Plan or Wing it

[houptdavid]

After reading the "What do you consider a good day" thread.

When you go to torch, do you have a plan on what style bead you are going to make? A plan on colors? etc. Especially if you don't have a signature bead.

OR

Do you just wing it and start making?

[evolvingBeau]

It's taken years to be able to get myself to actually do it, but in general if I have a plan for the day it allows me to organize my bench properly and get the necessary prep done so things go together smoothly..it's not what happens everyday but it's always kind of nice when it goes that way.
At least thinking about what colors you're going to work with can make a big difference in how many things you're happy with when the kiln cools down.
Just yesterday I put up a color wheel at my bench and it made an incredible difference in my day...

[Carolyn M]

I have a plan. I don't always stick to the plan, but the intention is there!

[SharonP]

Most days I'm not in the mood to do production work, so I just wing it - whatever color rods look good that day, I put em on the table and improv from there. I've gotten some very good and some amazingly rancid results doing this, but it's always interesting...

*s*

[likes to make glass stuff]

Originally Posted by houptdavid

After reading the "What do you consider a good day" thread.

When you go to torch, do you have a plan on what style bead you are going to make? A plan on colors? etc. Especially if you don't have a signature bead.

OR

Do you just wing it and start making?

Yes

[PerfectDeb]

i try to plan but it never seems to work........

[Katie Gee]

I choose my colors and lay them out the night before. Sometimes I have a basic idea of what I want to do, but even then I let the glass ultimately decide. Sometimes I have four or five different color schemes that I want work with, but often, after one or two beads, I don't end up following the plan. It seems that most of the time, the glass just has different ideas and will take me in a totally different direction. For instance, two weeks ago, I came across a four color combination totally by accident. I ended up making several beads with these colors and they turned out to be just awesome. I layed these four colors out to work with again this week. I've torched for 8 hours on Monday, Tuesday, and today, and have yet to pick up those four colors. But, I'm just thrilled with what I produced so far this week, so OH WELL !!! LOL - maybe next week !!

[evolvingBeau]

When it comes to "good days" and not so good days for me it evolves and cycles like this;
1. a good day spent working on new ideas and/or experimenting. = Not much plan just following the muse and having fun learning.
2. A good day spent improving and producing some established ideas/designs previously introduced by the muse. = Forethought and opportunity to plan.
or
3.Just one of those funked up off days where I just wasn't feeling on and usual things were unusually difficult. = Shrug it and try again tomorrow.

Maybe it's just me but I find that I have to be in the mood to mess with certain designs. so I've found that if I'm in the mood I try to make more than one because it may be awhile before the mood strikes again..
Oh and definitely if you're sick of the plan by all means make something else
The whole planning the day thing is something I think about often and have for years...I have a tendency to jump around a lot throughout the day and I've just noticed a different level of improvement if I stick within a criteria before moving on to something else, you can gain more insight into the minutia of techniques and pick up a rhythm that way.

[Jody Lee]

I make a list, check it twice, lay out my rods and go to it. Then my totally distracted nature takes over and I do my best to get back to my list. If you're in a distracted mood, try to at least keep a list of what you used in the bead, so if you like how it turned out, you can replicate if need be.

[Karen Hardy]

I usually get really excited about a specific color of glass.
Then I bring it over to the mess of a desk and start trying
that color-du-jour on all the other colors lying there.
Last week, I was spazing on Blue exotic. The week before I
was seeing how many different things I could layer with warm yellow.

I love the days I can pull my shiz together and clean up/layout
my area for serious work, but mostly, I just play and let the ideas
flow.

Which, by the way, is COMPLETELY opposite to how I do metalworking
and wirewrapping. My area has to be completely clear, and I have a
definite idea of what I will be doing.

[beadsoncypress]

I plan, lay out sample beads.pull the glass and then........I end up experimenting and the plan goes out the window.....

[Crazy Woman]

Plan.... what's that?

[blindmonkey]

I usually have a goal in mind, be it focals for pendants, earring sets, etc. I like to have in mind what I want to make with the beads. Colors depends on my mood for the day. Even if I fully intend on making pink beads, if I am not feeling the pink it just doesn't work. And I have random days where it is like I have earring-bead-juju going. So I just go with the flow! Some days I even get obsessed with a specific color, one day EVERY bead I made had jungle twilight in it.

