Sorry about not responding to your suggestions, comments and input earlier. Got side tracked by a LONG series of "conversations" with RRRRALPH EARRRRRRL O'RRRRROURRRRKE on the Porcelin Phone (read
30 hours of trying to turn myself inside out - every half and hour to an hour - as a result of food poisoning).
So here's what I got from your feedback/suggestions
There is an agreement with my starting premise- that - we all start with the ability to be creative and that we are taught how to NOT be creative?
Changing the parameters and questioning assumptions regarding constraints can open up a lot of possibilities overlooked initially? Do you HAVE to use a "spindle gouge" - to turn spindles? Apparent limitations may in fact be opportunities to try and do something in a different way - or see something in a different way.
Getting a bunch of seemingly unrelated ideas outside of your head, on paper (Post-Its, graph paper, backs of envelopes, ...), a white board or blackboard, cut out shapes in paper or cardboard, maybe with different colors, assembling a small collection of textured objects (bark, moss, stones, nuts, leaves, twigs, ...) can get you to "see" things that can be used to "create" a new piece?
[ side note on Arch's rant on Political Correctness applied to "obscene words" - the substitution of *, &, #, etc. for missing letters and the suggestion to develop a ranking such words based on the number of substitutions - I have a theory that the more uncomfortable a society is with a subject - the more euphamisms they develop to avoid talking about them directly. Consider the euphamisms for DRUNK, or BATHROOM or the BIG TABOO - SEXUAL INTERCOURSE.]
It isn't necessary to know EXACTLY how you're going to get from HERE (the starting point) to THERE (the finished piece) - or even know where THERE is - at the beginning of a creative process.
If "brainstorming" is too intimidating - how about BrucePz's link to "Clustering".
Tom Koehler's observation about self confidence playing a role is an important one and plays into the subject of Fear Of Failure. Trying, overcoming fear of failure, and trying again seems to lead to an increase in the ability to be creative.
Tom also points out the importance of being open to adapting to unexpected circumstances - changing when necessary along the path to a finished piece.
He also "admitted" to using DREAMING. Why he thought that might be laughable is kind of funy since Sleep On It is good advice when faced with a problem you can't seem to solve. That's because the Rational Mind - the part we use the most while AWAKE - is what was molded to work a certain way by how we were taught to learn. The creative part of the mind is usually turned off while we're awake - and Wakes Up while we're asleep - plays with seemingly unrelated things, plays with The Problem - and whispers to the Rational Mind solutions and ideas as the "shift changes" from sleep to awake.
John-nobodyhomeforspam - in the UK suggests that being able to visualize may be an important factor in creativity. Staring off into space, or at a blank piece of paper or blackboard may help.
He also note that if you can imagine something it can probably actually be done - it's just a matter of figuring out how.
John also notes that trying to "force" creativity is a sure fire to get Stuck In Stupid - "I tried and tried and tried to solve the problem and I just COULDN'T - so I gave up". That's why I suggest thinking in terms of "play" rather than "work on it".
Anway - I'll try and work this stuff into this set of web pages on Brainstorming. Here's what I've got now.
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I just finished reading a book titled "E=mc^2". Much of what's in the book is about is discovering things that couldn't be seen and were thought impossible to measure - or understand.