This jar holds all my pencil shavings from my last piece, which is essentially my work from all of January.

I have this habit of saving all my pencil shavings in mason jars with no real plan as to what to do with them. I can't bring myself to part with them because I love the symbolism they hold. It's as if all my hard work, my mistakes and certainties, my creativity and ideas are bottled up on the desk in front of me. They are such a good reminder that with hard work comes progress.

I have this fuzzy vision of showcasing them next to my completed pieces, as if the time and effort it took to create the piece is visually tangible. Of course, they will probably remain in my bookshelf, next to my middle school diaries and collection of old photos, my idols to time spent, but it makes me smile to know they're there.