Calm it with Colour

Calm it with Colour

Hi there,

Thanks for popping in. Trundling up to Glasgow today. I’m the filling in the sandwich here in the white van cockpit. Dave behind the wheel, Paul to the left – and me straddling the gearstick. GREAT. Ah well, at least Dave has to touch my knee every time he changes gear. We have to get our kicks somewhere!

On another note – on a very crafty note, actually, I finally decanted all my faber-Castell Polychromos into one place – and I am over the moon with the result. Having used these pencils for at least 30 years, you can imagine how many I’ve got in various boxes, tins and containers! So, I decided to take advantage of my own business, and crack open a new Pergamano Tool Holder. what a result! Look:

Such a good move. All I have to do now is spread them out a bit more intelligently, but hey! I’ve got them in the cockpit with me – and I’m not doing anything else!

The Pink Tool organiser is great. Now I have got 2: one for my Pergamano tools, and one for my Polychromos. If only the rest of my life were that organised!

But that’s it exactly. I may not be able to sort out Clarity and the Factory move overnight, but I can certainly colour file my blimming pencils!! And that little action makes my tired old head feel so much better.

I recall something similar from many years ago, whilst living in Germany. I had a nice apartment in Nürnberg with a huge walk-in closet. Well, I don’t remember much at all about that time in my life except that I was very unhappy and I had a large walk-in wardrobe. Why remember that?? I recall walking into it once – and it hit me. I had a moment of Clarity. All my clothes were perfectly colour coordinated. All my sweaters were piled in colour tones. So: light blue to the top of the pile, dark blue to the bottom. White to the top, black to the bottom – with grey in between. All my skirts were hung in colour sequence, all my trousers. And I remember thinking that this was not normal, that this was especially bizarre because my head was in a very dark place, and my life was in chaos.

So I have always been happy to report that my wardrobe nowadays looks like a bomzitit, that it’s easier to go buy something new than try to find the matching shirt you KNOW is somewhere.

Clearly, there’s something very calming about sorting colours.

Enough rambling. Nearly there.

Am meeting up with a dear friend for supper. Excited about that.

Love and hugs,

xx Barb xx

21 thoughts on “Calm it with Colour

  1. I had a set of pencils all kept in their tins to kerp them safe and protected. Took time trying to find the right colours so I took the plunge and took them all out of their tins and sorted them by colour. ..so glad I did, much easier to choose shades and I use them more because they are more accessible. Have a good drive up and enjoy your evening. Xx

  2. Well that’s one way to fill the long haul journey up to Bonnie Scotland!
    Enjoy your time up there! Stay safe. Love and hugs Xxxx

  3. Hi Barb… where’s everyone gone… no replies today?!!
    I’m sooo sad, keeping my Perga Liners in their box… can’t stretch to Faber Castell yet!!
    Hope Glasgow goes well and B’ham!
    Enjoy your evening 🙂🙂

  4. What a sight for sore eyes – all those lovely pencils! Have a safe trip and good shows, you’ll be glad to get in your own bed when you get back ! X

  5. Hi Barb,
    I have all my Polychromos in a large pencil case all colour sorted like yours. I love just looking at them ! How sad is that!! I think I must try to organise my wardrobe sometime soon as I can’t find anything. It might have to wait until I’ve sorted all my craft stuff out though. I’m looking forward to the Pergamano shows on Thursday and am liking the A4 embroidery sampler plate. Had an expensive (VERY) day today as I went to the opticians and needed new glasses. How they can charge what they do I’ll never know and I get them half price!!? Pleased you’ve arrived safely. Have a good time at the show and be careful of your neck. Love and hugs,Alison xxx

  6. Safe travels to you all. I just purchased my first, ever, Faber-Castell Polychromos! Can’t wait to get “Groovi-ng” with it. Have a great time in Glasgow.

