, that's one I fall into big time. And it also gives you this idea of incorporating creative rituals into your day. And those creative rituals lead to creative breakthroughs. Does that sum up what you said? I I really struggle, aside from the checking the box and having my creativity become just another job, which I don't need. This all or nothing mentality, I really struggle with this because I tend to put something on my to-do list like, Brittany Stanton: Yeah. Cheri: make the quilt or you know it's like it's this huge project that represents hours and hours of time you can't do it you can only do the steps up to it. Slightly unrelated it is a craft but do you remember you kids gave me that model of the bookstore it's been quite a few years ago maybe five four or five years ago I have been working on it. Brittany Stanton: Yeah. Cheri: When I first opened it up, maybe you've seen them, they sell these a lot in bookstores and they're just these super, super detailed models of a scene of a store or a library or living room, they're darling. And the kids gave me one as a gift. And I opened it one winter and started working on it. And just the first few pieces, I mean, it is tiny, it's so tiny. And I'm just cutting out these little books that you have to fold and make these little paper books. And I texted them and I said, do you guys hate me? Brittany Stanton: you Cheri: just thought, have I got myself into? Well, obviously I'm not moving on it really fast because a lot of times it's like, I'll have on my to-do list, finish the library. mean, how overwhelming is that? ⁓ I finally learned to just take the little micro task. And so I'm actually moving on it again. I'm working on it. There's little vases and you make the flowers. There's just ⁓ dozens dozens of these little paper books that you have to put together. And the other thing, I stopped working from the tiniest object and I started backwards and started making the bigger objects. There's pieces of furniture and just the frame itself. So anyway, the point being, instead of thinking, ⁓ I have to sit down and finish this, which isn't possible because it's going to take many hours of time breaking it down into these little tiny micro tasks. And then I can see that, ⁓ I can actually do that while I'm watching TV. So Brittany, where in your creative practice did tiny actions make the biggest difference? Brittany Stanton: think ⁓ the tiny actions help most when I'm in a season of busyness and don't have the bandwidth for a lot of creative time. Whether that's because ⁓ I'm teaching lot or ⁓ it's summer we're traveling a lot. You know, there's things that come up in life that ⁓ make certain seasons challenging to have. routine and so in those times of routine the small tasks the things that I can take with me or the things that take five to fifteen minutes really helpful because I continue to work on creativity or my projects I can make them more defined and more ⁓ so that they fit in a road trip or they fit in ⁓ ⁓ windows of time that I have in the evening or in the morning or on a lunch break or something like that. So I still get that time in. It's kind of a little of a, you have to be flexible in that there will be seasons ⁓ and times in life where you have hours an hour to spend working on your creative efforts. And then there are times where you only have five minutes. so having that flexibility of kind of transitioning from the bigger amounts of time to the smaller amounts of time and being open to that, I think that mindset is really helpful. So I think that, ⁓ biggest, there's a long winded way of saying the impact ⁓ is is when I need to transition to having less time is that I'm still doing it. The consistency, still putting creative effort in and think that is a huge one. The ⁓ continuation something that maybe was bigger and smaller now, it might be bigger in the future, but ⁓ consistency. Cheri: how do you think this idea of tiny action shows up for creatives? Brittany Stanton: I think similarly to my own experience, think the consistency of doing elements of a thing really builds up. This isn't going to correlate exactly, but I've been learning in fitness practice that often it's the boring workout. It's the thing that you consistently do to build a muscle that makes the most impact. And so you craft or you build your workout and you stick to that for a season of time, whether that's like six to eight weeks. And you do that same thing for that period of time. and it builds the muscle or the endurance or whatever it is you're working on. And it gets to be boring because you're repeating the same thing, like progressively adding weight or adding reps or whatever it is. And I think that applies aspect of it being kind of boring after a while, kind of applies here in the sense that the consistency of something, the thing that... is small, it might start to feel a little repetitive or even boring at times because at least for myself, the wanting to start a new project or the ⁓ object syndrome or wanting to see more progress done ⁓ so that I can ⁓ a project finished, so ⁓ bigger in progress, those things like they're They're kind of motivating. And so when you don't have those project finishes on a regular basis or the new project to start or seeing a lot of progress in a timeframe, if you're just doing one row at a time, that can start to get a little bit boring, especially if it's the same color or you're doing the same pattern or, ⁓ know, it it's very repetitive. And as I mentioned before, fiber arts can be pretty repetitive in the way we do our work. And that's one of the reasons to love it, but it can also be, and on certain days, a thing that resistance