15/03/2015

Inspiration: Instagram

source: Sarah Palmer (link)

About six months ago I asked in my blog's Facebook what you'd like me to post about. Of course I shall continue sharing the crafts and DT work I do, but I wondered if there's something more that you'd like to know. Like something about the mediums I use, my favorite supplies, about my process or similar. What was suggested was a post about inspiration. So I decided to start a series of post concentrating on something that inspires me. I shall do them on a monthly basis and let's see how it goes.

Here's links to previous posts on the series:


source: National Geographic (link)

Today I'm concentrating on photos and more specifically to Instagram. It could be Pinterest or Twitter, too, but as a constant stream of photos, Instagram works best for this. And as you may have noticed already, all the photos in this post are from someone else. I have linked directly to the photo and also written the account name if you wish to follow those accounts too as all of these are from people I follow.

Maybe first a word about the accounts I follow. There's great many accounts connected to crafts - that are crafters, manufactures or even challenges, but there's other sorts of accounts as well. A few of them are about lifestyle but also a few I subscribe simply for the beautiful, though provoking photos like the one above. The photo hit me hard because of the colors, the texture and the design but even more when I read that it was from Chernobyl.

source: Balzer Designs (link)

A picture speaks a thousand words and can really hit hard. They are visual candy, firing the imagination or just giving pleasure. They can illustrate a subject better than a whole book or change the way we think. There's great power in pictures.

What Instagram has created is a constant stream of photos personalized. I guess you van never be bored with the feed there. There's just so many things to see and discover. It's really captivating to see the world through eyes of others.

source: Prima Marketing (link)

There's great many aspects you can be inspired by in a photo - color combo, textures, products shown, composition, just a detail, atmosphere or a technique. They may show something I want to try out myself or then they can get me excited to see more.

Let's start with the color combo. The photo itself can be anything - of a project, a landscape or a detail shot, but the colors instantly hit a button and make me take a mental note. Like the one in the further below - navy blue with lemon yellow and lighter, turquoise blue. What a combo! Some colors make me instantly think about a mood, too, or then they just leave the story open.

Then there's textures like the picture from Chernobyl with the peeling paint. It can be surface treatment or aging or then a project with fun mediums. If it's a project or a detail of one I'm seeing, I try to think what products the creator has used. In case of another style texture I try to figure out what products to use to get similar effect and result.

The products the photo shows can make me crave some new toys, make me remember a products I already have and haven't used for a while or then a new way to use a product. The same applies also to techniques - can inspire me to try something new, go back to something known or anything between.

Of course the photo can also be just a jumping of point and make me think about something I've heard or steer my thoughts towards a certain project I've been thinking already. It can light up my imagination and make me make connections between things. Just look at a steam of photos and you'll notice it yourself!

source: Katja Mezzanotte Joulak (link)

Here's just a few ideas if you want to use Instagram as an inspiration. Please feel free to add other ideas!

- choose your favorite Instagram (IG) feed and create something inspired by it 

- challenge yourself and use the same IG photo as a jumping off point to three crafts

- choose an insteresting IG photo and use the color scheme in your craft

- go through your IG feed and try to find new interesting accounts, document what you find inspiring in the photos

- take a subject of an IG photo and turn it into an art journal page or a layout

- make a card to your IG hero

- document your own IG account

- study a textured photo and try to mimic the result with your supplies

- use your own IG photos from one week in a layout or another project

- get a new perspective to crafts and try to capture a style of someone you follow on IG

- do a homage or a tribute to your favorite IG account


source: National Geographic Travel (link)

I hope you found this post interesting or perhaps even inspiring! I'll post another source and a few ideas how to use it next month. Please also remember the "Inspired by" posts as I usually try to open up my process in them! Thank you for stopping by today!

source: Marika Koskimäki-Ketelä (link)

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