There is a plastic bucket by my studio door, the kind the olives come in, and it is full of smalti I will never use. A kilo of a milky green I bought in 2019 for a commission that got cancelled, some pink I ordered badly on purpose because it was on sale, a big pile of white that turned out to be two different whites from two different batches and now they don't sit together. Maybe 4 kilos of expensive regret.

I have tried three times to give it away. Twice I got as far as putting it in a bag and then took it back out, because the green is actually the exact green of the sea at Perea in the morning and one day I will want it, obviously.

The useful part: once a month or so I tip the whole thing onto the floor and put things back in by colour instead of by project. It takes an hour, it is stupid, and it is the only way I get unstuck when I can't start. Sorting something with my hands that has no deadline and no client. Then I start.

The rest of you, is there a drawer or a box of material you keep for no sensible reason? Tell me what's in it, I want to feel less foolish 🙏