Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Evolution of an Idea.... sort of.

I'm going to do something a little different this Bead Soup. I'm going to share a little bit of my design process, no pics it didn't occur to me until just now that it would be my topic :), not to mention we don't want to spoil the reveal!

Sometimes when I pull a design board together I already have an idea of where I want to go with it and the board sort of acts as a reminder to keep me on track. Sometimes I use it to develop an idea and just kind of run with it.
Jennifer's soup was/is very inspiring to me. I don't use a lot of green in my designs and her soup had a wealth of greens. I live in a log cabin on the edge of the woods, so of course all those greens spoke to me of the woods. The mossy carpet under the mulching of dried leaves, where the tiny orchids and toad stools live. Those images nearly always pull up thoughts of fairies and kindred spirits. That's the idea I pulled my design board around. Hobbit images (having read the books when I was young they're ALL hobbit to me lol) or Lord of the Ring images were abundant and they fueled the board well, weaving a mystical feel into the woodsy colors. My inspiration/design board = Faerie Folk

Pulling together a feel I liked and the colors already chosen I began arranging the beads together, just kind of putting these next to those and moving a couple of those next to this. Playing really, getting a feel for which colors I liked best with what, string some on wire to get a better idea of how they fit together. In doing this several design ideas are laid out.

Having laid out the design for my focal I notice I've wavered from my original idea I had while assembling my board. It's ok sometimes you just have to listen to the beads :) Once I've decided I'm pretty happy with the focal I started working on the chain. I had gotten quite a few links of it worked up when I noticed, now that those beads are no longer on the design table these other beads really look GOOD next to the focal. Pulling a couple beads from the strand I slide them over and decide yes indeed, nix on the chain for this necklace....... hey I have a (blank lol) in just those colors and voila a second necklace is born from the first. That focal is waiting for finishing and then the whole thing just needs a clasp and piece number two will be finished. I'm aiming for one a week until reveal, good thing as that focal just keeps spawning new ideas!

So with new beads designated for the focal's chain, I think to myself, maybe this bead would look better over here with this group of beads. Sliding all the beads off the wire so I might get to that bead I realize my focal looks much better as two pieces! A third necklace design is born! Looking at what's left of my focal I realize, I've just returned to the original idea I had when working on my inspiration/design board!

And that's how I create and design in big circles with lots of secondary ideas in between! I enjoy it though very much!

Thanks for stopping by!
See ya next time!
Dana

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