Today I was finishing off this Cuckoo Clock, and realised that once again it had come out a wee bit (or more than a wee bit)
wonky. I debated whether I should get out the ruler, measure it up and trim it down, but I thought no, I'll leave it.
As I cut everything by hand, I freely admit that sometimes my little jig saw zips through the wood of it's own accord and doesn't follow the lines EXACTLY. But I reckon it's OK to have a few wonky details. I have never been a perfectionist and mostly favour things with character and a touch of oddness. Thats not to say I would choose a dodgy product over a properly finished one, but I can happily live with imperfection and do!
How do you feel about imperfection?
I subscribe to the aethetic that many Japanese artists embrace called
wabi-sabi or "the art of finding beauty in imperfection".
Just last night I was reading "
Made by Hand" by Mark Frauenfelder of
Make magazine and
Boing,Boing fame and was in total agreement with this quote by Eric Thompson of
Ramshackle Solid. "I like imperfection..it seems more real. It seems more like it's a living thing or has a history.... if everything's perfect it's kind of boring".
A guy who believes this
and calls his blog Ramshackle Solid is a winner in my book!