Wild Hare Ideas & Pulling Them Off - Or Not
Wild Hare Ideas start out as “I Wonder If . . .” or “What Would Happen If . . .” and at some point become “But to do THAT I’d Have To . . .”. And sometimes finding out the answer to “I Wonder If . . .” or “What Would Happen If . . .” requires a leap of faith, an unfounded belief that a critical “How The Hell Am I Gonna . . .” answer/solution will appear - somehow. The Bumble Bee Syndrome.
(When the field of aerodynamics was in its infancy, every creature that could fly was studied to try and determine HOW they flew. One insect had aerodynamicists stumped - the bumble bee. According to the mathematics of flight (sub-sonic of course), the bumble bee’s wings could not possibly provide enough lift for the insect’s mass. Yet bumble bees did, in fact, fly. Later, high speed photography solved the paradox - bumble bees don’t fly the way it was THOUGHT they flew. Turns out their wings work differently than had been thought - and provide lift on both the “down stroke” as well as on the “up stroke” - sort of like “sculling” with a paddle.
No Way Those Little Wing's Are Gonna Lift This Creature!
The point of all that is - just because conventional wisdom says “It can’t be done!” - doesn’t mean it can’t be done. It just may be that the assumptions on which the “It can’t be done” conclusion is based - may be overlooking something - critical.)
Once the commitment is made to pursue a Wild Hare Idea, with no guarantees of success, the execution of the idea, or the attempt, may require the patience of Job (No not JobS - that’s the Apple Guru. Job - the guy “god” tortured - seemingly just for the hell of it), the tenacity of a teenager when they really, really, really want something and probably the development of a new technique or at least learning a “New To Me” technique.
Wild Hare Ideas usually can’t be turned in a single session, or even two or three sessions - of an hour or so each. They typcially involve far more hours than can be rationaly justified for a piece that merely has the potential to be interesting, accompanied by more than a few “I Hope I Don’ts” and “I Hope IT Doesn’ts” - with potential “failure” lurking in the wings - just waiting to pop out for The GOTCHA!
Along the way there are I Think I Can, I Think I Can - I DON’T Think I Can periods that necessitate stepping away for a while and letting things stew in the background. Who knows, a new technology may be announced tomorrow which will make the current hurdle trivial. Maybe a mental turning tool and turning technique inventory will turn up a possible solution.