Robot-A-Day Follow-Up

I've decided to periodically check back in with some folks who have completed their 365 projects...



Chris Zeliff made a Robot-A-Day from June 5, 2010 through June 4, 2011...



What are the biggest lessons/skills you learned from doing your project? I think the biggest lesson I've learned is to be comfortable with what I make. I had always been critical of myself in music and art, when someone would ask to hear me play or see my work I'd be saying "oh, it's not so great" or "I only play a little". This really sells me short and tends to prejudice people before hand. I know not everything I create will be to everyone's fancy but I've learned that one person's 'Meh' is another's 'Woo!' so I just make what I feel like making and I'll continue to play guitar like nobody is listening.

I have picked up some skills in using different mediums and also to manage my time a bit better, setting time aside for projects or fun stuff, even if it is only a few minutes.



In what ways did the project change your life? Like I mentioned previously, I am much less critical of myself and what I create. I have embraced the process and not just the end result, a zen-ish journey rather than the destination. I also enjoy being creative again, when I first met my wife we moved from Oregon to Houston and didn't have much money so we just did inexpensive crafts for fun (this was 1995 so there wasn't much of an internet to distract us yet!), mostly we'd get a bunch of stuff from hobby places and just make things. I feel that joy of just making stuff and being crafty has returned.




Now what? We just bought a house (#3 and hopefully the last one for a while) and it has a massive bonus room that is now our craft studio with desks for my wife and I and room to lay things out, I've already started some projects in there and my last few robots were done using that room. I have carved some shop space out of our garage; I plan to buy Oxy/Acetylene bottles and get back to welding sculptures. I will keep making robots, there are some more involved ideas I had that I just could not do in a single day so I will be making infrequent but more detailed robots. I also look to expand on some different skills and maybe take some community education classes to improve my painting and drawing. I really have to thank you (Noah) for the inspiration, I enjoyed the journey and your continuing skull adventures, it was a key motivator for me to do a 365 project and to see it through to the end. I also need to thank my wife Paloma for her support and enthusiasm for the project.



See Chris's original 365 interview HERE.
And see all of Chris's robots HERE.


Have you finished your own 365 project? I'd love to hear from you!

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