"Imagination
mode" is my first step on the path to a new design. I listen
to inspiration from dreams and the in-between stage from sleep to
awake and back again for solutions. I listen in meditation after
posing a question. I listen to the suggestions and desires of customers
and clients. Then I visualize the "answer" to some posed desire.
I go to my drawing board
and draw a sketch. I decide on dimensions. I use my draftsman training
to draw the design to scale. I break it down into all its parts.
I add the seam allowance and then make a paper pattern.
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Every design is original,
even if it looks like someone else's work. I believe that we all
tap into the same Source and sometimes our designs overlap and all
start to look the same. I used to feel paranoid that big design
firms were "stealing" my designs. Mostly for my bags, back in the
70's and 80's. But now I know that we all drink from the same well
and feed from each other, too. Namaste.

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Next, I make a sample out of sellable, but not premium, leather
(perhaps the leather is desirable, but the color is not popular)
and I make a prototype. I hope to sell the first attempt, so I do
and redo what ever I need in order to make that happen. Even if
it is far from the desired finished product
I learn the most from
observation. In life, as well. What does making this first item
tell me? What do I need to change to make it work? How much should
I charge? The price is determined after I have become accustomed
to the individual process of each piece. Finally, I feel comfortable
about the amount of time it takes to create. Working diligently
and precisely but without stress, I name a price. I try it in the
market on Sunday at the Santa Barbara Sunday Beach Show. I find
the lowest I am willing to sell it for. I find the reaction to my
desire for what went into it, what I want for it. It is often very
different. The prices reflected here are a compromise.
The second attempt is
refined far enough to know that the third will be the "hard copy."
When I finally get the product I am happy with, I make a pattern
of rigid cardboard to be reproduced many times. At this point I
feel truly grateful, realizing another creation has taken shape
and is ready for introducing into my line of leather products.

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