Category Archives: Creativity

Bracelets, Creativity, Necklaces, Philosophy, Tutorials, Wire Work

Royalties

April 19, 2011 Karen 2 Comments

Do you turn the television off these days when you hear a segment about the “royal” couple? Are you tired of seeing hats with big brims and feathers that blow in the wind? Will this all end after the young British couple is finally wed? At the very least, surely the stories will slow down. . . but I may be hoping for too much.

Even though I’ve avoided the opportunity to wonder about the bride’s dressmaker or whether she will wear flowers in her hair, I have conjured greatest if I could just design a few of the jewelry pieces for the wedding. Hmm . . . I wonder how the queen would look in a funky metal piece like the one below?

Alas, I guess we’ll never know. (I think a little metal something would be quite charming on one of those hats!)

I did think of that royal couple this week when I opened the mail and found a royalty check from one of my books on creativity. I’m still amazed that people buy something I wrote in 1994 that was published in 1996. It just goes to show that I’d better watch what I say that is published since those words hang on and on.

After receiving that check, I wondered how to perpetuate a jewelry design such that it paid off for as many years as that book. The closest I could think of would be the payoff from tutorials. As you probably know, I have two bracelet cuff tutorials in my etsy shop and, like the books, they bring me some cash from time to time.

I considered whether a design that lives several seasons or even years is a type of royalty. A boutique customer requested a freeform peyote cuff last week. This is something I haven’t made in years, but it still has life.

Now, if I can just remember how I gave it that life!

I can’t say this example is a good analogy to the book royalties since I do have to do the work again. The books and tutorials don’t require anything further.

There is, of course, that option of writing a book about designing jewelry. Yet, I remember how long it takes to put a book together, the pain of dealing with a grouchy editor, the long wait before it goes to press and the tiny percentage an author receives from each book sale. It seems to me that the next time I think I want “royalty”, I’ll just put a floppy hat on my head and go out for a stroll.

Creativity, Metal Work, Philosophy, Rings, Torch Work, Wire Work

Mamaw’s Hands

March 24, 2011 Karen

Hands tell a story. We all know people who talk with their hands. There are those dramatic soles who use their hands to accentuate their words with grand gestures. There are others who snap their fingers or clap their hands while speaking to emphasize words or secure your attention. I think some preachers do this to keep us awake in church. Yet, hands also help tell a story when they are perfectly still.

I remember my Daddy’s hands. His fingers were short and stubby and his nails were broken and brittle. As a woodworker and gardener in his retirement years, those hands met with sand paper, dirt, varnish and all manner of stress. His left thumb was shorter than his right having met with the table saw several years before he died. I used to hold his hands and worry about the nicks and cuts, but they didn’t bother Papaw who would just say “oh well, it can’t be helped.“ This man’s hands showed that he was a worker.

My Mother’s hands tell another story. She, too, was a worker. I remember those hands that not only cooked and cleaned in our home, but also stayed busy with knitting, needlework and constant sewing. Hers depict the pain of arthritis that she has endured for so many years. Now they are gnarled and the enlarged knuckles keep Mamaw from her preferred activities. We have tried numerous things to solve the problem, but alas her days of creating are past. It is as though her body is saying that it’s time to rest. The picture below shows a snapshot of my Mother’s hands with my daughter’s hands taken on the latter’s wedding day.

Mamaw’s hands also depict the pride she takes in her looks. I cannot ever remember her wearing much nail polish, but she is still taking care of her own nails and stays well manicured.

For several years she has wanted to wear more rings. A wonderful group of bridge-playing ladies volunteer at the nursing home each week and Mother plays cards with them. Evidently several of them wear beautiful wings and Mother wants to do the same. I cannot, however, get her old rings over those substantial knuckles and have tried to make her something she would wear. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to create anything to suit her. She won’t wear bling and she won’t wear anything plain. I made her a sterling silver S ring that was adjustable, but it didn’t make a hit. This week, I may have finally found the answer. First I had to convince Mamaw that I could NOT work with diamonds and I could not work in gold! Thank goodness she likes lapis. You can see the one I created for her on her finger below. I finally made something both adjustable to go over her large knuckles and acceptable to her.