to sitting down and doing it. And embracing the fact that this is the same thing I did yesterday. This is the same thing as I'm going to do tomorrow. Embracing that potentially boring aspect of it and it as like a ⁓ sense flow rather than something that I did this... I've already done this. getting tired of doing this specific thing. Embracing as I'm doing this thing. ⁓ I really even have to think about it. I can just settle in for the next five to 15 minutes, experience creative flow. And I ⁓ like there's to be consistency because I'm putting the effort in and I will see progress because I'm being consistent. I think that that has a huge impact ⁓ on creatives. the consistency and the ability to settle in to something that's just regular and and ⁓ slow progress is really valuable. Cheri: Another way I think this shows up for creatives is buying into this myth that I'll do this, I'll do something when things slow down. And I get to talk about this one because I have over 50 years of proof that there is no such day. There is no time that things are going to slow down. There's no ledge. One of my favorite authors about time management said he knew, he knows that he's in trouble when he starts fantasizing about just a little stint in jail so that he would have time to catch up. Brittany Stanton: ⁓ Cheri: is not going to slow down and granted there are seasons for instance ⁓ if you a bunch of small children maybe now isn't the best time to get a floor loom especially if you live in a small place with those small children. Maybe it's not time to take up a full-blown ceramics practice you know and take over the garage. There's different crafts that maybe are suited for different seasons of life for sure but this idea that you're just gonna start making things or or indulging in craft at some future date. We hear it a lot with people that are retiring or they're going to they're going to start their craft once they retire. And I'm you know, presumably everyone is here because they ⁓ least like the idea of making stuff with their hands. There's always something that you can do. And it may not be your dream craft or your ideal. You might have to start with a drop spindle when what you think you really want is a wheel. But by starting, ideas have a tendency to snowball. You get more creative the more you spend your creativity. So none of that time is wasted. I would just encourage you, whatever is happening in your life, wherever you are, find something that fits. So here's a question to ask yourself. Have you ever had a moment when you spent five minutes engaged in some creative activity and you just had a breakthrough? Okay, let's move on. Brittany has a couple of practical takeaways for this section. see, Brittany, what do you have for us this week? Brittany Stanton: Okay, the first takeaway is to choose an action that is a micro task that takes five to 15 minutes. So look at your project, maybe something that you've already started. This is easiest, I think, doing this on a work in progress rather than starting something brand new. Look at your project ⁓ break it down into what is ⁓ smallest step that you can do. And step that... maybe would be satisfying to you. That could be ⁓ a row or reading the pattern ⁓ come with something that has a five to 15 minute time block to it. And then the next thing ⁓ is all of your materials together so that they're very accessible. I like to have my projects, especially knitting projects in a project bag. with all my tools in a little pouch so that I don't have to wander off and find scissors or my gauge or whatever else I need for that project. And I print out the pattern on paper so that I can have that in that tote bag as well or basket or whatever project container I've chosen. ⁓ if it's something that's a little bit bigger, like you're working on a weaving project or a basket and you need a table space, it can be really handy to Keep all of your tools and everything in a box so you can come back to it pretty easily. If you have the luxury of a studio space, keeping your table set up so you can come back to it and on it as you have time, that's really helpful because then you don't spend that five to 15 minutes setting up your workspace every time. So coming up with some way of keeping your materials together and easily accessible. Then the third thing would be define a starter ritual. And this is the idea of coming up with some system that helps you switch into the mindset that this is my creative time. So you've set aside, here's my five minutes, or you've gained a five minute timeframe randomly in your day. Having something that helps your brain switch into, okay, this is creative time is really helpful. ⁓ If you're a music lover, one way to do this is have a specific song or a playlist that puts you into that mindset. Like this is my creative time music. You hit play and sit down and you listen to that music while you have your five to fifteen minutes. If you drink tea or coffee, maybe making yourself a cup of tea or pouring some coffee. Maybe you need a timer. to you set a timer and you need that security of knowing I don't need to look at the clock whole time I'm working. The timer is going to go off. I'll know when to stop. So can have that set up just as kind of a security blanket. another idea, this does take away from your creative time, but maybe you're a writer. And so ⁓ some aspect your creative time can be journaling or writing. and having that be kind of a sit down and write down one sentence before you start your hands on work. Maybe that's the thing that you need to do to kind of get you into that mindset. define the ritual that works best for you. One that I