Projects: education or Inspiration?

So many of my beader friends love making exactly what we have in Step by Step Beads. They tell me our photos are really tempting, and that our resource listings enable them to find the same materials our designers used, so readers can reproduce exactly what they see.

However, I also have quite a few bead buddies who tell me they look at our art photos and glance through the steps, but ultimately our projects spark a jumping off place to make their own version of a project.

Is this a skill level decision? It makes sense that if I was learning anew, I may not want to make too many choices and would prefer to have the design dictated so I can focus on technique. On the other hand, if I already understand the basics of a technique, I will very likely put a spin on the design.

Do you look to Step by Step Beads more for education or inspiration?

LR

Personally, I look to any pattern, magazine, book etc for inspiration. 

I fall in love with many pieces that I see, however I look at the pattern/design and consider them to be the creators. 

If I am going to sell an item, I want it to by mine and not feel like I "took" anything from a fellow beader/designer.

 Aha, you bring up another point--selling what you make. I too would never re-create someone's piece and then sell it as mine (or teach it). My desire to be original sometimes makes me only want to wear my own work!

 With the exception of a very few pieces back in the Scouts, everything that I have done has been a takeoff of someone else's work, however none(with those few exceptions) have been exact duplicates. I even have a couple of macrame pieces that I redo a lot, but no 2 turn out just alike anyway. It's not possible unless you use the exact same cord AND beads for each of them.

 Billy;o)

Great question LR :)

Even though I'm relatively still a "newbie" (been designing jewelry for roughly 6 months) I find I just can't follow instructions, that what I see sparks something within me that brings out a piece of my own creation. I have only followed a couple of tutorials in Step-by-Step and other places, but I felt so limited that I don't follow any longer. I have to go with my own inner instinct & creative flow rather than follow a tutorial in order to feel I know something. I'll incorporate stuff I've read about in my pieces, but I try them out myself in my pieces. Some pieces end up not being ones I'll sell as I'm not as happy with the outcome, those are usually the ones that I try a new technique on.

Look forward to hearing what others respond to this question :)

I sometimes use a pattern that I see (ie for an amulet bag), but I don't think I've ever ordered the exact components for a specific project.  Since I don't always live close to a bead store and like instant gratification, I usually just look through my stash and use what I have available.

I also usually use the photo or pattern as a jumping off point-I like to take elements or color combinations I see and combine them into something else.

I also would not sell something that I made if it was a copy of someone else's design.  I have so many of my own ideas I forget more than I have time to make as it is.  If I love something enough to copy exactly, it's all mine, and I ain't sharing it!

Forget more than there's time to make...LOL! Me too! Do you know the metaphor for creativity of "caging the tiger?" Those darn cats just keep racing about my brain, and I lose as many as I snare. EVERYTHING gives me ideas!

I doodle out dozens upon dozens of snippets of notes on all my ideas as they come to me, like a writer would. I keep sketchbooks, and usually those snippets get taped into the sketch book with other supporting ideas.

Do you keep a sketchbook? Sometimes I flesh out my doodles into more realized "finished" ideas, though when I actually create things, engineering challenges or design alternatives often shift my path. (I am also an illustrator, so drawing is fun for me.)

 Interesting! So I'm curious, then--what makes you buy a particular issue if you don't follow instructions? What is it that grabs you about any piece? do you buy other magazines that aren't stepped tutorials, such as Ornament or American Craft?

This might be about personal taste, I suppose. :-)

Leslie:

 Interesting! So I'm curious, then--what makes you buy a particular issue if you don't follow instructions? What is it that grabs you about any piece? do you buy other magazines that aren't stepped tutorials, such as Ornament or American Craft?

This might be about personal taste, I suppose. :-)

I buy magazines for the inspiration, helpful tips, general stitching instructions, methods, product information..........

So, would you enjoy a magazine that showed, say, several variations on a project, and simple basic stitch technique tutorials rather than a whole step-by-step?

Leslie:

So, would you enjoy a magazine that showed, say, several variations on a project, and simple basic stitch technique tutorials rather than a whole step-by-step?

Personally, I would be quite interested in a magazine like that, yes.

I think that would be an interesting idea for a magazine.  I'm relatively well versed in all the basic stitches, but I enjoy seeing projects where one stitch leads into another, or if you like this version, try doing this for variation...

I do keep an inspiration book, and I doodle on any scrap of paper that's handy when inspiration stikes.  I have a pen and pad in my purse, in my nightstand, around the house...you never know.  Whether I get around to making them is another thing entirely.

I subscribe to several mags because I always like what they have, and others I scan through on the news stand and if a few things strike me as interesting, color combos I like, or oh!  I have a bead like that, I'll buy it.

 Great question - and some fascinating replies here! I contribute projects to magazines and am always keen to hear what readers and beaders really want - I love the idea of writing a project that starts really simple but has lots and lots of different potential variations, you've got me thinking now (dangerous... I'm already working on at least six other things)... I had already got the impression that few beaders ever make the exact project they see in a magazine, but they like to put their own spin on it, choose their own colours, use beads they already have in their stash. That's certainly what I do on the rare occasions I ever have time to tackle a project, so I try to design pieces that lend themselves to different interpretations and have potential to be customized in lots of different ways.

I buy far too many beading magazines and I read them all, over and over - not just to look at the pictures and be inspired (though that is a very important part of it) but to check out the detail of how other designers tackle a particular stitch, or how someone has solved a tricky bit of engineering or come up with a neat way of doing something I've been struggling with. There is always something to be learned, something that can be applied to my own work to improve it, or something that sparks a 'what-if...' kind of idea. I hope my designs may spark their own 'what-ifs' for other beaders and inspire them to create something totally new!

Good example Lynn.  I always read the step by step articles even if I think I know exactly how it was put together, because you never know when someone will have a tip or a different way of doing something that gives you an "aha" moment.  It can be the simplest thing and it may make all the difference.

 I do stringing so for me this may be a little different...

If it is a new technique ( how to string and come back through etc  ) that I am not familiar with since I am fairly new,  I may follow the pattern technique exact but use whatever beads I prefer whether it would be color size etc. So like the others have stated it looks completely different.

Usually I will take an idea and do my own thing as well. I also will look at pictures and find inspiration, sometimes from a specific technique within the instructions.

I like the idea of a simple/basic pattern with additional difficulty levels. Perhaps a basic with inserts for medium or difficult. I like that idea and would subscribe. I think we all have a tendency to learn from everything, even if it is not in our specific area, or we can find a color combination etc that could be a inspiration.

One magazine with give instructions and have the base price ( under $10 ) then they will have inserts with more expensive options with prices for that. I like that as we all have different budgets or access. Sometimes I cannot find the beads they use even if I wanted to but can find something in one of the other options. So I end up mixing things up.

Just my thoughts...