The Name Game

T-shirt by Xenotees

from the marvelous book of collective lists - An Exaltation of Larks by James Lipton

My friend Ruth is having a "Name That Pic" contest with her FaceBook friends. I've been wracking my brain trying to come up with something clever, but only think of obvious titles for her picture of a field of birds with only one headed in the opposite direction. "Wrong Way Wren". "Headed My Way". "Independent Thinker". I'm sure Ruth wants to convey a feeling of confidence and independence as opposed to doing something wrong headed. She's all about positive statements and reinforcement. None of these are right though. She'll come up with something fabulous I'm sure. And now that I think I know what they're for, I think I'll enter "Looking For Home" or "Homeward Bound" into the contest. That's the way I name my jewelry for Etsy too. Make the piece, then think of a word or phrase to go with it. 

Recently when I decided I want to assemble "lines" of similar pieces that will "tell a story" when I lay them out on my table at the Contemporary Crafts Market in November, I wanted to try coming up with the names first and the designs after (perhaps *I* am the wrong way wren). So I've been writing down words and phrases that I like. That feel good in my mouth. That are evocative of an idea I want to convey. I have the idea that sometimes the words will match something that I've already created and sometimes they'll inspire a design or family of work. Sometimes, they might just make me smile when my designing mind is blank. As I re read the ones I've saved, I realize that some of them actually refer to someone else's work more than mine, but I'm keeping them on the list anyway.

It's an interesting way of working, non? I spend an hour or so in my Mother's 1934 edition of the Thesaurus (so much better than the online version) jotting down synonyms. And looking at them afterwards, pictures *do* appear in my mind's eye. Maybe if I read the book before bed, I'd dream galleries of jewelry. Here are a few of my recent additions to the list: 

Collection Device

Memento

Vignette

Heritage

Pastorale

Nocturne

 Voyager

Ephemera

Paramour

Dulcet 

Ancestral

Parvenue

Past Perfect

I'd love to read some of your favorites.