How do you Create?

ellyloo · #1 2010-12-23, 12:08pm

Some people's beads are so intricate, I amazed sometimes at how much preparation goes into creating the beads.
So, how many people have different ways of creating?
Do you have an exact plan? do you sit down without a clue? Is it a "I know it when I see it" feeling?

I generally have a fuzzy idea of what I want it to look like in the end, but often, I'll work it til it works.

dragonart glass · #2 2010-12-23, 12:24pm

I usually forget whatever ideas I have as soon as I sit down at the torch! Occasionally they come back to me.

davelovins · #3 2010-12-23, 12:35pm

I'm kind of like a mad scientist. I sit down and look around at what I want to work with, and have a free for all. I have a short attention span, so each piece I make is generally made up as I go along. I try to take several techniques and combine them together and see what happens.

ironmountainglass · #4 2010-12-23, 12:55pm

I generally have an idea of what I want to make! Sometimes it works but most times its the glass that wins in the end. It sometimes don't want to be what I want it to be and it slowly lets me know it will not stand for me making it what it doesn't want to be. For example, I had a custom order for a polar bear, no way! I ended up with a white deer, a white dog, and a panda bear( where he come from I have no idea ) so I throwed up my hands and said, "Ok you win, not today" I finally did make a polor bear but it was days later after much fussing with myself and the glass!

Lisi · #5 2010-12-23, 1:20pm

The last time I "created" was when I was a newbie. One of these days I'll have time to create again. Not anytime soon, as I'm too busy doing orders and trying to make money to do any experimentation. For now I just throw 2-5 colors together, if you can call that creating. lol

essiemessy · #6 2010-12-23, 2:34pm

I had to smile when I found this thread!
I might have an idea of what I want to do on any given day, but not too often the work reflects that.
I end up making things up as I go.

Mitosis Glass · #7 2010-12-23, 6:56pm

I picked the last option, Bead Roulette. I just make it up as I go along. Sometimes I have things planned out but often I just go with the flow.

chrissij · #8 2010-12-23, 7:10pm

I tend to plan, somewhat, but plans are a goner if I pick up a rod of silver laden glass.

upinflames · #9 2010-12-23, 7:26pm

I never know what is going to come from the glass until it's on the mandrel and I'm shoving it in the kiln.

I think the glass has a stronger will than I do, I am a mere servant. LOL

________________________________________________

Dawn

emtjab · #10 2010-12-23, 9:37pm

I have found one of the most FUN things to do in extremely boring mandatory work meetings and training sessions is to make sketches of what I want to make in the torch....

Don't tell the boss.....

Julie

Olimpia · #11 2010-12-23, 9:58pm

I usually pick the basic colors I want to work with. After that who knows what takes over! I keep my table full of tin lids filled with mixed murrinis, frits, twisties, silver mesh, leaf... everything is there... It usually works out quite well.

asimeral · #12 2010-12-23, 10:02pm

Sometimes I plan, sometimes I let the Muse rule! Often I am working on improving a specific design until I am either bored out of my tree, or have nailed it once and for all! LOL

jeepinwelch · #13 2010-12-23, 10:58pm

I usually sit down without a clue of what I'm doing. I am typically pouring out frit, pulling stringer and digging for murrini while I'm trying to keep my bead warm. I occassionally spend a few hours just pulling assorted cane so I have it within reach while I'm creating.
Murrini on the other hand... Tons of planning, researching, drawing and getting everything set up just right. That is one thing I can't make on the fly.

bshelle · #14 2010-12-23, 11:22pm

I usually have a bit of a plan. Sometimes if it's complicated, I will sketch it out with my graphite marver on the wood of my creation station.

Kevan · #15 2010-12-24, 12:43am

I find that if I plan something it never seems to work out. So I wing it.

maren · #16 2010-12-24, 12:51am

As I don't torch very often (ha ha, I haven't lit my hothead since June, and next year I'll plan that in as it is likely to happen again) usually I make some single color donut spacers in colors I either feel like or find I have a lack of. I know I'll have to make sand beads, so once I'm comfortable with the roundness the next beads will be either in the same color, then rolled in sand and then either encased (vaguely encased, I'm still practicing that) or not. At some point I know I will get bored and want to play and make a focal which more often than not these days will have sand in it too. I usually have some idea in my head what I want to make and sometimes it comes out that way.

As I think I'm about to get out of this 6 month hiatus (I almost did today but I don't plug in the kiln in a thunderstorm. Thunderstorms here often mean that the power will go out) it may be a few frit beads (I'd like to give somebody some purple containing beads for Christmas - if that happens tomorrow).

alb6094 · #17 2010-12-24, 8:19am

Mine is usually bead roulette. I start out picking out color combinations that I like and go from there. I do quite a bit of experimentation. The results aren't always the best but I have lots of fun.

