the root of inspiration

concept

There have been some great discussions about inspiration over at Decor8: Too Much Inspiration? recently. After reading the post and the comments, it seems like many people become over-stimulated by all of the fabulous work out there. Often, people lose their own voice, or become paralyzed. Although I'm incredibly interested in design and process of all types - some favorite shows include Room Service and Top Gear - it does get overwhelming. The web has opened up these areas enormously and I'm really grateful for it. I've learned about so many new things and met really lovely people online.

I think an over-abundance of inspiration may become a challenge for creative types because it's not about seeing a great idea and simply copying it - that would be relatively easy. Most artists would rather die than do something of that sort. They're interested in creating some kind of change by adding their own voice. It might be simply using one element or just being inspired by a different color palette. That's where it gets to be a bit more muddled. Another challenge I realized I face is how to corral all of the information? How does it all connect, if at all? I don't have the answers, but I'm more aware of how I can process inspiration.

action
When I started to learn to sew a couple of years ago, I wanted to combine paper+ fabric, either directly or through technique. I have been racking my brain to come up with something that I could really get excited about and that might be "new". The other day, while watching some music videos, I got an idea for a new collection that is inspired by Square Dancing. I don't remember where I read it, but someone mentioned it in a post recently - I think it was Alicia. It made me remember doing some Square Dancing in high school a couple of times and it was so much fun. It conjures up memories of community, dance, music, being carefree, farms (I grew up in the suburbs), calico and fluffy skirts.

I'm starting with some fabric flowers made from two-sided fabric. Ever since seeing two-sided scrapbooking paper, I thought it would be neat to do the same with fabric. So, I will start with the flowers and then see where it goes from there. I can already imagine them as pins, push pins, magnets, and on sachets. I don't know if there's anything new here, but it's new to me.

More of Square Dance can be found here.