[houptdavid]

I should have made this a poll

[Lisi]

I do a lot of made to order sets for Etsy, so I have an assignment list where I make them and check off as I go.

It's been a while since I sat down to make whatever comes to mind, and I can only hope that after this weekend of getting caught up, I can go back to that. I need to put stuff on Ebay, I've been MIA from there for a while!

[blong2001]

I usually have a game plan. Pick out the glass and anything else that I need. Then by the third bead I have forgotten what the plan was.
I just try to relax and enjoy myself!
Beth

[HelleAlice]

Originally Posted by beadsoncypress

I plan, lay out sample beads.pull the glass and then........I end up experimenting and the plan goes out the window.....

Thats how I do it too. I have a pile of lists of beads that I never made

[theglasszone]

When I make beads like this, I PLAN, PLAN, PLAN! There's no option to stop and mess around with trying to find something:




When I do spacers, organics or have no specific "end result" in mind, I just wing it! But since my time is limited - and my mind is always conjuring ideas - this almost never happens!

De

[Vicki Ellen]

I generally have something in mind to try, but invariably get sidetracked.

[Elizabeth Beads]

I have a lot of time when I'm not making beads (such as when I'm at work and in the middle of the night when I can't sleep) and my mind will fill with ideas of new beads I want to try making. As soon as I can get torch time, I'll start out with those ideas. But inevitably, I'll be sitting at the torch, looking at the rods on my table and thinking, what do I want to do next? If nothing instantly inspires me, I will just start making spacers or twisties or frit beads. Usually if I'm doing something, other ideas will pop into my mind. But it's not uncommon for me, mid-bead, to be rummaging in my stash for a color I need to finish the bead and hopefully finding it before the bead cracks from thermal shock.

[honey*bee]

I try to plan but the best I can do is "Today I will make sets" or focals, etc. I never plan colors or styles, even if I did ADD would hit and I would forget!

[maren]

Originally Posted by houptdavid

I should have made this a poll

you would have had to specify options.

Originally Posted by Karen Hardy

I usually get really excited about a specific color of glass. [...]

I've been thinking for weeks now that I want to make beads with all my different transparent violets, purples, lilacs, etc.

Would be nice if the weather would finally cooperate.

[teachertracey]

I rarely have a plan. Maybe that's why I just put along, learning a little bit as I go. 'Course, then again, I'm the type that sews without a pattern.

Art (and beadmaking) to me is just fun stuff. I guess that's also why I'm an elementary teacher rather than an art teacher. I love art, I just can't be disciplined enough.

[AlivELampworK]

if i don't have a plan, i don't make as much as i want/need to and therefore i am angry with myself. i'm really hard on myself, as much as i would not like to be, i am.

last summer i painted the wall in front of my bench bright orange and green. i now have lists of bead styles and color combos and pep talk written in sharpie all over one side of it.. just so i can keep my shit together.

[samandsha]

I'm a total wing it kind of gal! I don't even have a plan when I start a bead...just flying by the seat of my pants all the time ;-D Samma

[MelanieG]

I wing it in terms of what I actually create, but I have a definite plan for what glass will go into it.

I am only allowed to use ten colours at a time, and I have to use them all together for at least eight sessions before I'm allowed to mix it up again. It can be a little frustrating, but on the whole, it's much more rewarding than it is frustrating because you're more likely to discover something new or try a new technique when you're bored and trying to change it up.

I just finished session #4 with my second go at this, and I'm convinced that it's the right way for me to do things. Different things work for different people And I don't have any production work since I'm such a raw newbie, so I can indulge my anal-retentiveness.

My wife has already chosen my next palette for me to save me the trouble, so I'll just swing into that after I wrap up my last session with this one. I honestly think this helps me to be more creative, but it might just be the funny way my brain works.

[Moth]

If I need money, I plan.

If I'm on the torch just because I want to- I wing it.

[Keahirada]

never have a plan. i plan everything in my life except beads. i just kind of see what happens.

[Little Brushy]

I start with a plan. Then 30 seconds into the session, I'm winging it! I have better results when I torch just because I want to and not because I think I have to get a particular bead style made.
To each his own!
Beth

[houptdavid]

This has been very interesting!
I only brought it up because my wife comes out to the shop and always asks me what I'm making, my usual response is "I don't know" and she says "you don't have a plan?"