It’s a bit difficult to see in the second photo that the ring is open in the back. I was able to open it up and slide it past her knuckles and then squeeze it back shut when it reached the base of her finger. She was pleased since lapis is one of her favorite stones. You can see the configuration of the ring better in the photos that follow. The back was not yet cleaned in one of them.

Mother was pleased with her new ring and I hope it will help her hands tell her story. This ring says “I’m still beautiful at 90 years of age and I still take great pride in the way I look.” It also says that someone cares enough about her to try and make her happy.

Today, I’m looking at my own hands and realizing the story they tell. My hands show broken, liver of sulphur colored nails and short stubby fingers that are scraped and marred. My fingers do, however, wear multiple rings when I go out in public. My hands are a combination of both my Mother’s and my Father’s hands. They, too, are hands that work. These hands will create until nature says I must stop. I’m hoping that’s a long time from now.

What do your hands say?

Creativity, Philosophy, sewing

The Multidimensional Self

February 20, 2011 Karen

I recently showed a friend the wool felt purses that I’ve been making. I wish you could see the colorful print linings these have inside.

My friend said to me “I wish I was creative.” When I reminded her that she already was, she told me she wished she was creative with “stuff”. My friend is gregarious and an excellent salesperson in addition to her other many talents. We were looking at the purses and I assured her that she could also create them. Then I showed her that there are many great videos on youtube.com that show how to make great bags. It was then that she told me she learns best by doing projects along with other people. That’s when I finally began to understand. The lack of available group crafting was holding her back.

People learn and produce in so many different ways. Educators have long understood that different students receive information and/or produce things in different ways. It’s common knowledge that some people learn best by listening while others do better when they receive information visually. Some of us learn better when we are taught through the manipulation of materials. For years, the children who did especially well in school were those who learned best by listening and reading. When we talk about how people learn, we often discuss learning styles.

If you make jewelry, do you carefully read the directions for something in a magazine that you want to make or do you mainly look critically at the pictures? Perhaps you have better luck when what you want to make is presented to you through a video. Maybe you learn the best by attending a workshop wherein others are learning the same thing.

While the work on learning styles is intriguing, that of Dr. Howard Gardner on Multiple Intelligences has proven equally important. Multiple Intelligences help us understand ways in which people are smart. Dr. Howard Gardner propelled many of us to reconsider how we allow students to demonstrate what they know. Originally, Gardner identified seven intelligences including verbal/linguistic, visual/spatial, bodily/kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, musical/rhythmic, and logical/mathematical. Later Gardner added naturalistic intelligence. While some people can tell what they know and may produce articles and succinct blogs, others produce better through drawing or creating visuals. We all have some degree of each type of intelligence, but our intelligence profiles vary.

I think that it’s interesting that the way we learn is not always indicative of the way we produce. For example, I AM NOT successful when I try to read the directions for a jewelry project. I use the pictures. Yet, I produce reasonably well through words. I have published books full of detailed directions for school teachers and have completed numerous articles that have also been published. So why don’t I learn in that manner?

There is no one way through which it is better for people to learn nor is there one way that is the BEST way to produce. I do, however, believe that successful people have figured themselves out. They have accepted how they learn best and look for information presented that way. They have also figured out the best way they produce and find situations wherein they can do just that. I also believe that some of us never figure either out because we are not offered different ways or do not experiment with different ways of learning and doing things. And the moral is . . . I’m sure it doesn’t need to be spelled out. Suffice it to say that we need to know ourselves. I’ve tried multiple ways to learn and realize that I learn best through videos or visuals. I also learn best alone rather than in a group. If I can get information this way, learning is pretty painless. Learning by reading or listening while with a group of people is a double bad whammy! What about you? If you haven’t explored all your options, I say “go for it!” Find and excel in your multidimensional self!