have done in the past that was really helpful is setting up my diffuser with essential oils and having some lavender or some calming scent in the diffuser and The olfactory of ⁓ that scent put me that mindset of okay it's creative time I'm gonna sit down this is extra relaxing because it smells good and I get to do my creative thing and enjoy this for the next bit of time. And then the fourth thing is more of a tip than an actionable step. But the goal for the five to 15 minutes is to build consistency because with that consistency, you're developing your identity as a maker. You are building the confidence that I do show up. I will show up for myself and for my creativity. so having that time set aside and continuing to do it builds the momentum of maybe not even more time, but just regular time to work on creativity. And then the last thing I think is super important and I am terrible at this one because I like to move on way too quickly is celebrate the tiny wins. Celebrate when you finish a project, but even more importantly, think is celebrate the process. And one way that I've worked at this is kind of doing a photo shoot along the project that I'm doing ⁓ out my work in progress ⁓ Taking photos of it ⁓ I'm working on it which kind of documents the process celebrates the progress that I made but also celebrates where I'm at today and I think that that For me at least has really helped me to embrace. This is where I'm at today. And this is what I worked on today and ⁓ be in the moment with where I'm at rather than constantly looking ahead to when am I going to have this done or when can I start the next thing. I that has been really helpful for me. So come up with something that's a way that you can celebrate your work. Cheri: One thing would add to that, if it's been a while since you've had a regular creative practice, I would say think about the thing that you're most excited about, the one that has the most creative energy behind it, ⁓ inside of you. ⁓ Maybe the thing that's the lightest or sounds the most fun. ⁓ I tend ⁓ stymie own progress by thinking that I need to finish up the backlog. And so there might be something that I am super excited to work on or get started on, but I don't let myself because I'm punishing myself for the projects that I haven't finished yet. And yeah, mean, we want to finish our projects, but I also think that is really shooting yourself in the foot when you do that. So if you're like me and you do that, I would say. gain that momentum because if you pick the thing that sounds the most exciting, fun, maybe it's the easiest to get started, that is going to help you get back to those projects that you need to finish. Brittany Stanton: Yeah, very motivating. Cheri: Okay, let's move on now to our resource spotlight. Every month I write a post for the textile indie blog called Links We Love. And in the podcast here, we just want to pull one of those resources and share it with you. Something that we are really enjoying and we think that you will enjoy and hopefully that it applies to the topic of the day. So today's topic, of course, is starting small and making tiny of progress. So today's link that we love is the magazines Purl Weft, and Ply. It's a series of three different magazines, just to be clear. We highlighted Purl in one of our Links We Love posts, and of course, Purl is for knitters, Weft is for weavers, and Ply is for spinners, all made, all published by the same publisher. So why is this a great starting small? Well, you can pick up a magazine and read a couple of pages or even an entire article in two to 15 minutes. So it's a low lift, fast activity to do. It will serve you as a little joy break. It will give you a mental escape, something productive to think about, something to spur on your creativity. You might learn a new technique. You might be inspired to start a new project. Maybe the answer to a question, a burning question that you've had will materialize as you do your reading and you'll know how to move forward on something you've been stuck on. And it is a very low stakes creative activity because all you have to do is read the article and you've won. ⁓ We were at Lambtown this last fall, is in California ⁓ a fiber festival in California and I was doing a circuit of all of the booths and I went to the ply booth and met the editor of ply and picked up a bunch of back issues of the magazine for Brittany So Brittany you have a stack of ply there in front of you. I think you want to hold one up for us Brittany Stanton: Yeah, so these are beautiful. If you're watching the video, we have a collection of some of the past issues ⁓ each issue focuses ⁓ a different kind of concept. This is plants. There's one on color hue, this one's called, and then this one is tension. So they're fun, very colorful ⁓ and pretty hefty. as far as how much content is in them. Cheri: I'm not a spinner, which I think I've mentioned, but we bought those magazines and brought them home, ⁓ I sat down to look at them and went on ⁓ probably two hour rabbit trail. They're so beautiful. I love anyway. ⁓ And I love way that they pick a theme. And all of the articles are around that theme that just really appeals to me. ⁓ And the pictures are beautiful and there's a lot of eye candy. So I don't even spin and I enjoyed them. So I recommend you can get all of the back issues as well as a subscription. And I do believe they have a digital subscription too if you're not into having the paper around, but they're so lovely. ⁓ actually, they aren't magazines in the sense that you would recycle them. They're more like mini Would you say, Brittany, do you ever really expect to get rid of them? Brittany