I do have an actual creative process that I go through on a regular basis. Inspiration, germination, sketches, color palette and finally creation.
Unusually it starts with the inspiration and sketches. Pinterest is my latest source of inspiration, but I love Flickr, my collection of Art History books and sometimes it's things in my daily life, like flowers in a garden or a starfish picked up during a vacation.
Right now my current inspirations are wooden stamps from India, bohemian flair and middle-eastern inspired patterns. Can't wait to see what I whip up next week!
After I've gone through the process of searching for inspiration, there is a time when I let ideas roll around. The seeds germinate. Sometimes this can take weeks, other times it's a matter of hours before I'm seeing beads take form in my head. So that leads to the next step, which is sketching. Yes, most of my beads start out as a sketch.
Here are some pendant designs that are in the oven at this very moment!
Now, depending on what kind of beads I'm going to make, my process goes into one of two directions but are both led by color. If I'm going to carve a design, I'll think about color palettes for the finished piece and mix my paints for the new color palette. And if I'm creating canes for beads (the designs in clay that get layered onto beads) I will create a color palette with the clay.
Like this one that I used for the May Bead of the Month Disk Beads:
I love Brandi Hussey's color palettes that she makes for the Art Bead Scene. I print them out and mix my colors right up. This is my favorite part of the process - working my color theory magic until I have a match! Check out the Art Bead Scene today too see the amazing color palette's Brandi created using my beads.
The finished beads.
So that's a little peek behind the curtain here at Humblebeads.
If you'd like to see more of my finished work, check out my newly updated website! I just added over 20 beads to my regular line that were only previously available in my Etsy shop. And to celebrate all my hard work I'm having a sale - 25% off all orders from my website at www.humblebeads.com. Use discount code: BIGDEAL.
7 comments:
Thank you so much for sharing your creative process. I found it extremely interesting and helpful. Thanks for the link to Art Bead Scene too; great site! -Marlene
Beautiful! It so funny you bring up the Indian blocks. I have a few small ones I'd picked up at a street fair years ago. I recently molded them and I'm testing how the beads produced fair, as I highlighted with Shiva oil (first time I've tried the oil on the clay)...
I can't wait to see what you've created, I'm sure it will be awesome
Your works always amazes me, Heather! Thank you for showing us your creative process. I really love colors that Brandi comes up with on Art Bead Scene. I really need to slow down and look at color combinations. Sometimes I find myself with so little time and hurry through a project without taking the time to play with color. Thanks for sharing!
I love peeking into the mind of my favorite designers! Your new paisley is one that will be a must have for me!
Enjoy the day.
Erin
You matched the color palette perfectly with your clay! All so very pretty, Heather! Very informative post and has given me some badly needed incentive! Thank you! Hey, see you soon!
I hate to repeat a comment, but your clay is a PERFECT match to the color palette! That amazes me! Your beads are stunning...thanks for letting us take a peak at how you generate such beautiful designs!
Thanks for sharing a peek into your creative process. It's always fun to see how everyone starts with an idea and then see the end result. It must be fun for you to see what everyone creates with your beads. Great bead set there too.
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