Creativity, Metal Work, Necklaces, Pendants, Torch Work, Wire Work

Layering

February 7, 2011 Karen

The cold snap that has fallen upon my warm climate location has resulted in considerable layering of clothing. Since we are not used to frigid temperatures, I don’t have wool sweaters and warm leggings. Yet, I learned last week that if you just put on enough layers of what you do have, warm cometh! There is, obviously a concomitant issue: how many layers can one person don and still be able to move around?

Having successfully layered my clothing, I felt the need to explore the layering of metal. Most of my metal pendants are pretty large and I was attempting to created something a bit smaller.

The first pendant shown, all in copper, happened accidentally when a small piece of copper I had cut from the middle of a circle fell upon a larger piece. This is a really good reason (or excuse) for not keeping the workbench too neat and tidy. The layers of the pendant are soldered together. I like this pendant, but kept hearing a little voice in my ear saying “where’s the gemstone?” For the next pendant, I added another parameter. I wanted something small, layered and with a gemstone.

Finally, I wanted one more addition to the pendant factory process. . . sawing. I was gifted a saw for Christmas and have had minor success with it. Sunday it was time for real saw action. Sawing is not easy and I can see that it will take considerable time to refine this technique. Yet, the organic look in the next pendant is a start. the problem statement for it was “in what ways might I combine sawing, layering and a gemstone in a metal pendant?”

This one, too, is interesting, but I didn’t achieve smaller . . . I left that term out of my problem statement and it didn’t happen. Actually, I do not think I’m ready to saw “smaller” at this time.

I found the most difficult part of the process for the pendant with gemstones pertains to the order of events. On the silver pendant, I soldered the bezel to the sheet metal first and then attached the wire stem and finally the leaves. I tried to change this order on the last pendant. I soldered the small copper pieces on first and then when I heated the metal during the bezel soldering process, the copper pieces fell off. That, of course, makes sense to me now, but I guess you learn by doing.

Today, I’m interested in trying some mixed sheet metal in the pendants. I’ll let you know if that process is worth sharing. The next time you put on all the layers of clothing just pretend you’re a gorgeous pendant!

Bezels, Creativity, Necklaces, Pendants, Philosophy, Torch Work, Wire Work

Resistance to Closure OR Procrastination?

January 28, 2011 Karen

Several sleepless nights this week left piddlin’ in my studio wondering what to do when you are too sleepy to do much of anything. Have you ever felt that way? During one of those times, I located a number of UFOs (unfinished objects) and pondered the current state of my work.

My need for closure used to require that I rush to complete each piece. My head knew that this was not a good thing since creative people are supposed to be amble to remain open for all the artistic possibilities that might present themselves. When you decide on an idea or problem solution (close) too quickly, there’s less opportunity to exercise true creativity. This is one of the areas rated on many formal creativity tests. Yes, my head knew I should resist closure, but I still willed myself to “get it done”.

Because I understand this need to resist closure, I consciously try to remain open and therefore lay some things (pendants in particular) aside while I consider various alternatives for completing them. Apparently, I got carried away with this little practice and during one of my late night/early morning studio carousings, I discovered what I had wrought. I had an entire pile (a little exaggeration) of things left undone.

Then it hit me. Creative gurus teach that we are supposed to diverge and then converge. During my divergence, I was resisting closure and laying things aside while I thought of the myriad of possibilities for how each could be used. But, oops, I forgot the rest of the teaching . . . CONVERGE! During convergence, we are to pull the ideas together, make a decision and, in my words, finish the work. I didn’t do the latter.

So, on that fateful day, it was time to CONVERGE. (Can you here my battle cry?) I devoted one day to getting those pieces in some sort of completion form. I made the pendant for the first one, “Wing It”, last May upon coming home from a boutique run where a customer said that’s what she does. Oh well, it’s only January; but it was time for something to hatch.

