Prometheus wrote:

Charlie,

Your perceptions of what an "artist" is supposed to be is messing you
up here. Putting on a beret and laquering dog poop is not creativity
simply because it has not been done before. Making something to fill
a need or express an idea is creative. There is no need to coin a new
phrase to describe the creative process when creativity will do just
fine- and is better applied to the act of making a bowl to eat your
popcorn out of than it is to stripping naked and throwing paint at the
wall.

At root, the word contains creation. Don't give it away to those who
create nothing of value simply because they have a snotty attitude.
There are all sorts of degrees and applications of creativity in the
world, and most have nothing whatever to do with some self-proclaimed
avant guarde.

So there you go. You're a creative artist. If you like, I can make
you up a certificate or something to that effect, but would hardly
think that is necessary.

No decoder ring? No secret handshake? Not even a beret with my
name embroidered inside - in gold thread? No learning the name of
a Cabal member? (oops - wrong news group)

Seriously - we see pieces done by others, and some of us show
pieces we've done. Where'd the idea came from and how did it get
from the beginnings of an idea to the piece? That part is missing.

I'm using an example of an idea I'm playing with to illustrate one
of the many ways to end up, hopefully, with an interesting piece,
or a series of pieces. The hope is that others will provide
examples
of another process they've found. And with several approaches
to getting ideas and then a piece, maybe someone will give it a try
and finally getting around to discovering that creativity is built
into them - and be creative.

Here's the next idea for using a ball and socket swivel joint.

http://web.hypersurf.com/~charlie2/T...culation4.html

Getting pretty good at doing the ball and socket parts. Found
I had a 1/4" shank router bit for routing letters - cuts a half
round - just the right size for a small round socket. Chuck it
in a drill chuck in the tail stock and making the round concave
part of the ball and socket a snap. Turning the ball to fit the
socket is pretty. Now it'll be easy to play with this swivel joint.
May end up going nowhere - but so far the trip's been interesting.

With an easy way to make the parts, maybe someone else will
come up with some interesting uses - and tell us about it.

charlie b

charlie b
easy