Have you ever met a crafter, artisan or artist who’s perfectly sane? I mean, sure, on the crafting side of the spectrum there might be a nice, well crafted(!) veneer of normal-ness, which slips the further into creativity you go. But I think there’s a reason why Van Gogh is the quintessential Western artist – all of us creative types know the madness that lies just beyond that masterpiece, and sometimes during the process of getting it done.

Vincent Van Gogh famously suffered from depression and more, and cut off his own ear once to send it to a girl he liked. You definitely don’t have to go that far to be creative, although sometimes it does feel like I’m on the wrong side of the fine line!

I have a friend who just told me she’s off to measure teapots in Wilko’s because she’s making tea cosies and doesn’t know howb big they need to be. That’s low-key and almost spy-like creative madness. I regularly stab myself unintentionally with my pliers (they’re sharp!), or punch myself in the chest when they slip. I know this will happen, but I’m still doing it. That’s maybe more like middle-key creative madness. And have you ever seen an artist’s studio or a crafter’s craft room? That’s when you start to understand the creative brain.

But don’t we make the loveliest stuff!

It’s no secret that I have struggled with mental illness. I have experienced depression, anxiety, burnout and ADHD among others, but if that’s what it takes to have my own, special, creative mind then I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

I’ve been working on a massive project for a month and a halfand I am completely exhausted… but I still want to make more stuff! If that’s not a measure of how far us artists want to go to create, I don’t even know.

Find my mad chains and accessories in my Destai Designs Etsy Shop.