It only took a short while to attach the riveted pendant to some chain and add a few dangles. What took me so long?

The next piece sports a pendant provided by one of the boutiques. The owner had it on a simple silver wire and it had not sold. She sent it home with me before Thanksgiving saying “DO SOMETHING” and she hasn’t seen it since. It’s time! I hope the store owner likes it. She will certainly be surprised to see it again and will probably take it just to get her pendant back.

I cannot honestly say how long I’ve considered the use of this S shaped pendant armature. I know it has been several months since I repeatedly annealed and whacked this shape. At the time, I just wanted to see if I could hammer a piece to the extent that a couple of my friends do in their pieces. This week, however, it finally turned into a necklace.

This one is fairly long and dangles from a doubled leather cord.

Finally, I found two bracelet armatures all formed and tumbled, just hanging around waiting for embellishment. They are now properly adorned.

It’s good to finish these pieces and I’m glad I didn’t follow my urge to just throw them away when I first found them. They were worth completing. Yet, now I wonder whether I was really being creative on these by resisting closure or if I was just plain procrastinating. I think it’s resistance to closure when you are not sure that all the possible ideas have been explored on a piece and you are remaining open to receive those great thoughts. That was definitely the case on two or three of these pieces. However, I have known what to do with those bracelet armatures for a while and just didn’t want to do it. That is plain old procrastination! Shame on me! Will it every happen in this studio again . . . . . I can defiantly say “YES!” Now I hope to resist closure when needed and beware of that other phenomenon.

Creativity, Philosophy, sewing

Problem Solving-a Permanent Fix

January 25, 2011 Karen

Problem solving is a natural part of life. Every time a designer begins a piece, he or she faces a myriad of problems such as which beads to use, where to place the focal, how long to make the piece and so on. These probably don’t really seem like B I G problems and you may see them more as choices. Yet, we do solve these little choices in the same way that solve the bigger issues.

During creativity training courses, we learn all sorts of great ways to move toward problem solutions. I’m thankful to have had this training during another phase of my life and subconsciously rely on it often. We can also view and learn from problem solving in nature. The first photo below shows how the bulls here at Dreamcatcher Ranch solved their problem of finding something delicious to eat. Much to the chagrin of the hunters on our property, these ten big guys helped themselves to the deer corn out of one of the feeders. A hunter captured this photo from his video cam at the site. So what’s the problem?

There wasn’t really a problem for the bulls, but we had a problem that centered around how to keep them out of the deer corn and make the hunters happy. We thought about how to keep the corn away from the bulls, but quickly realized that there wasn’t any type temporary fence that would keep these guys away from food. So, we reversed the situation and decided to keep the bulls away from the corn. We let them happily spend the couple of weeks until hunting season was over in the large steel pipe fence pens near the house where they lounged and ate nice bales of hay.

The next photo shows another problem that occurred at the same venue.

This one is a bit more difficult to see, but you will again recognize a deer feeder and note the raccoons on the ground. The raccoon in the tree, whether the sole perpetrator of this theft or simply the one sent by the others, is reaching from the tree over to the hanging feeder. He must be saying “hey, guys, do you think if I shake this thing more deer corn will come out?” He appears to be solving his problem quite nicely. This time, we just gave up, thinking there was no way to keep raccoons away from that feeder. My question is “how did he get down from there? “

In both photos, animals are seen just doing the natural thing to solve a problem. So today, I decided to think naturally too. For the several years since I made my mother the sweatshirt shown in the photo below, she has been having me iron the hearts on the sleeve.