AmorphousDesigns · #18 2010-12-25, 2:01pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by emtjab

I have found one of the most FUN things to do in extremely boring mandatory work meetings and training sessions is to make sketches of what I want to make in the torch....

Don't tell the boss.....

Julie

ha, I do that too! I hope I don't ever have to show my work notebook for some "official" reason.

fcfmountain · #19 2010-12-26, 6:24am

I posted a free tutorial on my friends website that is designed for lampworkers who want to understand ,combine and add a little planning to their color selection. It is 25 pages and involves actual work to help grasp and understand how to consistently come out with a higher percentage of beads you jump up and down about. Color matters, intensly. You can still create free and on the fly, you will just reach for different selections. Or you can preselect, bundle, plan and then sit down at the torch with the muse looking over your shoulder.
Sorry I don't post much to make this link available, you get burned by the 'liberal thought police' and it makes you not want to post anything anytime.

Polgarra · #20 2010-12-26, 10:09am

Thanks for sharing the link. I bet I find some useful information in your tutorial!

Northern Heron · #21 2010-12-26, 3:26pm

I pretty much never know what is going to happen. I might think organic but a water scene could appear. I'm off to check the ink thank you Starfield glass!

GinnyHampton · #22 2010-12-26, 4:23pm

I spend more time planning out my color choices than I do the actual bead design. Sometimes I'll stand there in front of my glass rack for 15 minutes pulling out colors, putting them back, putting colors into groupings, etc before I actually start torching.

So, my creative process always starts with tormenting over my color combinations . . . . unless I'm re-making beads I've done before, then I just pick out the rods.

From there, it's almost like the color choices 'tell' me what type of bead I'll make. I like certain colors for precise dot patterns, I like certain colors for more freeform/twisted/swirled beads. So I guess I never really have a set design or decoration in mind, I sort of let the colors lead me to where my beads will go

Donna J · #23 2010-12-26, 5:50pm

I get very little time to play at the torch- 3 hrs on a Sat or Sun if I'm able so I always have a plan of what I am going to do. Usually I'll see something during the week that makes me want to make a particular bead or marble or ring or a try a certain style or color. I'll think about it all week and then try to have a few hrs on the weekend to try it.

Of course there are times when I'll have a plan in my head but something will steer me in a new direction once I'm at the torch. And that is ok too! But I am a planner and almost always know what I want to make.

carolinesbeads · #24 2010-12-27, 3:11am

Lately I have been torching at a glass studio until mine is finished. Since i haven't torched in the last year and a half I just bring a selection of colors and practice things like stringer control, the first time I torched I just made simple frit spacers to get use to it again. Right before I stopped I would have a general idea in mind and just go for it. I am still learning and I have alot of tuts so sometimes I just pick one and mess around for an evening.

Caroline

Polgarra · #25 2010-12-27, 11:43am

I do not have the necessary skills to execute the designs the way I want them. I end up just sorta doing what I need to in order to save the bead.

Jane P · #26 2010-12-27, 7:31pm

Definately no 1 - when I am making something new, I usually draw it out, and while I don't put the color numbers on the drawing, I do put the colour names. I think I may be a touch ocd - lol!

giapet · #27 2011-01-01, 12:34pm

usually have a vision in my head, if that doesn't work it's a crap shoot as to what happens....some of my favorites have been made this way.

seedbead · #28 2011-01-01, 11:36pm

Big Thank You to Tim for the color tutorial!
I am a planner, I have a notebook, and I know that I am going to make a certain number of beads using this color as a base, this color as an accent, that color for encasing... I will make notes in the book as I go "oops, totally over-reduced that, encasing with clear to see what I get..." and I revisit the book when the beads come out of the kiln, making any other notes as necessary. Sometimes the colors act different ways, different days... But when I'm done with my list, then I play for a bit, trying out different color combos, again with the notebook...
I use odd bits of stringer to tag the mandrel, so I know which bead is which, and if I like the combo, it goes on a recipe card to get really worked another day!
I know its a bit nuts, but not as nuts as I feel when I pull a handful of beauties from the kiln, and go "Wow! Now what on earth did I do to make that???"

kitkat · #29 2011-01-02, 3:23pm

I would say...colors only. On the walk to my shop I will think about a few colors that might be descriptive of my mood for the day and when I get there - those are my main colors. I have found that my beads always turn out better if I don't fight the mood I'm in...if it is not good - go with the dark colors and the beads come out good. If I'm in a good mood - bright cherry colors usually work better! Work with what is given you that day...don't over plan. Oh, and as I am torching...add more colors as your mood changes. That's how I role.

kansassky · #30 2014-07-20, 8:07am

Monday through Thursday it is plan, sketch, and create.
Friday is set aside as a day of exploration and experimentation.

(It is an 80/20 balance that works for me and keeps me from feeling guilty about "wasting" expensive reactive glass.)