Monday, March 1, 2010

Blog Carnival 03.01.10 - "Create an inspirational 20 things to do, to kick start creativity."


For those of you not familiar - the blog carnival is a fun thing we do every month with any EtsyMetal member that wants to participate. We come up with a theme, all blog about it, then link to each others blogs so we can see what everyone else wrote too!
This month's theme is: "Create an inspirational 20 things to do, to kick start creativity."

Wow!
20 things.... lets see, this shall be interesting - I'll probably keep it simple, even if something are sort of related, I'll probably make it two things... Also, since I do some creative things other than jewelry - some of them will seem to be a little out of place!

1. Walk around outside in my yard and look at nature stuff.
2. Go somewhere else like the botanical gardens that would have different flora from my yard.
3. Listen to new music or music that will lead me in a certain direction
4. Look at books on a variety of subjects, depends on what I'm wanting to do, could be technical or completely unrelated to jewelry.
5. Go to the library - I like picking some sort of science subject like "weather" and then checking out a bunch of books to give me some new fresh ideas and photos to look at.
6.Watch a period drama or a fantasy movie that has wonderful costumes. I am incredible inspired by this type of thing.
7. Read a fictional story of the same type genres - creating my own ideas for what the characters would wear.
8. Write a story, either mentally or written or typed.
9. Look around my studio or house for items with interesting textures.
10. Play with wax - mush it around, squish it against different things, drop it in water or on something cold to see if I can get a new patter to develop.
11. Painting related - spread some paint on a canvas and stare at it until I see something I want to paint.
12. Photograph patterns in nature - great for jewelry or painting.
13. Photograph larger scenes that might turn in to a nice painting.
14. Play with materials - melt metal together, hammer it, with no objective other than making something that might end up looking interesting and that could be expanded upon.
15. Go to a lecture - preferably of some one interesting!
16. Travel to a new place - either by car or fly far away - aka: vacation.
17. Take a Bath - what a great place to sit and think
18. Actual meditation - leaving my mind open to wonderful ideas really works!
19. Do something I really don't want to do, like work on my taxes - has the effect of making me want to create!
20. Sketch - this is a last resort.

20! that wasn't so hard at all. I actually deleted one that was less than stellar. And these are in no particular order - except for number 20 - which is meant to be last, b/c it really is my last resort!

Check out the other participants this month!


(having the wrong white balance set on your camera can be good too!)

8 comments:

Thomasin Durgin said...

Love your list, #19 especially. Taxes make me very creative, as does cleaning anything.

Amanda Conley said...

great list! I forgot about watching period movies. That's a great one! I love to do that too. I ma often inspired by costumes.

Ann Hartley said...

Excellent list! I love period films too...I've been watching Pride and Prejudice for about, erm, 10 months now.

E² - Esther Eve Metalsmith said...

Great post Beth!

I love to see how some of us have similar muses...botanical gardens, new music, it's wonderful to see that there are otheres out there that enjoy the same things I do ;o)

Beth Cyr said...

Thanks ladies! I do love seeing how we all have such similar interests, and habits! i wonder if other professions are as similar as female metalsmiths! ha ha!

Fluxplay Jewellery. said...

No.7 is a great idea, I've never tried that one before.

Lunaticart said...

I've never tried meditation...I should!

Catherine Chandler said...

Fantastic ideas! I love looking at books and mags that have nothing to do with jewelry, and seeing how those ideas can be transformed into something wearable.