You can see that they are “flying hearts” which is what I intended when I made them. I thought a little motion would be cute, but these want to crease in half after laundering. Mother doesn’t like this and since I do her laundry, she usually sends this sweatshirt back home with me if I forget to iron down the hearts. Last week, having forgotten to iron the hearts, I snuck it into her closet at the nursing home while she wasn’t looking. Later in the week when I picked up her dirty clothes, she explained that the day she wore the sweatshirt, she told everyone she saw that her sleeve hearts looked funny because her daughter (that would be me) wouldn’t iron them! So, I took the sweatshirt home and planned to iron those silly hearts. Yet, last night, I decided it would be better to solve that problem once and for all. While it seemed natural to just keep ironing the hearts after each washing, I was becoming just a bit annoyed about it. So, I took a different approach and today I tacked those little gals down permanently with thread. It seemed like the natural thing to do. It also was the simplest thing to do. Why hadn’t I done it before?

It seems that sometimes, I forget that I can solve a problem rather than putting a band aid on it as in the case of just ironing the hearts. I could have saved a time and frustration if I had just fixed it right to start with. We fixed the bull/deer corn issue right the first time and the raccoons seemed to have solved their problem, so why can’t humans? The next time I run into a little problem irritant, I’m going to use my animal instincts!

By the way, my mother will be 90 years old tomorrow. I love solving her little problems!

Creativity, Philosophy

Time for Carving

November 19, 2010 Karen

We’re less than one week away from Turkey Day and carving time. I’m always thankful that when we were a young married couple, a friend and neighbor in Centerville, Ohio taught my husband how to carve a turkey. Actually, my spouse already knew how to do it, but our friend showed him a different way to carve the breast such that it was both efficient and attractive. Each year we think about those neighbors and the good times with them.

As I prepare for family visits and Thanksgiving today, I’m discovering that meat is not the sole entity I’ve been carving lately. I’ve been carving out time to be creative. This is a “must do” on my agenda each day; but how can I be sure it happens? I’m reminded of another acquaintance, this time from Garland, Texas, who told me that she liked to sew, but couldn’t do it until everything else was completed at her house. She said that she just never got done with everything. Well - - da - - who does? Isn’t there always one more floor to sweep or bill to pay or cow to check? (I guess you might not have a cow to check.) The point is that we can’t just wait for creative time to miraculously arise from our schedule. We have to MAKE it.

This has been a very nice busy season for my little jewelry design business. The boutiques have kept me busy and I’ve added vending at just a few shows. Today is the first day since the beginning of October that I haven’t had a list of orders to complete. I think I’ve finished and delivered them all. So, does that mean that I can finally be creative? No! I haven’t been waiting for this day, but have carved out time to be creative every day. I don’t mean that I have been creative by finishing the orders. The bulk of these have been specified or replicas of other designs. Yet, I have done my best during this busy season to leave at least some time each evening to just be creative with no succinct notion of what should emerge from the design work and no time table for completion.

I believe that creativity is like anything else and it must be practiced. Many factors such as the stress of this season and/or emotional circumstances can easily rob a person of the ability to think creatively. Yet, the more you have practiced and gathered expertise at being creative, the less you lose during stressful periods. For example, we know that elementary school children regress on their reading skills during the summer break unless they diligently continue the reading of challenging books at home. I also believe that the better the child is at reading, the less he or she loses (Meador’s theory). I found this to be true when teaching piano. A first year student lost more music reading ability during a break than a third year student (assuming they were any good a reading by that time).

If you concur with this analysis, what can you do about it? Let’s start carving! As I have mentioned in another posting, I really rely on my computer calendar. I’m diligent about typing in all my bill payment dates, appointments and things for which I must prepare. When that list pops up each morning, I’m right on track and when the list is complete, I’m done. But, aren’t there other things that I should be doing? Of course there are, but those are probably on tomorrow’s calendar and I sure wouldn’t want to mess up the system by getting ahead (ha).

When the list is complete, everyone has been fed and the daily household chores are finished, I have time to be creative. Granted, this isn’t usually until after dinner, but at least I can look forward to that frame of space. I’ve kept to this schedule for a long time and thankfully my spouse has grown used to what occurs in the evenings when my tasks are complete. It’s my time! I guess that I could take a lesson from my dog who comes in to enjoy a rawhide bone each evening. When he’s beside or chewing on that bone, you’d better not try to pet him. He might just bite you. If anyone should try to take away the time I’ve carved out to be creative, I might just do the same!

