Where Do Ideas Come From - Creativity or Synthesisity?

I think for me, it is certainly "necessity is the mother of invention". I am great at using tools and materials for things they might not be considered for by their respective manufacturers.

I make a lot of different things I use in the shop or on the job because I am too impatient to go buy them, and something inside me likes the challenge of designing and making my own jigs a fixtures.

I don't really have too much of an artistic leaning to a lot of the things I do, but I enjoy the practical aspects of solving a puzzle. I would figure out how to make a make a jig to cut extreme angles on trim before I would ever think to make your articulated chain.

I think my artistic inspirations (such as they are) are generated by me seeing a shape or construction method or idea of something I like, then going back to the shop and workging out the details to make my own version.

Robert

Well turning certainly lends itself to that skill and ability. Lots of people think up things that they can't do with the tools they have - and abandon the idea. You start with an idea and, if necessary, make the tool(s) to then make the idea a reality.

Most folks who get into turning and stay with it have some sort of grinder, maybe a flex shaft or equivalent with various burs , files etc.. - most if not everything needed to make some of their own tools.

If you need a small tool - dental tools are great - either "off the shelf" or easily modified. Dentists NEVER throw tools away - even if a new and improved one has replaced an old one. Ask and you may receive.

Ah but a significant part of "creativity" involves problem solving. If, rather than seeing something as a problem, you choose to see it as an opportunity to use your brain and existing skills to find a solution, you're more likely to create something new - at least to you. So maybe Attitude is an element of creativity?

Hey, we're talking creativity here - not "Art". I've got an idea worked out, now I have to come up with a use for it.

When HP developed the first pocket sized programable calculator they called it A Solution Looking For Problems To Solve. People found all kinds of problems to solve with it.

I'm always amazed when "tradesmen" say "I can't do MATH" and then take a flat piece of sheet metal and make a 3-D object with tight seams that fits perfectly - or close enough, or a carpenter who works out and then builds a staircase - with a landing if need be - that fits the alloted space, meets code and allows for subsequent rugs or flooring at the top and bottom, or a trim carpenter who deals with walls not being plumb, corners that aren't square and floors that aren't level. Ever watched a Phd. try doing an exposed aggregate walkway, or try cutting roof rafters?

But you had to have combined things you've done before in a new way - at least new to you. And when it works your brain gives you an endorphin rush - a reward for being "creative". It's built into us. So the next time a "challenge" comes along the subconscious thinks "Hey! An endorphin opportunity!" and you look for a way to meet the "challenge".

Them that tries may or may not succeed. Them that don't try don't fail. But they won't succeed either.

charlie b

I'll agree with the above statement, since it includes your coined terminology, too. Coining a new term, and then asking for discussion is sorta like the dog chasing his own tail. Everyone is creative, plain and simple. Why muddy the waters with new, confusing, or limiting terms?

Creativity is closely associated with playfulness. If you are struggling with a design, then I submit you are trying to hard. Lighten up!

Everyone has their way of solving problems. Most of us learned how to solve problems by the time we were five years-old. Very few of us found new ways after that. The difference between regular folk and very creative folk like artists and designers is that they not only have discovered how they solve problems, they've also learned new ways, too. It is a conscious effort for them.

The first step is to learn how you solve problems.

Just my thoughts, Dan

The first step is to realize that there is a problem.

I was initially using synthesis to differentiate combining existing things in a new way rather than creativity, making something from nothing that existed before. Was trying to get the two terms in the same form, not to coin a new term. Also was trying to get around the potential mental block some have when creativity is mentioned the "I'm not creative - but I'm pretty good at finding a way to do things." folks I hope join this thread.

Two critical parts of creativity - play vs work - an attitude that it's play and not drudgery, something to overcome and Lighten Up! It's only wood and some time that's lost if you make a mistake. Not the end of the world. Try again or go do something else that might be an opportunity to be creative.

