Idea floods and inspiration

I live in Portland, Oregon. And as you may already know....it rains here. So far, we are having an uncommon amount of rain. Usually by June, we have pretty great weather. Well, this year not so much. Today, June 10, was surprisingly rainy. It just started pouring and pouring. It only lasted a good hour or two, but the damage was done. My basement flooded.

Why am I talking about the weather?! The weather today is like my inspiration.

Last night, I couldn't sleep....I had so many ideas. I thought about felt and different things I could make with it like necklaces and earrings. I thought about wire and new ways of wrapping and using different colors. I thought of advertising, new ways to advertise. It was like a torrential rain of ideas, so forceful I couldn't sleep. I had to write it down, I had to try it and as a result I went to bed at 4am. Have you ever felt just so flooded by inspiration and full to the brim of ideas, that you are literally itching to get some sort of materials in your hand and just get it all out!? That you almost tremble because you can't get the ideas out fast enough. I imagine that's what crack does to you.

Craft is my crack.

Lately, I've been finding inspiration and forming ideas from a variety of different places. Sometimes I'll see a color combination on a mannequin in a clothing store and I will remember those colors and proceed to buy beads, felt, ribbon and fabric in those colors. I also get inspired by books. Living in Portland, a great resource that I enjoy using is the Powell's Bookstore on 10th and Burnside downtown. I believe it's the largest bookstore in the country or on the west coast...something like that....anywho, it is a place to sell your books and buy new and used books. You can find me in the Blue Room which features a lot of fiction novels which can often influence my fabric choices by inspiring me to pick romantic looking patterns...I tend to find a lot of romantic fiction in this room, the  Purple Room with the historical books which just speaks to my passion for vintage pieces and incorporating those components  into my contemporary accessories makes me feel as though a piece of history is always with me, or the Orange Room with the craft books where you can learn new techniques. I have recently purchased 2 books there. The first book is a great guide to starting your handmade craft business, I really wish I would have seen it a year ago. It's called Handmade Marketplace: How to Sell your Crafts Locally, Globally and Online By Kari Chapin.

This book is great because it includes a lot of first hand experience from successful artists selling their craft. It touches on every aspect of business and promotion. The other book I found is called Make Your Own Costume Jewelry by Jutta Lammer. It was published in 1964. The book features diagrams and pictures with instructions for beaded necklaces. Most of the necklaces are woven and multi-stranded. I like it because it's a small book only 57 pages and it's straight to the point. Most of the pics are black and white. I'm excited to try one of their techniques.

I have also been inspired by fellow artists that I've met doing craft shows (get to know your neighbors these are great networking opportunities). Recently at the Alberta Art Hop, I met a fellow designer Haidee of Artsy Fartsy Mind (her blog is www.artsyfartsymind.blogspot.com). She too works with wire, and she inspired me to take more risks with my wire work. I tend to stick to what I know works, but after talking to her for awhile and checking out her pieces I wanted to run home and start messing around with some wire! We met for coffee the other day and just tossed ideas back and forth. It's nice talking to someone who does what you do and understands because they are trying to accomplish what you are trying to accomplish. We came up with some great ideas! I see jewelry parties and craft swaps in our future!!

Basically, you never know when inspiration will find you and sometimes it is almost overwhelming when it floods your head just like my flooded basement. It's easy to get swept away, to want to do everything right then and there. When this happens to me, I make sure to write my ideas down (I always have an idea book in my purse and beside my bed so when it hits I'm ready) and then I take a step back, prioritize what I'm currently working on and finish that before I start something else. Sometimes I get around to those ideas, and sometimes I don't. But having them written down for, well I would say rainy day...but for the purpose of this blog let's say an inspiration drought, gets the storm going because one idea dropping is usually the first of many.

These are just some things that inspire me....what inspires you?