How to Trigger Your
Creative Inspiration

© by Dvora Schleffer; all rights reserved

Every artist experiences highs and lows of creative inspiration. Some times the ideas just flow from us, and other times our minds go blank. However, as professional jewelry designers we can't always afford to wait for inspiration to come. We need to come up with new collections and designs all the time in order to keep up with our competition.

So what can we do to trigger our creative inspiration when it seems to have vanished? Here are a few ideas that might help:

• Surround yourself with inspiring things!

  Of course you first need to find out what things that inspire you. Different people are inspired by different things. For some people it can be a place with a beautiful view, and for others a visit to a museum or art gallery. Some people are even inspired by materials such as beautiful beads, gemstones, etc. Find out what inspires you and use it whenever you're stuck without ideas.

• Exercise your mind!

  Give yourself design exersices. Think of a theme and try to design several jewelry items that relate to it. Or choose a picture and try to design items that are inspired by it. Pick a color, a form, a sound, a feeling, etc., and try to focus on it untill it transforms into a jewelry item.

• Save some inspiration for those "rainy days"!

  Whenever you are in a time when inspiration is flowing - draw or write down your ideas and save them, including the ones you didn't like. Then, when you hit a dry spell, you can build and improve these designs until they are good enough. This gives you a starting point that's easier than coming up with brand new ideas.

• Learn and try a new jewelry technique!

  Take a class or read a book about a new jewelry making technique you always wanted to try. This will open up all sorts of new possibilities for you, and new ideas will follow.

• Create variations on your past designs!

  Take some jewelry items you've created in the past, and try to recreate them using entirely different techniques or materials. You will be surprised to at how differently the jewelry piece can turn out.

• Take a short break!

  If nothing seems to inspire your creativity, it's possible that your mind is simply overwhelmed. Take a break - a day off, a short vacation, a meeting with some friends, sleep - anything that will help clear your head from everything. After you've relaxed, try again with one of the the previous tips.

Being able to keep coming up with new ideas is essential for us jewelry designers. Waiting for inspiration to arrive is a luxury we just can't afford.

Practicing these guidelines can help us keep our creativity working, and enable us to control our inspiration instead of the other way arround.

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