What the Hell is Going On, Here??

I'm just gonna put it out there.

I'm feeling artistically/creatively blocked.

This is the feeling that usually launches something really awesome -- the last time I felt like this, I started making my map necklaces.  But the part that comes before that, the part that I'm having a hard time making peace with right now, is the trial and error phase.

I feel like if I don't start making something new, I'm going to explode emotionally.  I have this overwhelming need to work with my hands, to take something unimpressive and turn it into a masterpiece... and when it doesn't go the way I planned the first time, or after I spend some more money trying to fix it, and then the second time, and the third time, and I'm getting wary of spending more money, all of this crazy doubt and insecurity creeps in.  Correction: it doesn't creep in, it charges at me and smacks me in the face, hard.  It's starting to make me a little crazy.

I blamed it on my sloppy office set-up.  So I spent two days (and some nights) rearranging the entire working studio until it looked awesome, and was really workable... but it didn't fix things.  I was still bored, frustrated, confused, and just not working up to my full potential (or at least what I think my full potential is).

Then I blamed it on needing to try something new.  So I researched different ways of working with metals, silver and gold.  I researched working with clay.  I researched different ways of working with wood.  I went to Home Depot and had my boyfriend talk me out of spending every last dime I had on a full woodworking setup.  I wanted to make rings, make dollhouses, make Day of the Dead dioramas, make snowglobes.  Anything.  Anything new, anything I could make awesome.

Right now I'm basically back to square one, minus the money I've already spent on materials for projects that didn't work out quite the way I planned.

So what do I do when this happens?  What do YOU do when this happens?  Most artists and crafts(wo)men I know don't have deep pockets or all-access black American Express cards, so this trial and error phase can be super-frustrating.

I'm trying to remind myself that the best materials are hand made, or found in nature.  The best designs are all around me, I just have to open my mind to seeing them.  The best ideas come out of feeling like this, trying, trying again, succeeding finally.  But despite all of the encouragement I give myself and get from those who care about me, I can't help but feeling the panic, the need to create something that I might not yet have the skill for.

Patience.