Where and when is your best brainstorming?

I'm not a knifemaker but I saw this linked from the main page and felt I'd like to contribute. My best brainstorming used to be while laying in bed when I should have been trying to fall asleep. I even created a science project for it as a kid. I called it NiteNotes. It was a little box that held a pad of paper and a pen and it had a clip on it you could clip to the side of the bed frame. It had a little positional light you could flip on and off as needed. It worked really well, but nobody else thought much of it.

Nowadays it's generally when I'm in the shower. I read this stuff when I'm on the throne. ;)

Oh and yeah, I agree, toilet and toothbrush don't belong in the same sentence. My wife is guilty of that habit! Haha! :D
 
Guys, I don't brush while ON the toilet, sheesh...

It's super interesting to hear many of you mentioning about the ideas coming at a time related to sleep. The deal with my extended toilet ventures is that I'm practically in the half-asleep mode, which is when my mind tends to be able to create vivid imagery of what I'm thinking about - much clearer than during the rest of the day.

Otherwise, there's almost no moment where I'm not thinking about knives.
 
I seem to get a lot of ideas while sitting in my deer blind. That seems to be about the only place where I can sit still long enough to think without any distractions...at least until the deer show up.
 
Sometimes stuff comes to me while working in the shop.....but usually it's more purposeful. I'll grab my sketch pad, my pencil box and sit down at my computer desk or even on my stool at the work bench, put on some of what I consider to be inspirational music like Rush, Coheed and Cambria, Clutch, Sabbath, whatever I'm in the mood for and then I start drawing. I've got some whacked out drawings that looked stupid once they were roughly done, but some of them have been modified into decent designs.

Not to get too philosophical, but the designing part of knife making has been really important to me. I always was into painting, drawing, playing guitar, metal casting, and other stuff when I was in school and in my early adult years. I am a pretty easy going guy and am happy being a husband, father, homeowner, etc. but with all the work it takes to be successful at those things, my art and creative side got left behind, and eventually I think it led to a certain level of depression that I never fully realized was there until I started making knives and the need to draw and brainstorm came back. It was an awesome feeling, and it's why the drawing part is still one of my favorite parts of the whole process.

As far as going on random ideas that come to me, I've got kids, two jobs, a wife, mortgage, dog, house, etc.....I usually seem to be running around too much to get random ideas pop into my head and probably wouldn't remember them afterwards anyway, so it works best for me to make the time to sit down and brainstorm.

EDITED TO ADD: All the talk about laying in bed getting ideas........are you guys crazy!? When I'm laying awake in bed all I can think about is the mortgage, the health insurance premiums, the back lawn needs mowing, the dog has to get his shots, I think my truck is on it's last legs, etc. Apparently all I can do in bed is worry! :D
 
Don Nguyen said:
........ there's almost no moment where I'm not thinking about knives.
Click to expand...

Research has shown that the average male thinks about sex every seven to twelve seconds. What isn't well know is that the average knifemaker thinks about knives about every three to seven seconds.

Knifemakers who take long showers, or sit on the toilet for extended periods of time may be combining the two studies :)
 
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