thingamatink: face fear with creativity
A Book and Toy for Courageously Inventive Kids
2013 found me locked in a stalemate with my art. Working the 9-5 daily grind, my art practice was nearly nonexistent. I felt I had lost my focus: whenever I sat down to paint, I was overwhelmed by how far I was from where I wanted to be. The weight of self-criticism was crippling.
Enter my good friend Erin Fong. An industrial designer who was currently unemployed, she challenged me to join her in a creative project to keep us both motivated. We started meeting once a week to brainstorm.
We were both working with kids at the time, teaching after school art classes and Sunday School, and we couldn’t help but notice similarities between the fears we faced and what we heard from our students. Protests like, “I can’t do it,” “I won’t try,” “I’m not good enough,” “I’ll do it wrong,” or “I can’t do it as good as so-in-so.” Based on this observation and a desire to address it, we decided to focus our project on kids and fear of failure.
Enter my good friend Erin Fong. An industrial designer who was currently unemployed, she challenged me to join her in a creative project to keep us both motivated. We started meeting once a week to brainstorm.
We were both working with kids at the time, teaching after school art classes and Sunday School, and we couldn’t help but notice similarities between the fears we faced and what we heard from our students. Protests like, “I can’t do it,” “I won’t try,” “I’m not good enough,” “I’ll do it wrong,” or “I can’t do it as good as so-in-so.” Based on this observation and a desire to address it, we decided to focus our project on kids and fear of failure.
What came out was Thingamatink, a book/toy pairing for ages 3-7. Erin was the mastermind behind the toy, and I tackled writing and illustrating the book. My story is about a young inventor who goes on an imaginary journey that helps her work through the creative process; the toy is the invention she makes (a “thingamatink”). Erin played off of the idea of how kids love to make forts out of blankets, and designed the thingamatink to be an origami-inspired blanket with several zippers that kids can mix and match to create different forms. Kids can interact with the thingamatink in the same way as the story’s heroine or create their own designs.
As Erin and I worked, the message that emerged was this: we believe that toys create a space for imagination, and stories speak to the heart. The combination of the two opens a door for kids to explore, be themselves, and thrive.
As Erin and I worked, the message that emerged was this: we believe that toys create a space for imagination, and stories speak to the heart. The combination of the two opens a door for kids to explore, be themselves, and thrive.
But creating Thingamatink was healing for me, too. I modeled the story on visualizations of my own fear: fear of being unoriginal, of losing motivation after a great beginning, or simply not having enough skill and talent. Telling this story began to take on a deep personal significance, beyond simply a project to keep me motivated. I wanted to believe that by accepting my fears as a normal part of the process, I could move past them. And if this story was truly important to tell, that meant I would have to reclaim abandoned habits and dedicate daily hours in the art studio. More nights than I would like to admit ended with me, lying on my back on the studio floor, saying “I give up! I can’t do it!”
But contrary to my own expectations. little by little, I did do it. Not only did I paint, but when I painted my pictures came to life, and as they did, the joy of art-making returned to me. What a gift to participate in creating worlds of color, value, paper, chalk!
But contrary to my own expectations. little by little, I did do it. Not only did I paint, but when I painted my pictures came to life, and as they did, the joy of art-making returned to me. What a gift to participate in creating worlds of color, value, paper, chalk!
An early attempt at my character vs. later, when many hours of studio time had freed up my approach
In June 2015, Thingamatink was fully funded on Kickstarter, and in 2015-2016 it participated in Bay Area exhibitions such as West Coast Craft and Maker Faire. In the 2016 Maker Faire, it was awarded an Editor’s Choice blue ribbon. My picture book, The Thingamatink, was published in October 2016. To find out more, check out Thingamatink on Facebook and Instagram, or the original Kickstarter campaign.
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© Kayla Taron 2016. All rights reserved.
