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Bead Design 101: Where do you get your ideas? |
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Written by Dara Spiotto
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Monday, 10 March 2008 |
 BEAD DESIGN 101
Where do you get your ideas?
I never get tired of hearing it, nor do I ever get tired of answering it… since it’s the center of a beader’s creative life: Where do you get your ideas? I was asked this recently, and I took a moment to think about it, since my answer largely could encompass everything I see, hear, smell, do, etc. I said, “My ideas are usually happy accidents from trying to capture an idea in my head into real life, and it comes to realization, or I get something else that’s good, but not what I intended. Or I get something hideous.” That’s the truth. At one point I had a whole box of hideous. But usually I end up with interesting stuff I want to pursue.
I’m definitely influenced by other people’s work, of course. Admittedly, I’ve done my fair share of gawping into glass cases and at people’s earlobes, at class samples and through every bead magazine with my eyes nearly stuck to the pages. It’s the colors, patterns, designs, and overall influence that sometimes will knock me flat downstairs into a specific design idea. Sometimes I can look at a bracelet and mentally tweak it around until it's something different. And then sitting down to actually make it can be a challenge, causing different approaches to a design so that it ends up totally different than what the original concept was. This is only the beginning of the fun that lies ahead…
 What’s influencing you?
Ok. So let me ask you this ultra important question: Are you a pioneer or a copycat? Think about this one. I’m not implying that one is more important than the other, or that one is good and one is bad. I’m sincerely asking what kind of a beader you are. There are pro’s and con’s to each of these cases. Let’s argue both points together, shall we?
The positive aspects of being a beading pioneer are obvious. You pave the way with new and innovative beadwork that inspires others, and is unlike any other beadwork out there. That’s the ultimate. Isn’t that what we all really strive for? However, being a pioneer has its drawbacks, such as actually finding something that’s original and unexplored. And once you’ve discovered a hidden gem, you’ve got pressure to discover more! Especially if you’re teaching on a big scale. Students love to get to know an instructor and take multiple classes from that person. And in turn that instructor has to keep one step ahead of their students to keep the designs coming.
Being a copycat, or follower, has a positive side also. To recreate someone’s design is such a compliment to the original designer. Also, beginning with someone else’s idea and then tweaking it into your own by mixing and matching designs is a talent unto itself. Sometimes the best bead work is a piece where the components were begged, borrowed, or stolen from other design work in bits and pieces. The down side of being a copy cat is to always be reliant on others to provide you with the beginning of your ideas.
 Nothing is new! Been there, done that!
Honestly, there is very little out there that’s truly NEW. Should that deter you from attempting to beat the odds and come up with the new big thing? The answer to that is unequivocally no. I think beaders have a knee jerk reaction to create, especially when we see something that gets our juices flowing.
I’ve always admired people who start by just picking up some beads and stringing them or weaving them. They follow where the beads want them to go. I’m not like that. I start with an idea such as a shape, a color pallet or a theme and roll from there. For me, disaster is being stuck in a rut and doing the same thing all the time. When this happens I know the answer isn’t to give up, it's to change ME, by putting myself under different influences. Get out in the world and be impressionable. Try new things. Wear new clothes. Eat new foods. Expand your horizons. I have to make myself stop seed beading and get out my wire for a change of pace. I stop looking at seed bead artists and seek out amazing wire designers like Lisa Niven Kelly, who’s rocking my socks off right now. Her wire work is whimsical, strong, fun and intricate. I love it.
 Re-inventing the wheel into a… well, a blue wheel.
Sometimes I’m enthralled by a stitch, like Ndebele, and I begin by choosing a project for it. Let’s say a bracelet. So, there are a MILLION Ndebele bracelets out there. How am I going to make mine different and desirable so that everyone wants one or wants to make one? I’ll figure out a way to weave chunks of garnet into the body of the bracelet, making it about 2 inches wide. And since the edges of Ndebele are beautiful, I’ll leave them alone, but on the ends I’ll make a flurry of short fringe that will hide the clasp. Or, I’ll go in the opposite direction, and make a wide Ndebele band in olive green stripes with a pretty closure, but then I’ll surface embellish a cluster of boisterous flowers and leaves and vines in the center, and call the piece “The Center of Attention”!! No one can resist a happy, fun, springy bracelet. Makes me want to start making one right now.
I have a bracelet going now that is called “Transitions.” It begins in peyote, morphs into right angle weave, then into brick stitch. Onward to Ndebele to netting to straight stitch. It's all done in a single color of size 14.0 seed bead and ends in a seed beaded bead and loop closure. Then I go back and take another pretty little bead, like a 3 mm garnet round and embellish each stitch on the surface. So you’re learning 6 stitches, how to merge from one stitch into another, embellishing techniques, and then a beaded bead for the end. This is a very empowering class! Students walk away feeling like they’ve been to bead boot camp, but can conquer the world!! I am supreme beader! Hear me roar!!
 Getting out of the rut you don’t realize you’re in…
Take a class. Learn something new. Take away all your comfort beads and put in some stuff that you wouldn’t necessarily pick to work with. Let someone else pick your beads out for you! Shake up your world for a while and it will help beat the monotony of always staying safe. You could burst out of your safe zone and pioneer yourself into something wonderful! Take the leap. You could end up some place great! |
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