Do you ever feel like you have too many ideas? Lately I’ve got so many rough ideas running around in my head that when I sit down at my work table, I am really unsure where to start. The ideas are just crowding each other out. Usually, I will get at least one idea that captures me. A design, concept or process that I really want to follow and explore. Lately, the ideas just haven’t been panning out. The result is a lot of scrap polymer clay.
I’ll get a swarm of ideas, but none of them are really grabbing me. The buzz of partial possibilities is distracting. It keeps interrupting my work flow and making me second guess my design choices. Meanwhile, I’ve been working in silver, making basic bezel boxes doesn’t require my design brain. I just don’t know what to fill them with.
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
Elaine 06.26.08 at 9:18 am
Yep! I call the multiplying, cute but clueless ideas ‘idea bunnies’. They get in the way sometimes even if they look sweet.
Libby 06.26.08 at 11:32 am
Elaine, “idea bunnies” is a great term!
Lisa Clarke 06.26.08 at 2:30 pm
I’m very familiar with that feeling… The wanting to get your hands into making something but feeling paralyzed by all of the plentiful-yet-vague inspiration, and nothing specific jumping out to say “try ME!”
Good luck working through that. Usually I just end up doing something else altogether.
Laurel Steven 06.26.08 at 2:38 pm
Yes, I have to ignore the “idea bunnies” at every turn. But now that I have a name for them (thanks, Elaine!), maybe I can devise an imaginary place to put them (a playpen?) until I can let one or two out to play!
Elaine 06.26.08 at 6:38 pm
I guess it really is an epidemic with creative folk.
Laurel, one cure seems to be ‘deadlines’. I notice they’re never quite there at that point… and I wonder if the escalation is like the ‘dust bunny’ cousin ‘dust rhino’. Can you imagine stampeding idea rhinos?
Wendy 07.02.08 at 12:51 pm
Is too many ideas better than not enough? We never get just the right amount - do we?
Seth Savarick introduced me to the idea of having a “parking lot” for my ideas. This is a place where you can park all of those great ideas, so you can always come back to them.
I had been keeping a sketchbook/creative journal, but I always thought of it as a place to develop ideas. Now, I see it as a way to “park” ideas so I can focus on what’s right in front of me. It doesn’t always work, but I have noticed that I’m more focused and more able to work something through to a greater level of perfection, now that I don’t bounce around so much.
AND, when I am not feeling so very creative, I can go to the sketchbook and find all those great ideas waiting for me to explore!
Libby 07.02.08 at 6:03 pm
Wendy, I agree that sketching is a great way to store ideas for later. It’s funny how putting an idea down on paper allows you to put it aside mentally. What I find really interesting about my sketches is how often related shapes or designs reappear. Like you, I find it helpful to go back through old sketches when I am short on ideas.
I’ve just never been good at keeping my drawings in one location. I tend to just sketch on whatever piece of paper I can lay my hands on. I recently cleaned out some piles of paperwork in my studio so now I’ve got the draws in a big pile. I need to get them inot some form of notebook or binder next.
Wendy 07.03.08 at 5:00 pm
Libby, I’ve had the same trouble with too many random pieces of paper for sketching. I recently treated myself to a 3 1/2″ x 5 1/2″ Moleskin sketchbook. Unlike a journal, this little book has luscious thick paper that begs to be sketched on! It’s small enough to fit in my purse, so I carry it everywhere. This has totally reformed by former scattershot approach to sketching. I hope this helps!
I’m planning to do some exploration and trial over the long weekend, so my sketchbook is going to be my best friend.