Having been trained as an engineer I have to take issue with that statement. I didn't know trig or geometry at age five. Both come in real handy handy in woodworking - whether you call it trig and geometry or not.

OK so conscious awareness is important along with intentionally making an effort to use that awareness is important. That's something that can be learned. Any tips on ways to learn to do that?

I think that's the second step. The first step is to not quit when problems are encountered. Creativity and Risk Avoidance don't seem to go together.

Master of The Understatement.

More please.

charlie b

I think that when you've blown through the bottom or walls of a piece the recognition of the existence of a problem is self evident.

Are you talking about Recovery rather than Creativity? There's a difference between getting back to where you were before the problem and your attitude towards getting beyond the problem - and maybe find a creative use for what could be seen as a failure.

Could you elaborate on the statement?

charlie b

Uh, I thought we were talking about creativity, not book learning. A band saw is handy, too. Doesn't mean using one (or a trig formula, for that matter) makes you artistic. I stand by my original statement. Most people do not learn new ways of solving problems after about the age of 5.

Yup. Go to art and design school, take an evening class. Reading design texts like Pye or ones on design methodology may help, too. A lower cost alternative is to solve problems, any problems, but especialy 3D problems like Rubics Cube, or other visual brain teasers. Anything that gets those creative synapses firing is good. Also, take a different route to work each day. Or write with you non-dominant hand. These work, too.

Not the way I look at it: Learn how to solve problems, then begin to solve a problem, then keep at it even when all seems lost. That makes it the 3rd step, right? :)

Designers will tell you that way too often the tendency is to jump in and solve a problem, and many people take the first solution they come up with. I've seen many engineers (sorry) step into that pitfall, as in, "We'll just add a bracket to fix that." Designers on the other hand will sketch ten, even a hundred sketches, throw them all away, and then begin with the design. Artists will start over repeatedly on a project.

Tossing a handful of designs away is also a good way to remove your ego form the equation, too.

A more direct way is one I've mentioned here before. Get some low density foam and turn it with scrapers and files. Set a timer and see how many shapes you can knock out in twenty minutes. Or turn a foam shape, turn it again making one slight change, do it again and again, but never returning to a former shape. Don't stop until you have a hundred.

Finally, a good designer, and this includes home-shop bowl designers/crafters/turners is one who spends a great deal of time crafting the design statement before even beginning. "Design a fork" is a lot different than "Design a personal sustenance device." The first is limiting, the latter expansive. Expansive is good, it leads to play and creative results.

Hope this helps. Dan

Not sure about the meaning of "Synthesisity", but in the dictionary "Creativity" lies between "Crazy" and "Crotchety" and not far from "Crud". Don't know what that means either, but my ideas probably fit in there somewhere. :)

Turn to Safety, Arch Fortiter

Hello, I'm Maestrodascia and I make wooden puppets. Watched my web- site please! Thanks!

"Arch" wrote: (clip) in the dictionary "Creativity" lies between "Crazy" and "Crotchety" and not far from "Crud". Don't know what that means either, but my ideas probably fit in there somewhere. :) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Of course, the dictionary lists words alphabetically, without regard to their meaning. I think it is *creative* of you to *synthesize* a list of words, taken in alphabetical order, whose meanings are related to an arbitrary topic.

"Arch" wrote: Not sure about the meaning of "Synthesisity" (clip) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ "Synthesisity" is structurally similar to "synergisity," and in this context has a related meaning.

That goes with all aspects of craft/trade work. When I started in capentry I was lucky enough to work with someone that was not only a talented craftsman, but someone that had a great imagination. When we were working and someone could get the job done because they felt like they needed a certain tool, he would say "well, you better figure it out if you want to be a carpenter. You won't be working in shop full of tools very often".

element of creativity?

Absoltuely. It has a lot to do with the profession I am in, repair and remodeling. And even more over, the fact that it is my company, and all eyes look to me when looking for a solution to an unexpected problem. If there is no satisfactory solution to a prolem, I might not get paid, or worse, might get sued.

