Just curious about creativity!

[lolabead]

I would really like to know how you go about creating and designing your pieces. The reason I ask is that I used to envision drawing my design out on paper then basically following it through. The reality has been very different. I have to physically try all the various bits and pieces together. Colours and shapes and parts I initially chosen to put together may not actually work in real life due to proportion, balance, colour issues...or just because something won't physically fit something else!

I find it impossible to keep my work area tidy when creating because I have everything out in my sight in case that particular pot contains the very bead I'm looking for. The jewellery I'm working on is a combination of metal, currently copper, and various beads, wire wrapping, stamping, etching etc. so a lot of scope for many different things. Sometimes I feel I'm putting all the right things together and then at the end no matter how long I've spent on it there's just something about it I don't like but I don't always know what it is.

There's masses of trial and error - partly I suppose because I am still new to it all. Each time I make something I learn something new. The design can often change because I have to think of a way around a problem. I seems to me that the adding or taking away or repositioning of 1 bead can alter the whole look.

At the end of every session I have to spend 30 minutes tidying everything up for the next time otherwise it would be impossible to work.

It all feels very haphazard but it seems to be the way I operate. I wish I could just draw on paper then construct the finished article and be happy with it as it would save so much time!

I'm just curious as to what this process is like for everyone else? I understand a lot depends on what it is your making etc.

Also, is it usual to like some of your creations more than you like others?

[Patstone]

I do the same, make things and alter as I go. I have tried to design on paper but for me it doesnt work. Some of the things I make I really hate, and cant wait for them to sell, others I covet and try to find an excuse to keep it.

[caroleallen]

I normally design on paper first. That's not to say that things don't evolve.

[Goldsmith]

I start off with rough sketches, then when I am happy with a design shape, I re draw to correct size and even use watercolours to colour parts of the design, then I make to the design, improving the ideas as I work.

James

[Dennis]

One thing I must say: it's impossible to do any kind of designing or drawing on my work bench. So I take myself off to somewhere cleaner and more spacious for that.

Having achieved a largish drawing, first in pencil and finally in pen, I adjust the size on my photocopier, usually downwards.

This sometimes shows that a detail becomes much too small to retain, or that the whole thing is unbalanced. Then, back to the drawing board.

Organic things are different of course: they often just happen. Dennis.

[camalidesign]

I think that the design process is something you get better at with more practise, both in drawing and knowing what will actually work in reality. When you are a relative beginner some things don't become obvious until you try to make the item you have sketched, later on you will know straight away that a certain thing won't work, experience will tell you. But of course, nothing is a sure thing until you actually make the piece and I imagine most people do quite a lot of tweaks once actually making the piece.

Carin

[enigma]

I think the creative process is very much a personal thing so there is no 'right' or 'wrong' way.
Also depends what you are creating.
I do my designs on paper first always but when it comes to adding stones for example, I will often get different stones out and try them.

[Goldsmith]

When a customer of mine wanted an egg, he asked for some ideas so I drew up three designs. He didn't choose an egg but like bits of my designs so he chose what he wanted from my designs and ordered his egg, which I made.



James

[CJ57]

I rarely put anything on paper now having been made at Art College to put everything on paper amd produce elevations and working drawings for 4 years. I sometimes put lines or basic shapes on paper and then I set to work usually with about 8 pieces on the go at one time so it's very messy.
They evolve as I work on them and if I have any for any length of time after finishing I sometimes look at the ones I'm not so happy with and work on them again till I am.
And yes there is some work I like more than others but you have to tell yourself that everyone's taste isn't the same and someone else may like it.
I knew another jeweller who didn't let anything leave her workshop that she didn't like 100%, I'm not sure that's always possible!

[enigma]

James makes a good point there- if you don't sketch designs out on paper then how are you going to work with customers ideas?
I have to send sketches out to customers quite often although I only generally send rough sketches as I can do that in seconds so don't have to charge for it.
Amazing work as always James! Im assuming you would be charging a fee for the design process involved in that?