263: Making Magic

One of my very favourite ways to produce creative work is when it unfolds naturally, like a constant flicker of ideas lighting each step of the way. It’s my favourite thing to have happen—when ideas from recent conversations and audio resources circle in my head like seeds about to take root into the growth of a new idea. And then, I wait. I listen to my creative intuition, letting it guide my every next move. 

This is what’s happened recently, filling my creative cup and sending me on a journey that I’ll tell you about here. I am truly excited about it and it feels deeply important for many reasons.

Before I get into those reasons, I should probably tell you what the project is all about. 

The project is called Making Magic and it will become a collection of creative making kits that anyone can use to experience a bit of joy and wonder, whether they’re 4 years old or 104 years old. I'm currently assembling the first batch, which I’m calling “Upcycled Zine Kits”, filled with all of the materials needed to make crafty little micro-publication. Just add scissors and glue or tape to transform curated, repurposed materials into something with personal meaning.

These kits are called “Making Magic” to encompass a double meaning. It refers both to the process of making something (which I believe is a sort of magic or alchemy), as well as refers to the final product of the making, which can often be magical in whatever final form it takes. Working with creative constraints, establishing meaning through storytelling, following curiosities, and just generally getting lost in the act of doing outside of commercial goals are all opportunities for small transformation I hope kit-goers will find with a collection of materials in-hand. 

Three Creative Economies 

One of the most exciting parts of dreaming up and assembling these kits is that they are built on a foundation of three alternative and creative economies. In other words, I don’t want money for these kits. I will not be selling them. In the past, I’ve opened an Etsy store and tried to monetize creative projects, but it always left me feeling unfulfilled as soon as I launched the business. It becomes way less fun for me if what I’m making will be exchanged for cash. (Been there, done that, bought the hand-crafted t-shirt.)

But what if I can choose to give it all away instead…?

Now that’s something that sounds inherently exciting. 

With these Making Magic kits, one of my aims is to explore this very real world of alternative creative economies in practice, and to reimagine what a transaction-less non-monetary creative exchange system could look like. The three economies are as follows:

1. Circular Economy: Circular economies are based on low waste or no waste systems that minimize excess. The majority of materials in the kit are found, salvaged, and repurposed, giving them a new lease on life.

1. Gift Economy: Gift economies facilitate a free exchange of goods without expectation of compensation. It’s about keeping the creative wealth in motion, therefore once you receive a kit, you’re encouraged to make things, gift resources, and pay ideas forward through sharing them with others. It’s about reciprocal giving and strengthening social relationships through generosity and mutual support.

1. Inspiration Economy: Inspiration economies highlight the value of creative ideas for personal and collective growth, fostering a sense of shared purpose to collaborate and innovate. The kits are designed to allow for time and space to think and make and play; radical acts for uncertain times.

Let’s now back up… how did this project get evolve and where do I plan on taking it? 

How Did This Project Evolve? A Story of Intersecting Ideas

The creative ideation framework of divergent, emergent, and convergent thinking is something I've spoken about a lot because it's a model that feels familiar to me; it aligns with how my brain moves from a problem state to a solution.

This model relies on quantity of ideas (multiple “nodes of knowledge”) before quality of ideas, as well as the understanding that being exposed to a diverse range of ideas that don't always seem to fit together, means that there’s an opportunity for these ideas to fit together in novel ways (webs of wisdom). And ultimately, that's what creativity is: bringing together existing ideas in new ways.

Node 1: Making Time

Throughout the months of May and June, I took my time reading and savouring Making Time: A New Vision for Crafting a Life Beyond Productivity by Maria Bowler. In it, she differentiates between making and producing; it’s the difference between our innate human desires to make meaning and connect, versus simply moving objects around the board until our inevitable death.

In the introduction of the book, Maria says this: “l’m inviting you to evaluate your time and effort, creatively, not productively. […] The results of creative action always draw out more life. The result of our productivity is simply more doing.”

My copy of this paperback is marked up, underlined, and dog eared. It was a beautiful reminder and invitation to move my mindset from producing into making again.

Node 2: Zine Culture

Every time I teach a magazine production and publishing class, I do my best to speak with magazine makers, both near and far, who are engaged in different parts of the magazine making process.

This semester, I wanted to engage with a different type of magazine maker; namely, zine makers. Zines live at the intersection of art and independent publishing and it’s been so inspiring to sit down with five different zine makers to chat about what they do and why they do it.

After speaking with them, I thought it would be so much fun to assemble kits that facilitate zine making experiences for others. 

Also, I think it’s relevant to mention that at this point in my process, my marketing mind leapt into action and I was thinking about how to monetize the kits, for no good reason, other than “that’s what you do”.

Node 3: The Serviceberry

I love the work of Robin Wall Kimmerer, whose book Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants is an incredible look into the bridging of multiple knowledge systems. 

I saw that Robin was interviewed on a podcast I listen to (Steve Levitt’s The People I (Mostly) Admire) and so I gave it a listen. In the episode, she talked about her most recent book called The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World. Her ideas about the gift economy haunted me in the best way possible, sticking around long after the podcast episode was over. A short time later, I ordered the audiobook where I could listen to Robin’s soft, calming voice tell me about the natural gift economy all around us in nature and the ways gift economies thrive in communities all over the world. I was intrigued, to say the least. There’s something that feels so much more gentle and sturdy and human about the concept of the gift economy. Here is a deeper dive into what it’s all about, in Robin’s own words. This passage is an excerpt from Chapters 1 and 2:

“Gratitude and reciprocity are the currency of a gift economy and they have the remarkable property of multiplying with every exchange—their energy concentrating as they pass from hand-to-hand, a truly renewable resource. Can we imagine a human economy with a currency which emulates the flow from Mother Earth? A currency of gifts? When I speak about reciprocity as a relationship, let me be clear. I don’t mean a bi-lateral exchange in which an obligation is incurred and can then be discharged with a reciprocal payment. I mean keeping the gift in motion in a way that is open and diffuse so that the gift does not accumulate and stagnate but keeps moving, like the gift of berries through an ecosystem.[…] In a serviceberry economy I accept the gift from the tree, then spread that gift around with a dish of berries to my neighbor who makes a pie to share with his friend, who feels so wealthy in food and friendship that he volunteers at the food pantry. You know how it goes.”

I’m grateful for so much creative abundance and I’m thrilled to be able to pay the supplies forward in even this small way. Reallocating stagnant materials into useful upcycled kits feels AMAZING.

Where Am I Taking It? In other words, how can you get your hands on one? 

Come chat with me on campus! I’ll try to have some on-hand and readily available. Or come find me at workshops and events that I’m attending. You’ll also find them in some Little Free Libraries in and around the city. 

I’ve created around 90 kits to start and we’ll see where it leads. 

If you have additional art supplies (crayons, pencils, markers, paper, stamps, bits and bobs) lying around not living their best creative lives, I would love turning them into kits for future zine makers. Please drop me a line.

I have big ideas and big plans for at least two other kit ideas, namely New POV (using legendary design educator, Sister Corita Kent’s concept of a “finder” to see the world from a literal and figurative new perspective), as well as a Stamp Walk kit to invite folks into their communities to be pirate printers and capture the incredible metal type, shapes, and patterns in their environments.

Until next time, may we all continue making magic.

---

Music:

A Small Town on Pluto - HoliznaCC0 licensed under a CC0 1.0 Universal License

Talk Paper Scissors Theme Music: Retro Quirky Upbeat Funk by Lewis Sound Production via Audio Jungle

Boat Origami Photo: Boat Origami Photo by Alex on Unsplash