For me, it is this: an expeditious solution has to be found. There is nothing else. And hopefully, within budget. So my brain doesn't see the end result as being creative, but more of having the ability to think more out of the box than some. In the end, the resolution of an exepected challenge it viewed by me as a solution, nothing else. Sometimes at the end of the day I go home thinking I dodged a bullet, not feeling like I did something creative.

I agree with that at least part of the time. If it is for my business, a solution is more of a sigh of relief than a hormone bang.

But for me personally, I do like working things out for myself. And I get a charge out of doing something new to me and coming out with satisfactory results. To me it is rewarding and satisfying on a lot of different levels.

Robert

Absolutely ... nothing is so convincing as knowing that someone else solved the problem before it came to us and did it with fewer tools / less material. When I was working in a die shop that was an every day occurrence. I was surrounded by brilliant men whose natural inclination was to make things. They didn't even care what it was they were making ... it was the challenge of making something that had never been made before, on time, within budget and to spec. Then, do it again tomorrow. There is a mental rush in the skilled trades that I simply don't find elsewhere. I suspect that the guy who makes a sale, predicts the stock market and so on has his own sense of accomplishment ... but it's not the same. Not the same as mine.

Bill

"Dan Bollinger" wrote: (clip) many people take the first solution they come up with. (clip) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ The brain works in mysterious ways. The first solution you come up with maybe a very good one. This is because your brain processes information at a subconscious level, turning things over and making comparisons you are not even aware of. Suddenly you have an *idea* which turns out to be good. It didn't come from nowhere. In some cases I have deliverately tried to improve on my first solution, only to make things worse.

maybe a very good one. This is >because your brain processes information at

even aware of. Suddenly you >have an *idea* which turns out to be good. It didn't come >from nowhere.

I know that tune. There are times I cannot resolve something in the afternoon no matter how hard I think about it. A cabinet that doesn't fit a space, not enough tile, electricians didn't show, etc. I grind away, and nothing happens. I can smell the rubber burning from the wheels turning, but .... nothing.

Next day, walk out on the job, and it's "hey, why don't we try this" and it was better than the orignal plan,or sometimes at least as good.

Robert

To me, what you are describing is more about being playful, letting your subconscious mind mull it over, and 'lightening it up', than it is about what order the idea came in, first, second, etc.

Dan

Grist for this (creativity) mill:

The human brain processes information associatively. "This is like that."

Great designers work in visual metaphors, we know this because they create in a concious manner and they know how they solve problems. For instance, "I'm going to turn a bowl that reminds me of a farmer and his John Deere tractor."

Just for fun, try that on for size, imagine such a bowl and you'll see the possibilities spring to mind. Note how it gets your brain buzzing. Much differently than, say, leafing through a book of bowl patterns.

If the problem is a simple one like, "How to I get these apples in that bushel basket" then the first idea may be a good one. It may not be the best, but it probably will suffice. But we are not talking about day-to-day problems in this thread, but artisitic creativity in our work. If you want excellence, not mediocrity, in your craft, then tossing out the 'obvious solutions' will not only put your mind into 'creative mode', but also separate your work from others who chose their 'first idea.' You can chose the well-traveled road, or blaze your own path. Its up to you.

Me? I toss out the obvious solutions if I want to end up with a creative result. What I want is a non-obvious solution that will Wow! people. I want the solution that people will say, "I wish I'd thought of that!" or "That's so elegant, why hasn't anyone done that before?'

Dan

Not to quibble Dan, but I think in reality it means my brain does better work when I'm not using it. ;^)

Robert

"Prometheus" wrote: (clip) Putting on a beret and laquering dog poop is not creativity

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ The beret has nothing to do with it, of course. Lacquering dog poop might qualify as creative, but how much credit should go to the dog? It might be hard to sell at first, but if you can get it into a prestigious museum or gallery, you might be able to start a "movement."

Need I say TIC?