Brilliant Ideas That Went Nowhere
Quite a few years ago I had the great idea of carving some bracelets that were not bracelet shaped but were shaped more like the creatures that were depicted on them. So I went right to work and designed two Orcas, a Loon and a Raven, and they were lovely! I got all excited and carved all four bracelets, and wow did they look cool! I was so excited to get them into the gallery. Reality began to rear its ugly head when anyone tried one on. They were very uncomfortable. The projecting flukes and wings dug into the flesh of the arms of the wearer, and no matter how I adjusted and bent the bracelet the projecting fins and wings they were still VERY uncomfortable. The only bracelet that I carve on a regular basis that comes out of the standard bracelet shape is the ears on the D2 Beaver and those ears only come out a couple of millimeters. I suppose the lesson of this post is that not all brilliant ideas, even MY brilliant ideas are really all that brilliant, of course in a career as long as mine this was not the first brilliant idea I had. Ask my partner someday about Flashers! When I get those brilliant flashes of inspiration now I like to turn them over and over in my mind and try to find the down side, then if I don’t find one I get to work on it. Inspiration is a wonderful thing but will not make your fortune every time.