Comments on: My Ball of Wires

By: Jyl

Jyl — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 18:32:28 +0000

I think we have a Ball of Wires, or something equivalent, for every room in our house. My actual Ball of Wires is stored in a box in our attic (my studio/office). The box is labeled “Shrunken Heads.” The lid is labeled “Art Project 4.” Obviously, both of these are misleading.

Did you see that one Stephen King movie where the one guy’s brain is represented by a giant attic/warehouse full of folders and boxes? I often think that my brain-space has quite a few Balls of Wires in it. The Ball of Wires, as a concept, is pretty delicious. You never quite know everything that’s in there. Sometimes you find things you swear you never owned in the first place.

When it comes to artistic process, that mental Ball of Wires is invaluable, no? Such mental composting provides the material that makes “inspiration” happen. What do you think? Do you ever have images/phrases that you’ve “collected” surface weeks or months later?

ps- Cynthia: I also collect “souvenirs” of trips in this way, and I too have saved a bag from the gift shop of the Prado. The design on my bag is this sort of architectural drawing that is sooo cool. I love the fact that they spent so much effort to make a disposable item so pretty.

By: Sandy

Sandy — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 13:39:33 +0000

When the big war is over, the crowds have scattered, and the plastic-encased-metal-tubing shortage ensues, the man with the wire ball shall be named king.

+++

Three years ago, I began using heavy duty “label” tape to mark what each cord was for so that if and when it got separated from its appliance, I would be able to dig it out.

I think I did that for two appliances and then stopped. Well, it was a good idea for someone with better organizational skills than I.

By: Z

Mon, 23 Jul 2007 13:32:40 +0000

I used to be there, man. I had a massive cardboard box that contained my wire ball — that moved with me to every single apartment I moved to…even though I barely had any use for each outdated wire entangled in that mess — the best recommendation I can give is to start living with a woman (or man) you love who likes things clean — then you’ll start feeling really guilty about your useless wire ball.

By: Gail

Gail — Sun, 22 Jul 2007 18:01:07 +0000

Sadly, I have three rubbermaid ball of wire containers. I have no idea how that happened. I have an irrational fear of throwing any cable, adapter, controller or remote out, no matter how many years (decades?) it has been since the device it belonged to went to Goodwill…

By: sakura

sakura — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 20:21:45 +0000

I so have one of these too. It’s a whole drawer full of random cables and wires that I have collected over the years, and here I thought I was the only person that had something going on like this in the house!

xoxo

By: Chris Hansen

Chris Hansen — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 17:28:32 +0000

I have similar boxes, or at least I did, until I happened upon a great organizing tool.

ziplock baggies.

The sandwich size are great for individual cords and cables, the quart size for longer or sets of cables, and the gallon size for grouping type (in individual baggies) or for larger sets. I put the camcorder manual, charging station, wall wart, data cable, a/v cable and spare battery in a gallon ziplock – it is now dry, all in one place.

The ziplocks store in small places so I take a few of each size and roll them together and put them in a gallon bag in my computer bag.

chris

By: Dave

Dave — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 15:03:42 +0000

My secret Ball of Wires? I’ve got a couple of boxes that look like yours, only a little more organized now after going through them recently. But I’ve got a 10×10 room in my basement that is chock full of unfinished projects, old Mac & PC hardware, wood scraps from this or that woodworking or home improvement project… It’s getting better as I get older, but it’s still pretty overwhelming.

Then there’s my garage; a single car garage that can fit a single car 3 months of the year, but only after a frantic day of moving kids’ bikes and various lawn care stuff out of the way. That usually follows the first forecast of heavy snow.

I envy you with your miniscule ball of wires.

By: Brave

Brave — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 05:17:34 +0000

I have one of those drawers where all the someday-it’ll-come-in-handy stuff is. Just the other day I was looking for the phone charger and noticed the nail clippers I’d been looking for for a month. There too was the bag holding my elastic band collection that I needed just yesterday. No phone charger. Wow. Look, there’s the checkbook! This morning I was looking for the nail clippers I saw the other day and I ran across the tweezers, one earring, a roll of electrical tape, three pennies and the pencils I’ve been searching for but no nail clippers. I’ve come to the inescapable conclusion that these miscellaneous collections swirl around in there at night, create a molecular vortex of time and space, and shoot out cosmic rays that attract pesky mischief-makers. These merry little people delight in anticipating the exact thing you’re looking for that day and casting a spell of invisibility on it, all the while revealing the LAST things you needed that they hid from sight when you needed them most.

By: Jason!

Jason! — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 22:20:39 +0000

I have a paper scrap drawer. It contains scraps of paper that I’ve written notes onto, ticket stubs, flyers, printouts, etc. I think when I get home I’ll shred it and dump it in the recycle bin (and probably start over again).

By: Higgins

Higgins — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 20:54:12 +0000

Cousin – uh oh, I have two cabinets full of plastic shopping bags too. How can I NEVER EVER remember to bring these to the recycling bin at the store??