Tools for Repair

Accessible coaching and practical wisdom for your creative life

Not everyone is ready for or needs the deep foundational work of The Warp. Sometimes what you need is insight for a specific challenge—a reframe, a practice to try, or simply the reminder that you're not alone in what you're navigating.

Tools for Repair is my Substack where I respond to your questions about creative work and life with coaching insights, resources, and occasional session recordings.

What You'll Find

Tools for Repair offers:

  • Weekly letters responding to your questions about creative challenges, transitions, and sustaining your practice

  • Practices and resources for working through creative impasses

  • Occasional session recordings from my coaching work

  • Insights you can apply immediately in your creative life

  • Connection with fellow creators navigating similar terrain

Think of it as spot repair for your creative practice—addressing the immediate tangles and tears while you're weaving your daily life.

Subscribe

Tools for Repair is available through Substack for a small monthly fee.

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The Difference Between Tools for Repair and The Warp

If Tools for Repair is about the weft—the daily weaving, the visible patterns, the immediate challenges—then The Warp is about the foundational structure itself.

Tools for Repair offers coaching insights and resources in response to your creative questions and challenges. The Warp helps you understand and work with the underlying structures creating those patterns in the first place.

Both are valuable. Many people start with Tools for Repair and later realize they're ready for the deeper structural work of The Warp. Others appreciate having Tools for Repair as an ongoing resource while they're doing intensive coaching, or after their coaching contract ends.

There's no wrong way to engage with this work.

Curious about deeper structural work? Learn more about The Warp or schedule a consultation.

  • “Rachel offers an invaluable opportunity for true insight. As a young artist with a widely ranging interdisciplinary practice, it is not easy to find a guide or mentor figure who is as capably adaptive as Rachel - she meets you where you are and brings her powers of seeing and understanding to bear whatever the content or material at hand.”

    — Scott Vander Veen, Multidisciplinary artist

  • “Rachel helped me in a deeper and more profound way than I could have imagined. After working with Rachel I am paying more attention to my whole body's response to situations, as opposed to just my intellect, and I feel more confident in my decision-making. Rachel has a calm manner, a great sense of humor, and is a fully present listener!”

    — Mary Robinson, Visual artist, educator

  • "Rachel has helped me locate inside me tools to persist, tools to take care, tools for excitement, and tools to recognize all that is already alive inside me."

    — Mae Colburn, Artist, weaver, archivist, collaborator

  • "Rachel offers a wise perspective and asks really great questions. Her ability to listen and see the big picture is invaluable. She is a great resource for anyone looking for guidance and accountability as they begin a new chapter or pivot towards a new direction in their career. I’m grateful for our time together and I recommend her wholeheartedly. 10/10, 5 stars!"

    — Sarah House, Ceramic artist

  • "When I started working with Rachel, I was thinking about giving up on being an artist. With her support, I worked hard to determine my goals and heal obstacles that I had created. Six months after our first session, I feel healthier in mind and body, and I'm confidently realigned with my creative purpose. I'm even enjoying the success of a solo exhibition!"

    — Elysia Mann, Weaver, printmaker, poet

  • "Rachel encouraged me to apply the visual and conceptual structure with which I compose drawings to assemble the necessary tools for confidently supporting my work in the professional community. While I drove the scope of our conversations, she adeptly directed my attention to subtleties in my language that were not salient to me, bringing me to a habit of examining my priorities and performance with curiosity rather than interrogation. I couldn’t recommend her coaching more highly to anyone who wants to see their practice from a new perspective."

    — Janet Link, Artist, draftsman, drawer of the infinite

  • "Rachel helped me shift some fundamental ways of thinking to see a clear and exciting path forward. I am grateful for her careful listening, helpful questions, and encouragement. Working with her provided more than just useful insights into my practice, she helped me access the internal tools required to maintain a confident, ongoing art practice."

    — Anna Helgeson, Performance artist, writer, photographer, curator

  • “As a textile artist and footwear designer, I'm used to solving problems creatively... in the studio. But for some reason, those problem-solving skills weren't translating into other areas of my life. I felt really stuck. Coaching with Rachel refocused my attention on a problem I've been struggling with for years; her generosity and openness allowed me to face the issue head on, and her thoughtful approach guided me down a new path of accountability and resolve.”

    — Marie Fornaro, Artist, designer, glitter queen