Happy Carving! Remember – you’re worth it.

Creativity, Diversions, Philosophy

Playing with Dough

November 4, 2010 Karen

This isn’t about money! Who would have enough to play with anyway? Yet, it is about playing with dough.

While at the nursing home yesterday, I asked the art teacher (working with three slightly comatose inmates) whether or not she has worked with polymer clay. The activities director overheard us and said she had been wanting to do some sculpture with a few of the residents. That’s when I told her about playing with dough . . . play dough.

I have an activity for and a recipe for making homemade play dough in one of my books, It’s in the Bag. (Pieces of Learning Press, Available at the publisher's site) I’ve used it for years; given it away; and even selected it for use in a motivational speech at a meeting. In my workshops on the brain, we used to make the triune brain out of three different colors of play dough. As you can tell, I’ve made a good deal of the stuff.

I was so pleased when my daughter, who was probably the very first recipient of my homemade play dough made it for her son. It’s really neat when your progeny can pass it on. You can see from the expression on my grandson’s face that his mom made it a fun experience.

Of course working with clay isn’t solely for fun. It is great for developing motor skills and will also give the child a safe experience with mixing colors. (Adults – it can also work for soothing the nerves through a sufficient amount of play dough squishing or relieving frustrations by pounding it!)

Just in case you need to do either of the above mentioned adult activities or have a young person coming for a fun day, why not give this recipe a try?

Playdough

Combine in medium-sized saucepan

1 tablespoon oil 1 cup salt 2 cups flour

2 teaspoons cream of tarter 2 cups water

Heat and stir until mixture forms a ball. Place mixture on waxed paper to cool until you can work it with your hands. Knead the dough until it is smooth and then store it in a zip-lock bag. *Food coloring may be added when kneading the dough. Paste cake decorating colors are move vivid than liquid colors. HINT: if you get the paste coloring on your hands, it can be removed with toothpaste.

*I wear plastic bags on my hands when working in the food coloring.

booches, Creativity, Metal Work, Pendants, Philosophy, Techniques, Wire Work

Children and Problem-Solving

September 22, 2010 Karen 2 Comments

I was somewhat bothered by a short five paragraphs in the Parade section of last Sunday’s newspaper. I waited several days to comment in order to see if my thoughts changed. They did not. The title of the article was “Teach Problem-solving to Prevent Bullying.” It was based on research conducted through Louisiana State University and the University of California the results of which indicated that those youngsters who have trouble with solving problems are more at risk of being bullied.

Bullying has also been on the television news lately as a result of the school bus incident during which a child was bullied and her father later threatened her attackers. This child, who is handicapped, would probably fit the profile suggested in the abovementioned research.

It wasn’t, however, my concern about the relationship of bullying and lack of problem solving skill that concerned me about the article. I believe that is a good point. It was the fact that the article focused solely on how games could help develop problem solving skills. I was pleased that the author mentioned checkers and chess since these do require rational strategic thinking. We might add to that dominos, chicken feet (played with dominos) and a number of other similar games that require thinking. None of these rely solely on chance like so many of the simple spinner type games.

I wanted the article to also talk about the place of art in the development of problem solving skills. I believe that almost any form of art requires this type of thinking. Even when the child is merely drawing a picture, he/she must figures out and plan where things go on the page, what colors work well and often what to do when a mistake occurs. Consider why a cardboard box is so often a child’s favorite toy. The child must solve the problem of how to create something out of very little. Also, if the art form selected requires tools or supplies, a young artist may need to solve the problem of what to do with limited supplies or lack of tools.