Stanton: Yeah, I think they feel more like a collector's item because they're so full of information and something that I really appreciate is the collection of articles. Often there's the theme, ⁓ Sheri mentioned, but then there's also a series of projects that kind of blend together. ⁓ ⁓ for the Ply magazine, it starts with a fiber-specific article. Cheri: Mm-hmm. Brittany Stanton: and then it goes into maybe the dyeing and then it goes into the spinning and then they have some sort of end project to do and so are all different articles but they blend them together so that they work together to a finished project which just kind of fun to read through and see that journey in the articles. Cheri: Yeah, it's beautifully curated. that's our resource of the month. I hope you enjoy it. Brittany, now it is time for show and tell. So what are you working on this week and how does it fit our theme of starting small? Brittany Stanton: Yeah, today I brought a sewing project actually. Seamwork Quince. Seamwork is an online membership for sewing enthusiasts. They have a they produce a pattern each month, or two each month, and publish those. ⁓ And as member you get access to their full library of sewing patterns for sewists. they also have a community and it's just a great resource for sewers. But they have a pattern called the quince and it is a robe style jacket. I'm going to hold it up here see if you can see it. ⁓ I've already sewn the garment and cut it. I sewed it. It's of a robe style. It has big sleeves and large and I made this as a studio layer because it gets cold in the studio so being able to layer this over what I'm already wearing and it's double-sided. ⁓ pattern doesn't have a double-sided but I made two of these and then stitched it together so I can turn it inside out and wear the mauve version. I've got a kind of brownish pink and then this very ⁓ burgundy bordeaux color. And my task on this is that I was inspired once I once I made this because of the double-sided nature of it it wasn't holding its shape very well so the sleeves were kind of billowing out the the front collar wasn't sitting how I wanted it to so I was a little bit disappointed in the way that I'd constructed it and trying to figure out how I could make it sit better the I had envisioned it And I also started this project with the vision of a Kantha quilt. So I started doing some stitch work on the edges and this is just a, I'm doing a basic running stitch with some pearl cotton and I worked on one sleeve, ⁓ couple rows of running stitch side by side to replicate a Kantha quilt look. And if you're watching the video, I have some Kantha quilt quilts here. a Kantha quilt ⁓ is a sari that's been two saris stitched together with a running stitch in white thread that works as a blanket. They also make them different garments, but I love the texture of Kantha quilts. They're soft, really soft cotton and they're light. because it's just two layers of fabric basically quilted together. So here's ⁓ of this Kantha quilt is green with kind of a florally pattern. And then the other side of this one has lots of reds and yellows and other designs on it. So ⁓ it's a fun textile in itself. And as I was working on my quince jacket, to of emulate that because I'm using a linen fabric for both of these fabrics. This is a linen rayon blend. It has some of that drape appeal that the Kantha quilts do and so doing this stitching was just my way of kind of a nod to the Kantha quilt and also a way to fix the billowy-ness of the edges of my garment. So the the small task is just doing one row of stitches when I sit down. So whether that's a row of stitches around the collar or I have another cuff to do, just kind of sitting down doing as much as I can in that five to fifteen minute window and working away at it slowly but surely until I'm happy with how it looks because I don't even know yet how far or how much I want to do on this. I'm just gonna go until I feel like it looks good. Cheri: I Brittany at least every week. I see her a lot, sometimes several times a week, and it never ceases to amaze me how many projects I don't know she's working on. I've never seen that before. ⁓ Brittany Stanton: Well, to be fair, this is like a two and a half year project now, so... Cheri: Just as big a surprise to me as it is all of you. I love it. Brittany Stanton: Ha ha ha. Cheri: If you want to actually do this and not just think about it, download today's worksheet. You'll find the link to it in the description below or in the show notes ⁓ By the end of this series, you'll have a full 24 page workbook about creativity. Brittany Stanton: The benefit of out the worksheet and going through the prompts ⁓ is that you down and think about all the things that we talked about today, but ⁓ in a format how does this fit in what you are doing specifically? And so it can help to have that kind of a meditation around what is it that I'm doing in my creative endeavors? ⁓ And how do apply this ⁓ this idea of timeframes or small bits and pieces of work? to projects that you're working in ⁓ the timeframes that you're working in. Cheri: Okay, so your closing prompt for today, or your challenge for this week, is to choose one thing that you can do in 15 minutes. That is your challenge for the week. Tell us in the comments what your tiny creative action is going to be. We would love to hear about it, and it will really help everyone else reading the comments to spur on ideas for their own tiny action. in the next episode we're going to talk about creativity as and I think it's going to be a good one. Brittany Stanton: Thanks for joining us and see you next time. Happy making. Bye. Cheri: Bye.