Did you ever have an idea so terrific you thought you would never forget it, only to find that under time pressure or distraction you forgot it after all! Your mind will be cluttered with many things if you run a home ceramics studio; you can't be expected to remember every great design idea you ever saw!
How, then, can you capture all the creative things you see at shows, in magazines, and in books? Start by organizing a little corner of your world to be a "think tank" where ideas grow. It could be a small table or a comfortable chair near a bookshelf. The really important ingredients are the books, magazines, and pictures you collect. Take pictures of interesting items you see at fairs and shows; save designs (pictures of flowers, animals, butterflies, holiday motifs) from greeting cards, wallpaper, wrapping paper; collect home decorating magazines; cut out pictures from ads. Organize loose articles into a scrapbook, perhaps grouping them into categories such as "animals," "flowers," "holiday designs," and so on.
Valuable sources for decorating techniques and step-by-step instructions, all illustrated with beautiful full-color photos, are the Duncan New Mold Release Sheets and Ceramics, Duncan's Magazine of Techniques. Collect back issues and display them in a binder to protect them from becoming too dog-eared.
Think of the level of creativity displayed by most of your students. You may not need a pattern to paint a leaf or a simple daisy, but some of your students may be lost without a model or a guide. Collect any picture you think might make a good design idea; someone might need just that gentle push while you are busy helping another student. Encouraging students to browse in your idea corner can stimulate their imaginations and build independence, freeing you to do other things.
Some ceramists maintain technique files, just as cooks maintain recipe files. An eye-catching or unique effect might interest you when you see it at a show, but weeks or months could go by before you get around to trying it. If you don't write down and save the idea and the "how to" of it, the idea becomes a frustrating memory. (As in, "It was beautiful - I wish you had seen it! Now if I could only remember how she did it...")
Your technique file could be kept in a recipe card file box and made available to students for browsing along with the magazines and pictures.
You might want to buy a few books with colorful pictures, stencils, or designs. Commercial artists, as talented as they are, depend heavily on idea books for their great designs! Taking a secret or two from the professionals, who knows what you and your
students can grow in a little creativity
greenhouse?