Musings on building your stash... and being inspired by it... by Jan of Hungry Holler

My van is noisy. Not the kind of noisy from the engine that makes you turn the radio up louder. It’s the rattling clunking sound when stuff rolls around and collides. My van abhors a vacuum. It’s never empty. I find stuff, stuff finds me. And I cart it home to the Holler.

Living with creativity and art everyday changes a person. We never met an air-moving fan we didn’t like. Now we have a wall of them and more waiting in the wings. Rusty iron? Love it. I can’t pass it up. I’ve stopped along the highway and picked up something twisty that in its previous incarnation was useful and now deemed not. Except it is. Being ornamental is useful.

Need doesn’t really apply. At least immediate need. Yard sales? If something tweaks me, I’ve learned to make a deal. I cart it home to the Holler. If it’s iron, it goes into the iron stash by the well house. If it’s most anything else: tile, crockery, glass, stone, it goes on the shard shelf behind the garage.

Old jewelry, little doodads? I keep those in boxes in my studio.

Live this way with art and creativity long enough and you get a certain rep. Even if folks don’t do the actual work, they help make the work possible because they’ll start saving stuff for those of us who do. I have friends close, and friends ephemeral who think of me before throwing certain things away. Or they’ll see something and think of me and pass on the object, or information about the object. It’s not unusual to go out to the gate in the morning and see something left for us. I’ve been at art festivals and have had folks bring some odd detritus to my booth they just found. Or they save the day's bottle caps for me. It’s a beautiful chain reaction collaboration, and it’s less stuff in the landfill.

The secret to upcycling and recycling in art, is collecting stuff. Stockpiling stuff. There’s no rush like the rush you get when you’re in the middle of making something and thinking, “I need...” then going to your stash, rooting around and finding IT. But you gotta  have IT to find IT. When something crosses your path, and speaks to you, even if it’s only a whisper, load it up, cart it home. It’s a mortal lock fact you’re going to need it.

To read more from Jan: visit her blog, and her website. Thanks Jan!