Do you plan your beads ahead with drawings or just do it?

[Tutti-frutti]

Sometimes i wonder if you just put certain glass colots on your workspace and that's it.

Or do you doodle at work and come up with a design that you work on til you like it.
I hate to admit that I am getting colorblind and do not have tha ability to see whats a good contrast anymore.
I still like to play with glass but lately all I accomplish with glass looks blahhh.

dont want to sound like a whiner , but could use some advice since my shed is full of glass i never even used.
Thanks
Katja

[flamemoth]

I do spend some time planning in my head and pull out a scheme of colors on my work space but many times I end up discarding that and going with the flow. Its a creative but undisciplined method and I think I waste a lot of time like that...I keep thinking I should keep a little journal and sketch more. It sounds a lot more effecient.. and lucky you with a shed of glass!

[scoutycat]

I do lots of doodles and sketches. They get refined and changed quite a lot in the flame, since what looks good on paper doesn't always work well in glass. But I find having a starting point really helps me find my groove & stay with it. A lot of the time I just hang a few pages of sketches up on the wall in front of my bench, and use it for inspiration.

[TeresaRB]

I pretty much go with the flow. Course I haven't been doing this for that long nor could I draw a picture to save my soul. My difficulty sometimes is in putting colors together that look great! Making jewelry for years I'm able to match colors up pretty well...but some of them when melted together in glass form don't always make a pretty color. So, I've gone onto the internet and looked in paint websites and popular color schemes and I've also looked around in my house at different things and put those together in a glass bead. Again, some turn out pretty and some turn out fugly. That's just my 2 cents. Trial and error...but flow works best for me.

[Tutti-frutti]

Thank's Deborah and Jen.
Katja

[Tutti-frutti]

Yep trial and error that's me too, Teresa.
Katja

[klcbeads]

I usually go in with a plan in mind, but then as soon as I sit at the torch it all falls out of my head..

[Jude Rose]

I definitely need to draw it out first, but I tend to make more literal work. If I don't have even an idea of how things are going to lay, the composition of the sculpture tends to be lopsided or unsophisticated.

I also, even when doing abstracts, like to list the order of events under my drawing, because it can get complicated and harder to replicate when you're in the trial and error phase.
The list also helps me lay out the rods and stringers I'll need for the bead.

That said, things also happen spontaneously in the flame and I keep my worktop nice and trashed so I can pick through as I go and and a little sumpin sumpin.

Maybe you could try playing with colored pencils or pics on the web that spark your interest. Or maybe try making something literal (like a certain favorite flower) to nudge your muse into high gear.

[killerbeedz1]

I usually have a plan. Sometimes, I have a drawing (when I'm doing sculptural work). I don't always stick to the original plan. I may not like what it is turning out to look like and will change the color selection or style. So I guess I do a little bit of everything. My favorite time is when I just sit down and go with the flow and not worry about if it is sellable. By the way that is when you learn the most about combining different colors and elements to designs. If I make a fugly, that's okay, my nieces love them.

[scoutycat]

For color, I usually just hang a few swatches of fabric I love, or a painting or paper scraps from magazines and my mom's paper collection on the wall and use that for inspiration. Val Cox has a great blog of really nice color wise pics that I sometimes scroll through. If I don't have it all written down, I experience what NLC said - it all falls out of my head. Then I'm staring at a mandrel not sure what to do, and I usually make something boring then get distracted and quit for the night.

[bead crazy]

I think I may need to try writing things down I end up going to the torch with all sorts of ideas then. Light the torch and can't remember a one.

[Tutti-frutti]

Thanks for the tip's. I'll try to get more color swatches and pic on my table. Just not too close to the torch lol...
Katja

[Jane P]

I start out with a general drawing/idea, but that usually ends up getting changed as I work - which is usually OK. If I go to the torch "cold turkey", I end up staring at the flame and no ideas come to me - torchers block!

[Lara]

Nope, go with the flow here. I have only ever drawn one item and it was the collaborative piece with my dad the woodturner.