Recently I watched a video from a creator I’ve mentioned here before, Laura Kampf. She has been working on a tiny house, and on this particular episode she was designing something for the interior. In the process she explained why she doesn’t sketch her ideas.
I am paraphrasing, but what she said boiled down to not getting so stuck on an idea that she couldn’t modify it if it didn’t work, or if she wanted to change her mind about the appearance or function of her creation. If you want to hear her explain it (far better than I have) here's a link This is Why I Don't Sketch. The first six minutes illustrate what she's talking about, but you may want to watch it all - she's very engaging!
I have had that lesson brought home for me in the last couple weeks as I have been working with beads again. Several times I have started a beaded piece only to get part way in, decide I didn’t like the look – even though I had spent a great deal of time on the design before I began – and torn the partially-completed project apart.
I will admit right up front that this hurts. It’s painful to design something you are happy with, spend time arranging and re-arranging the elements until you are pleased with it, then spend hours assembling the elements, only to be dissatisfied to the point of basically destroying the work you have done.
In the case of at least one project it meant unraveling the entire piece, which took days to knit, unstringing the beads (more hours), and sorting all the parts back into their individual storage containers.
It does get easier. Especially once you’ve done it a few times and realized how much happier you are with the revamped project. The colors you thought looked good laid side-by-side in the design phase but didn’t quite mesh the way you expected? They are stunning in the new configuration, tweaked slightly or combined with a different shade of thread, or a different balance of colors and shapes.
The same goes for my writing. I have started and thrown out stories, knowing they weren’t quite right. Even when I have done all the brainstorming and planning.
What I have learned from these experiences is that too much planning can be infinitely worse than too little. When you over-plan you can end up locking yourself into a design or an outline, and you don’t leave yourself room to be flexible, to follow the story where it wants to go, or to change up the design when a random element suddenly transforms your project. To quote Laura from the video link above, "This is me having an idea. This is me having aluminum boxes."
Daydreaming, brainstorming, window shopping – all of these are important in their own way. Generating the idea is part of the fun of a creative project. The act of creating – of putting pen to paper, or paint to canvas, or thread to fabric – is also part of the fun. It’s the reason we do these things.
Somewhere in between those two points is the planning stage, and there are times it is vital. If you need a piece of lumber for a building project, or an ingredient for baking, you need to be sure you have it available. Nothing worse than finding out halfway through mixing cake batter that you don’t have enough eggs, or the bottle of vanilla is down to fumes.
But being prepared doesn’t mean locking yourself into a plan and forcing yourself to stay in that limited space. It means you have the necessary components for your project. It doesn’t mean that you’re on a schedule, following a blueprint, without room for inspiration to take you on an unexpected journey.
One last thing: If you are reading this and saying, “But what about a recipe? When you’re baking it’s important to follow the recipe, because chemistry!” I have a wonderful little video for you. Consider this a bonus recommendation folded in with this week’s post, a makeup, if you will, for missing last week’s column.
B Dylan Hollis’ video on making Peanut Butter Bread could be a revelation. Hollis made his reputation posting TikTok videos of baking recipes from vintage cookbooks. In those minute-long posts the 20-something music student is brash, loud, theatrical, and witty – a perfect TikTok style. This YouTube post is longer and far less flamboyant (though his personality still shines through), and displays his serious interest in baking, a hobby he took up for the first time during the Covid lockdown. Hollis experiments with ingredients and processes to find what he considers the perfect recipe, and his approach illustrates what I’ve been talking about. I hope you enjoy his video.