I am of the opinion that a little messiness, a little chaos is essential in order to create. A clean, sterile environment may be just the thing for scientists but translating abstract images and feelings into a tangible, aesthetically pleasing object that can be worn, at least for me, calls for a more visually engaging environment so that mentally I can design around a piece of silver or a gemstone that I have lying on my workbench.
Of course as you start to create something new, perhaps you decide against your initial gemstone shape or try some other shades of crystals, perhaps the silver needs to have a patina, or a heavier gauge of sterling is required. Before you know it there is a chaotic assortment of components before you but more ideas leap into your head and you quickly spill more beads and voila, you’ve just glimpsed in your mind’s eye some fabulous new piece to make. At about his point the saying “inspiration must find you working” pops into my head and I nod at how true that is as I work steadily creating new bracelets, necklaces and earrings, humming away and feeling that perfect feeling of “flow”. Then I look up, I notice with surprise that the sun set a while ago and I’ve been so busy that I completely neglected to make dinner and feed my puppy! So I stop and go and do the other things. When I come back to my desk I pick up where I left off from but even though I’m still creating, and liking what I’m making there’s something missing, it feels slower. I try new components but somehow, somewhere I lost the thread and my mental images are blocked by the disastrous mess in front of me. At this point the safest thing to do is tidy up. I usually try to get the most out of the creativity of the previous session by selecting components to make a variation that I think might work, but those are the only materials that are allowed to stay, everything else must go back into their little plastic pouches, compartments or designated drawer.
I put this into an “index”, based on a fantastic blog I came across called Indexed. Please find below my attempt to capture all those words I just wrote into a few squiggles: