Design Inspiration Part Deux

Although I'm constantly inspired by an endless array of images, ideas, concepts and motifs, there are some that fascinate me endlessly.  I can't really say why, they simply do.  As I mentioned last Tuesday, I'm a huge fan of the nautical theme and in particular the vintage French Sailor look.  What is it about those stripes...the jaunty red anchor...the nautical stars...the navy, black, white and red combination?  Why do they never fail to make me smile?  Perhaps it is because they're so whimsical and endlessly chic.

Perhaps in a past life I was a sailor...or maybe even a good natured pirate.  One never knows...

Here are some designs from the past few years inspired by my on going love affair with vintage French nautical goodness. 

Mixed Media Necklace with French Nautical Theme Copyright Margot Potter ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Nautical Necklace with Vintage Plastic Charms and CRYSTALLIZED-Swarovski Elements
Copyright Margot Potter ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Vintage Plastic, Turquoise, CRYSTALLIZED-Swarovski Elements

Copyright Margot Potter ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Design Inspiration

I am knocking on wood as I type this, which is quite a feat let me tell you.  People often ask me where I find my inspiration and the truth is, I am endlessly and constantly inspired.  Everything excites me to the point that I sometimes feel total sensory overload.  I thought I'd share a small glimpse into my design process and how it functions.  Here are two designs and inspiration images for a book proposal I presented a couple of years ago to two different publishers that wasn't accepted.  I think it's a brilliant concept, but perhaps it's just not right for the craft industry publishing focus.  Or maybe I'm totally delusional.

The jury is still out on that one!

I just put an 'inspiration board' up in my studio.  I'm going to fill it with whatever is spinning my design wheels at any moment.  I usually just let everything simmer in my head, but lately it feels a bit crowded. Consider this post as a virtual inspiration board.  I gathered up all of these images that were suddenly ringing bells in my brain and they inspired two designs. 

O'Keefe Poppies-this painting has been a favorite for years.  

Marimekko Uniko Poppy Fabric-I've been mad for their prints since I was a pre-teen

Warhol Poppy-I love this.  

This is my pop art poppy polymer clay set I created inspired by the images above.  This is intentionally streamlined and less of a literal translation.Copyright 2008 Margot Potter.  All Rights Reserved.

 Black and white detail photo of a white poppy.

Billie Holiday wearing her signature gardenias.

This White Poppy set has a far more dimensional and literal interpretation of the poppy motif.  I built this flower using Sculpey Ultra Light and painted it with acrylic paint and silver leafing pen. Copyright 2008 Margot Potter.  All Rights Reserved.

For me, design is an adventure.  I become obsessed with an idea and I have to make it real. How do you design?  Where do you find your inspiration?  I'm curious!

xoxo
Madge

The Evolution of a Jewelry Design

Almost...but not quite...take one...La Cage Prototype One (Before) Copyright Margot Potter 2009

La Cage (final) Copyright Margot Potter 2009

Incognito First Strand Copyright Margot Potter

Yesterday I started working on some 'in-use' designs. These are designs created for manufacturers that showcase their products in innovative and interesting ways. This work isn't easy because there are perameters and limitations you have to navigate. I've been working with architectural and sculptural wire designs for many years. My brain likes to think dimensionally, which is why I should really study casting and soldering and jewelry making techniques that would allow me to fully expand on that tendency. For now, I spent a lot of time making wire do what it doesn't want to do naturally and making a lot of glorious messes in the process.

There is value in those glorious messes, because that's where my brain is formulating new pathways. I began with a series of woven wire bits and pieces working on some ideas I had for dimensional designs and eventually I created this pendant, which I really like. It's basically a concave 'cage' in which I've suspended the new CRYSTALLIZED-Swarovski Elements disk. It's created from a single core wire wrapped with a thinner gauge of binding wire and crystals. After I finished the pendant I needed to create a foundation. I began with this intuitive beaded design and realized when it was finished that...it wasn't quite gelling. So I put it out there for other folks to see and got some great feedback. In the meantime I began reworking the foundation and came up with this.

I hammered some of the metal components and left others shiny. I created a small hook with the same wire I used in the pendant. I really like how the foundation supports the pendant without detracting from it. Everything leads the eye towards center and this looks really fabulous on a neck.

I know that seems sort of silly to state, but I can't tell you how many times I've created something I think is awesome and then tried it on and realized it didn't work on a body. It's a really good idea to try on your designs or throw them on a jewelry form as you're working just to be sure they're wearable.

I'm using the core beaded necklace for a multi-strand idea. (Forgive the lighting, it's dismal here today and I had a heckuva time getting decent shots!) I added a little felt flower from ArtGirlz I embellished with a sequin and a crystal on a head pin. I'm seeing chains and exposed wire strands layering down from this top strand in a bib effect. I'll show you the final result when I get there.

Back to the bead mines!

xoxo
Madge

Creative Inspiration: Message in a Bottle

Sketch Copyright 2006 Margot Potter

I grabbed a sketchbook to take to a meeting I had the other day. I’m working on some exciting things I can’t discuss yet...but so far, so good. When I opened the book I found this drawing from about four years ago! I don’t usually sketch my ideas, I just dive in and make whatever’s rumbling around in my noggin’, but on occasion if I’ve got a back log of ideas I’ll quickly draw them out for later reference. This is a quick study I did in a class I taught. I led creativity and inspiration seminars at the Create Your Style with CRYSTALLIZED™-Swarovski Elements events at the Tucson Gem Show for two years. I think these are my favorite classes because it’s so exciting to see people get inspired. People leave with a head full of ideas to explore later and one of my students actually won the Create Your Style competition with a design from a drawing she made in my class! So at least one person was inspired!

One of the exercises in the class was to dream up and draw a design using colors, motifs and textures drawn from an image you’d selected intuitively from a big pile I provided. I honestly don’t remember what my image was...but I love this design! This was back when I was nagging the folks from Swarovski Austria to bring back the vintage color ‘mink’. I can’t take any credit, but I like to believe I had some influence in the color mocca! I could definitely use mocca instead of the mink combined with vintage rose and crystal silver or black diamond AB here. I think I’d add some gun metal and do an oxidized silver patina.

I hope to make this necklace one of these days...because it’s pretty fabulous on paper. There would be some architectural work getting the swags and filigrees to fall properly when worn, but I think it’s a solid idea.

You never know where inspiration might strike...sometimes it’s like a message in a bottle from the person you were in another space and time. Although I don’t sketch often enough, I’m thinking maybe I need to start.

xoxo
Madge