In which I ramble

(Firstly:
I'm giving away beads. Did you know?)

You know what interesting? (Well for one thing, it's interesting that when someone says somethings interesting, it's usually not. Case in point here)

One polymer clay artist has told a story about how, completely isolated from the polymer clay community (this was pre-internet) she invented millifiori for polymer clay. Another site charts the history of cane-making, and attributes the discovery to another artist, at an earlier time. I would imagine there are even more people to whom this innovation is credited.

The interesting thing is, from my point of view, all these people did come up the idea, even though it may have been at slightly different times.

It's that phenomenon where suddenly, an idea seems to be everywhere simultaneously, despite the fact that those who came to the idea may have never even interacted together (I'm not talking about people jumping on a fad here). A mathematician may say these are coincidences, and aren't statistically significant; a spiritualist or psychoanalyst would point to synchronicity as the answer for the occurrence. I guess I would argue that in some cases the cultural direction and evolution of the particular time 'lead' people towards these discoveries.

On a slight tangent, I like the idea that people manage to keep inventing things independently, sometimes years after someone else has been credited for it. It's nice to see that there is some kind of unconscious connectivity in humans. Also, it means that we can all be innovators for ourselves, and that I can totally claim I invented those little three-leaf clover wire link things, so no-one else better steal the idea from me ;).

Well done if you got through that mental meandering by the way. You have succeeded where others have yawned and given up.

Here a picture of a bracelet to wake you up. Beads by Beaujolais Beads