Saturday, Dec. 03, 2011 - 6:43 a.m.

I have been wanting to make these brooches. Large, rounded lines, dyed paper. Purple, as it happens. I am going to make them, in the interest of following my whimsy in a manner that I know is crucial to my continued development. Without a thought to whether anyone will want them! Yes!

Well, my thought is this: the problem is that then you have all this stuff you have to store. What do you do with all the things that don't sell? I don't know. I still have a couple of small boxes of leftovers that we moved. Stuff that's not up to my current standards but that I liked at the time. So that does make me pause when I make something new. It must be even worse for sculptors or large-format painters.

I have to make peace with my way of working, which is not how someone who is running an earnest business works. I'm just about out of my popular leaf pieces now. I should make myself make more. I should have at least 3 of everything on hand at all times. But I always want to try something new. Wearing my artist hat, that's fine. In my business hat, less fine.

I also have this big, ridiculous necklace in the works. I just can't resist it. I don't know what will become of it.

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