Design!

Having posted yesterday, it got me thinking about design!

I love designing! Wow, that's a very broad statement, isn't it. But it's true. I spent many years "designing" my weaving, embroidery, knitting, crochet, etc., but in the most part all the things I produced ended up in the loft or at the back of a cupboard, simply because the ideas or design hadn't been thought through sufficiently and as a result I was rather disappointed with the finished article. Sometimes I didn't even finish what I was making. I bet one or two of you have felt like this!

It has taken a while for my design skills to sink in, having taken a couple of courses in design for the penny to finally drop and realise that there really isn't a magic formula to design. To me, it's not a matter of being able to draw and paint, but simply collecting ideas, based round some form of inspiration, and working through these ideas, looking at colour, shape and texture. Then using the ideas to sample, sample and sample! This can apply to any form of craft, be it weaving, spinning or even dyeing. It's the work put in before producing the actual article that makes the article special.

I'm sorry this has turned into one of those boring blogs, without pictures! You can see what I'm like, how shallow I am, if I only read blogs with picture! But I do hope it has given some of you food for thought and give a design course a go. With the right tutors everyone can design!