Many of of schools have no art classes other than what the classroom teacher might squeeze in. With extremely tight budgets most of the “frills” of education are gone. I have heard parents at school board meetings plead for retention of arts programs. Among other things, their rational is often based on the value of art (including music) in bringing joy and self confidence to the child. Should we instead be discussing the higher level thinking and problem solving skills that the arts teach our children?

My most recent example of difficult problem solving in art comes from the angels I first mentioned on September 11. I have continued to work with them for days trying to solve the problem of their crooked halos and messy backs covered with too much solder. Finally, after considerable work (problem solving) I completed some angels that are working. The halo now goes around the angel rather than just in front and the solder is hidden between the body and the wings.I’ve also solved the problem of how to display/market them in boxes with a small poem. Doesn’t everyone need a guardian angel? (www.dreamcatcherdesigns.etsy.com ) I wish I could send one to each child who is forced to endure bullying.

This problem solving adventure is only one of so many that we find in art. Does that mean I’m ready for those big bullies? Hmm . . . I’d still just as soon they stayed away from me and from everyone else. Maybe the bullies need the opportunity to learn problem solving skills in order to direct their misguided energy down a better path.

Creativity, Philosophy

How Do Creative People Succeed?

September 7, 2010 Karen

For more than 20 years I have read everything I could get my hands on to help me learn about creativity. That has even included grabbing the newspaper away from my husband if I noticed a headline with the “C” word. The latter happened last Sunday when a newspaper article titled “Creative people must take action to succeed” caught my eye. Author Robert Pagliarini suggests that no matter what your art, “your only goal should be to create.” Hmm . . . there are those other goals such as how will I earn enough to feed myself and put a roof over my head; yet, I do think Pagliarini has a point. The focus is to create. He suggests that we shouldn’t ever call ourselves “aspiring” as in aspiring designer, aspiring artist, aspiring musician. Those people only talk and dream about creating. Those of us who do create ARE designers, artists and musicians. The author states that artists shouldn’t wait for approval or permission to create.

We could read hundreds of books about both successful and unsuccessful creatives, however, with Pagliarini’s words as thought stimuli, I’ve been open to finding lesser known people who currently create. One of those must certainly be sewing enthusiast and author Deborah Moebes whose new book Stitch by Stitch is available through her blog (http://whipstitchfabrics.com/blog/page/4/) or from Amazon. Moebes has taken her creative talent and turned it into a book for beginning sewers that is easy to understand and extremely helpful. I call this success.

An imaginative artist named Jean Piche developed his own musical software and has been awarded as a composer for other people’s films. Now, he has created his own films in a genre called Video-music. He uses abstract video painting accompanied by his own musical score.

Both of the aforementioned people appear to have used creative thinking to be successful. While many of us may not achieve the type success achieved by some creatives, we can certainly achieve success of our own. It seems to me that we simply need to find the right ruler by which to measure success. Does it have to be monetary? Of course not! I remember feeling highly successful which I saw a copy of my first book, Creative Thinking and Problem Solving in Young Learners, (Available at Amazon.com). Even though I still receive royalties from all my books, I can hardly say I could have given up my day job based on this income. Yet, I have certainly felt successful. Currently when I wear one of my jewelry designs and someone asks me where I bought it, I feel successful.

One element that aids creative people is when they have managed a way to survive without requiring much income from their creative work (at least initially). While I haven’t studied the background of Jean Piche, it would make sense that his success as a composer for others may have afforded him the income to create something entirely his own. Another example is of a young musician who was an executive in a software company. He quit his day job and took a year to travel and create his own music album. For this endeavor, he wrote the songs, performed all the vocals and all the various instrumentals and then produced them with his own recording equipment. The success of his former day job afforded him the chance to follow his creative endeavor for a while. Also, I have been fortunate to be married to a smart business man who has always provided for his family allowing me to do my creative thing.

So, it’s back to the initial question. How do creative people succeed? I believe we need to set our own expectations for success and judge it in a manner that keeps us creating. I, for one, don’t want to go back to simply “aspiring”. I want to BE.

Dreamcatcher Designs