  7. For the moment my pencils are in the tin & box that they came in but you certainly have a wonderful array of colour there in your bag. Following your demo of colouring & adding shadow to make the image pop from the page I gave it a go along with the January NDC stamp to add background & was pleased with the results. Need to keep practising though.
    Enjoy tonight with your friend & then it will be all systems go to set up the stand ready for the show.

  8. I think that when there are lots of big things happening in life that are outwith our control, we focus on sorting out a smaller thing so that that we know that there are some things we can control.
    Mildly jeleous of your pencils though. Perhaps one day…….. When you stop making new stamps and stencils that I must I have I can get more polycromos!!
    Hope your set up day goes well and I’ll see you on Thursday morning.

  9. Hello Barb, wow maybe I need to just box all mine up and send them on a road trip with you. I think sometimes it just helps to do something structured. Hope the trip went well and you enjoyed your catch up. Good luck with the set-up and the show. Take care all. Bx

  10. Hubby bought my first set of Polychromos for my birthday and can’t get bring myself to use them isn’t that just daft?
    Just do it Karen

  11. morning Barbara & co. hope you had a smooth journey up north of the border. I bought the whole set of the Spectrum Noir pencils when you were selling them – they’re all stored in their colour co-ordinated tins, but I do like the idea of them all in one place……. 🙂 Hope you have a great show in Glasgow -will be watching for the updates

  12. Ah…..my spectrum noir pencils are stored in exactly the same way (in numerical order of course!) – I just thought they were easier to keep nicely that way, maybe I’m sadder than you!!
    Don’t even ask about my new clarity stamp storage – I’ve utilised your old system, which I discovered on an e-bay purchase, an older set of stamps (totem set). Let me know if you need more details.
    Have fun in Glas’ging – one of the little boys I was with in the children’s home, always called it that.
    love
    Maggie (Bendy Yorkite)

  13. I know what you mean. My spectrum noirs are still in their original places in their original tins. Took me years before I could sort my promarkers by colour instead of sets!
    Safe journeys about the country. X

  14. Hi Barb, I started buying my Polychromos years ago, one or two at a time as the funds allowed. I store mine in a Copic case and try to keep them in colour order but they do tend to fall out of the sides. I don’ t think I’ve enough room in my black Pergamano bag but I may give it a go. Pace yourself over the next few days please. You will get the move done, but it may take a little long than you wanted.

  15. I have all my pencils in a special bag. Means I can just pick it up when going to workshops. Much easier. I like being organised. Safe travels and I hope the show gets a good response. X

  16. My friend treated herself to a tin of polychromos, and I advised her to get a Perga tool bag or similar case to put them in before she had accidents with the tin. She reported a couple of weeks after that all her pencils had landed on the floor. Hahaha now how did I know about that particular downfall! Poor Pete had the job of getting 120 pencils off the floor for me!

    Have a good un up in bonny Scotland all of you xxxx

  17. Hope your journey wasn’t too eventful and you arrived safe and sound.

    FB pencils are just such a pleasure to use, I always enjoy watching your demos when you use them. Have a great show in Glasgow, look after that neck of yours x

  18. I have had my FC pencils stored in a Yazzi bag for years with all my Parching gear in a Perga bag, and all the ‘rubbishy’ and drawing gear in a Derwent bag. Makes it so much easier to find things.
    My Clarity papers etc. are all organised in folders, plain coloured card is organised in special trays, but I am going to have a job and a half sorting out years of accumulated patterned papers untouched since Clarity came into my life. Paul’s demo on box making with 12×12 papers would be ideal to use up some of these but I have lost my notes on ‘how to’, can anyone help?
    Hope being the filling in the sandwich wasn’t too uncomfortable for you today and that you arrived safely.
    All for now, off to source a replacement car.
    Hugs 🍒🍒🍒

  19. Enjoy your meal out with your friend tonight. Good to have some time out before the show begins. Sad to miss you this time but we’re heading down to Bristol tomorrow morning x

  20. So pleased you finally got to meet Brenda I can imagine how thrilled. She is I know how much we love you too sounds like was worth the long drive just to see Brenda save trip to NEC lots love x

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