Inspiration to make an idea into a creation
From idea to creation
Where does all this inspiration for my crochet patterns come from? How do I get the ideas I have in my head turned into actual designs or creations? This can be done in many different ways! I use a lot of different paths to reach my final goal. But everything stands or falls with inspiration. Without inspiration, I can't create designs. Inspiration can come to me from very different angles. The start of CB's Creations all lies in modelling with clay. Clay and crochet? Yes!
Using a number of patterns, I will explain where I got the inspiration to design these creations.
The inspiration for Mr. Franklin Forge, Steampunk Elf
Ever since I've been little, I've been crafting, drawing, crocheting, doing embroidery, mosaics, Tiffany, stained glass, making wreaths with anything and everything, making bears, working with napkins. I even made an attempt to paint for a short time. I also made dolls and creations out of clay for a while. Building a face with clay is often done in a fixed order, but with a different look each time.
After a while of crocheting patterns of others with great pleasure, I wanted to 'come up' with something myself.
Would it be possible to apply the clay modelling techniques when crocheting a face? Yes, you can! That's how Mr. Franklin Forge, Steampunk Elf was born. I started building up his face.
This voodoo face, all parts of the face were still pinned, I posted on Facebook in a number of crochet groups (mainly American crochet groups). There were a lot of nice and funny reactions to this, including that the head would look like a character from Harry Potter. Now most house elves in Harry Potter don't have that many clothes on and it didn't appeal to me that much either. But that he would become an Elf was already certain! With clothes on, but still barefoot.
Crocheted creation with electric wire
For me, my creations don't have to be cuddly toys, which you can play with, so I made a frame for the body from electricity wire (supplied by hubby). This way he can stand independently.
My oldest son suggested Steampunk and I started to adjust the clothes accordingly. Together we searched the internet for an appropriate name, which was not yet in use: Mr. Franklin Forge, Steampunk Elf.
At the Design Contest of Amigurumi Patterns of 2018 he managed to get a nice 99th place. Not bad, when you consider that there were more than 700 entries.
Did you know Franklin has his own page on this website? You will find it here: Franklin Forge
My comic book hero as inspiration for the crochet pattern of Douwe Dabbert
I am very charmed by the work of Anton Pieck and Rien Poortvliet. The drawings of the Efteling and the Gnomes are amazing! How I would have liked to work for the Efteling in the past... Watching films such as The Labyrinth and The Neverending Story also provide a lot of inspiration. How about Disney cartoons or comic books like Douwe Dabbert! From the moment Douwe Dabbert's story appeared in the Donald Duck, I've been a fan of that little strange old man, with his magic doll bag, who always has strange adventures. My most favourite story of Douwe Dabbert is: The witches of the day before yesterday.
Now I had already made Douwe Dabbert out of clay, with a body of, partly textile, partly clay. There had to be a crocheted version of it too! Again I started with the head. You can shape the head even more by, for example, pulling the eyes inwards a bit more or by making a mouth.
Small, chubby little man
Douwe Dabbert is a small, somewhat chubby little man, so the body also had to be small and somewhat chubby. Also at Douwe Dabbert I made a frame of electricity wire, so that he can stand independently. Douwe Dabbert has four fingers on each hand. His jacket makes him look a bit thicker. I made his beard out of acrylic yarn and combed it out with a cat brush. After attaching it to his face, I gave the beard a trim. A twig from the garden for his knapsack and Douwe can go out into the wide world in search of new adventures. :)
A visit to the market as inspiration for Gene the Raccoon
On holiday in North Holland (The Netherlands), the foundation was laid for Gene the Raccoon. As you know, I grew up in Den Helder and I have been living in Papendrecht for a long time now. No, I didn't know where that was at first! (in South Holland, near Dordrecht!) Once in a while, at least 1 time a year, I have to sniff the sea, hear the sea and see the beach.
So we were on holiday in North Holland, in Sint Maartenszee. At the annual market in Schagen there was a stand with yarn and the very fluffy looking yarn just called me.... It was Grizzly of Scheepjes and only €1,00 per ball! So I bought 5 skeins of a nice colour gray. No real inspiration yet, but I had to have them. The whole holiday I occasionally looked at the skeins of fluffy yarn.
Gene Simmons from Kiss as a source of inspiration
Once at home, I knew what I wanted to make of it: a raccoon. On the internet I found a nice picture of a real raccoon that I wanted to copy. Now crocheting with this type of yarn is a challenge. You don't really see where your stitches are and you can't crochet very tightly with it. So this time it would be a cuddly toy. With many stitch markers and trying again and again, lashing out and trying again, a nice raccoon has come out in combination with cotton yarn. But how am I going to call him?
That inspiration for Gene's name came when I went to a KISS concert in Rotterdam with my brother and my oldest son. No better name than Gene!!
Fluffy yarn is not that easy to crochet with, but I have some great tips for you:
Cotton yarn in the colour gray as inspiration for the Mice Val and Tine
Just as Scheepjes Grizzly inspired me to Gene the Raccoon, Zeeman Cotton (shop in the Netherlands) inspired me to the Mice Val and Tine. I had participated in the Hygge Cal, but didn't want to spend too much money on it. I then made the Hygge with Zeeman Cotton as a base. And it has become very beautiful! So I still had a few balls of grey Cotton left. Hmmm, what is gray? A mouse!. You know what, I'm going to make two mice right away, which can't live without each other. And they lived happily ever after!
Inspiration can come from anywhere!
As is now clear, I can really get my inspiration from anywhere. When I see a movie with a nice character, I see another crocheted creation. If there is a wooden Pinocchio on top of the bookcase, then that is the reason to crochet it.
When I was working on The Egg Brothers, I was actually looking for something to make dark lenses in the glasses, but then his eyes would no longer be visible. But when I saw a coloured lid on a cup of yogurt, I immediately thought of glasses again. A flower power glasses, a flower power girl, a kind of Janis Joplin ..... Joni the Hippie Elf!
If an old classmate changes her profile picture on Facebook into a figure of Gorjuss, it ends up in me making Linnette.
My oldest son had ordered a book about Vaesen (fairytale characters from Scandinavia). And there were some of those beautiful drawings in there, you guessed it, I can't wait to make one!
If I watch the series Vikings, I already get ideas about what my own Nordman should look like. And an Inuit (Eskimo) is also on my list. Pedr the Viking has actually arrived, only an Eskimo not yet.
And sometimes getting inspired takes a little longer...
I had crocheted a head with horns. But what next? I wanted to make a Mr. Tumnus of Narnia, but very differently. It really took me a while to figure out for myself how I'm going to make his legs and in the meantime I was distracted by all kinds of other inspiration coming my way. In the end it all came together: Alwin the Dreamcatcher! You will read all about him in: Alwin Oakleaf, Catcher of dreams
My head is always full of ideas, sometimes I have to crochet those ideas right away, sometimes I can write them down to save for later.
Hmmm, what will I design next...
Is there a creation you'd like to know more about? Let me know and I can reveal my source of inspiration! Send me a message!
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