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Where do the ideas come from?

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thebowlerhattedturner:
After just posting a comment about Andy's ash platter it got me thinking about where to get the ideas from. I know this has been broached before and one of the answers was "from things around you" but when I look at "things" nothing really grabs me and says make it in wood. As a production turner I stand 8 hours a day producing commercial stuff and bits and pieces but nothing "arty". I don't want to get into the old cherry of is is art or not but I struggle to come up with original ideas,yet every time I open a woodturning mag there always seems to be something new. Is this a foible of production turners or am I alone here? Don't get me wrong, I am happy with my abilities to earn a living (however sparse) at something I enjoy so much and I have made the odd "arty" bit the ideas just don't come thick and fast enough for me. I just need to look at Jo Winter's stuff on this forum to realise that my thought processes are just not up to it.
Can anyone out there fill in the blanks?
Regards
John

Andy Coates:
Hello John, this is a good question. Sadly I don’t think there’s a definitive answer.

But I think there are clues which we can follow.

As you mentioned Jo, I’ll use him as an example and hope he doesn’t take offence. Of course he could come on and tell me I’m a million miles from the facts!

Jo is clearly not just a woodturner; he has other skills with wood which he is able to use in combination with turning to great and possibly unique ends. But that doesn’t tell us where he gets the ideas from, only that having had them he is able to bring them to fruition. If I had to guess at where Jo gets his ideas from I’d say the answer is a question he asks…”what if I did this?”

It’s an important question to ask if your aim is to find something new, or at least a new take on an existing idea, but it hides another important approach in the guise of a question, “what if I didn’t do this?” Not clear?

Take a bowl blank. Most of us take a bowl blank (and this is more apparent in individuals who have to buy the blank pre-prepared), look at it and say to ourselves, “I know, I’ll make a bowl”. I don’t think Jo Winter would do that; he’d say, “what if I don’t make a bowl? What could I do with this round blank of wood that won’t result in a bowl?” And from this attitude lots of innovative ideas have evolved.

There’s another (many others, in fact) approach, and that’s the one you’ve alluded to – the “look and be inspired” approach. Many turners quote references such as shells, flowers, seed pods, textures, feathers Etc., as being the foundation from which they build an idea and subsequent turning. They see a shape, a texture, a combination, and then go and replicate it, alter it, combine it in some more conventional piece of turnery, and the result is something apparently new and fresh. There are those that claim an idea is the basis – peace, fear, grief, joy, sanity, insanity, death, socialism, tyranny Etc., etc., and that the work produced is a reflection, representation, expression of this idea. Which in my humble and unqualified view is the only time you can ever call the resulting object “art”. Being different simply isn’t enough.

But as you say, not everybody has the facility to see and adapt in that manner.

So what can these people do if they do fancy a couple of hours not making bowls, candlesticks, or balusters, and don’t feel they have that “something” to spark an idea?

Firstly, they can forget utility. Don’t aim at making a “something” with an obvious use. Look at making something purely aesthetic, just an object that you hope you, and if you’re lucky, others, will find attractive. Or not. Because the other factor is not worrying what others think about what you make. Make it for you, not other turners, because if you do you’re almost guaranteed to be disappointed. Do it for yourself and the chances are you’ll enjoy the process, learn a few things along the way, maybe even have further ideas on other potentials which you can explore later.

So why not begin with a conventional bowl blank, forget the rules, forget convention, forget that you need something to put the Christmas nuts into, and just play with the blank. You might even sketch a few doodles first, play the “what if game” with pencil and paper first before you cut into the blank.

I suspect that for every one of these wonderful new ideas you see in magazines and online, there were half a dozen that never made it to the photograph stage – they ended up burnt or dumped, or put on a shelf to “think about” (I do this and then burn them later when the agony of the wasted wood has eased a little).

But whatever you do or think, don’t think you can’t. Because you can. It may mean that you have to discover new techniques and methods of doing things, it may mean that you get frustrated and dispirited, it may mean you toss the resulting down the bottom of the garden and swear a lot. But I’d bet that after a few days something clicks and you’ll want to try again.

And don’t forget, you’ve already mastered the turning techniques so you’re streets ahead of somebody with all the ideas but none of the skills to realise the idea.

So go on…take a bowl blank and think out of the box and stun us all. Or not. It doesn't matter actually. It's the doing that's important.

woodndesign:

John, A look round your website shows no sign of a lack of ideas..  ok, I too open a Magazine or go onto a forum and see work which makes one think, as to how or where has that person come up with the idea.  We could buy loads of books on the subject of design.. I know..   ???..   
Some ideas are just a simple form, but it changes with colouring, texturing or piercing, can be in cutting it up and reassembling differently.
Finding forms can be a small part of a bigger piece, a small detail of a newel, enlarged may make a vase or holllow form, I've heard it said a vehicles panels, wing, bonnet or boot in profile are all ideas.
As a last resort, look to pottery or glass ware, did wood ware come first anyway, so who's copying.
I like as to what Andy has said, all food for thought, I've been there, an am at the moment, a piece today made more lightwood, than fire wood..   :-[..   bang went the challenge piece for friday..    :'(...    we learn from it, I hope..  such a good Idea too...

David

Philip Greenwood:
Hello John

I know how you feel at times when you look at the magazines and other turners work, i too would like to be more arty but its easy at times braking the rules sometimes, or thinking what other may say.

I will turn a piece and let the wood decide the size and shape depending on the grain and any other faults that become visible when turning, theses tend to become features then.

If colouring then thats a diffident storey i am experimenting with this and yes i do smile and when there sell the smile is even bigger.

Well back to work to see what i turn today.

Philip

Andy Coates:
Good points, Philip. I should have thought to add a link to your website...just in case I bump up your bandwidth bill I'll leave it to you to add here. It would be most welcome.

For the rest of you I should perhaps add the following:

Philip has a a background in arts and sculpture, photography and design, and once came to my own club (twice) to give a two-part presentation on just this topic.It's fair to say that the responses were mixed, but I, and a notable number of others found the presentations fascinating and inspiring. I guess it all depends on your mindset...if you're open to new ideas you'd love it, if you're closed to new ideas and easily dismiss what you don't know as rubbish, then it's not for you.

I like to think mine's open. Atrophied, but open.

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