Incubating an idea

Chinese Panda Necklace

Sometimes a project flows. The muse speaks and you create. Other times an idea has to incubate.

For me, the incubation process can happen in my head. I picture something; a shifting something that is too fuzzy to become real. As fledgling idea starts to solidify, the incubation can move to paper. A quick sketch will keep the idea alive until it is ready to greet the world.

Some projects, like this one, spend a long time incubating. The initial idea came quickly enough. My hand touched a stamp in my collection; a simple strolling panda. I pictured  black ink on delicate translucent clay. I stamped the image onto a sheet of freshly rolled clay.

Yet, it was not what I had pictured. It was too white. I added some blue chalk to the raw clay around the panda. Better, but still blah. Surely the border would add life. Well, it kind-of did. It still didn't work. Maybe once I strung the pendant with some bright orange gemstone chips, that would pull it all together. But, it didn't.

So the piece sat. Unfinished. Incubating.

Then the muse spoke. Finally! She starting whispering through the glass beads. Golds and greens. They felt Asian, more Asian than the pastel blue. I pulled out the alcohol inks, and this idea that had incubated for months greeted the world in my YoungCreative shop.