So, two options. Give up on the goal I set for myself to participate every month or break my cardinal rule of #don'tbeadtired (because it only ever leads to errors, broken beads, crappy designs and frustration). Then I thought, "surely I can rally and finish ONE pair of earrings that are already halfway complete."
Sigh.
I should have known. There's a reason I made this rule for myself!
I was ONE KNOT away from a finished, perfect pair of earrings and yep, I managed to completely screw it up. And here's one thing about knotting on waxed linen cord...unpicking that knot is a BITCH!
So, back to my two options. Give up or post my earlier attempt at designing for this challenge which...while finished...is not my favorite thing I've ever made. There's something off about it and I'm not exactly sure what it is, but in the spirit of keeping up with my participation goal AND my technique experimentataion goals, I decided to go ahead.
Here's the inspiration picture - gorgeous zig zag nerite seashells.
And here's what I came up with. I'd already been playing around with linen cord techniques for an upcoming blog hop next week so I thought it would be fun to just adapt the color scheme to this challenge. I am happy with the cord part. The tops are white shell rings and I used 4 ply black waxed linen cord to tie half-hitch knots around the rings and after every 3 knots, I slid on a pink Miyuki glass teardrop bead.
As I said above, this is not my favorite pair of what I came up with - it's an earlier attempt and the cord work is fine, but something is not right with the balance of the bottom beads. Now that I'm looking at the photos, I think it might be the size proportion and the placement of the dots - they are kind of like wonky eyes looking at you.
The second pair really came out much better...until I ruined them by messing up the last knot on the bottom...so frustrating! Still, I am learning to overcome two of the things that are my biggest obstacles when it comes to trying new techniques: fear of wasting materials (because I have wasted YARDS of cording over the last couple of weeks LOL) and fear of imperfect results (because here I am posting a less-than-desirable result for the world to see).
Cheers to personal growth LOL! Hopefully, next month will be less about growth and more about good design.
Here's the link to the rest of the participants.
KJ
12 comments:
So many things about your post resonated with me. I know well that frustration of staring at a a tableful of beads, trying countless efforts, and then feeling the pressure of completing that last step that makes or breaks a project, especially on a tight deadline. One thing about working with linen is that unpicking a knot is an exercise in total frustration. That said, I love your half-hitch knot idea. It captures the B&W stripes on the shells perfectly. I know those memorable wonky eyes will be following me all day. :) Oh, and wasting materials? I share that same fear. I am beginning to learn that learning and growth is so much more important than perfect design. Thanks so much for sharing your process and your cute earrings. (Seriously, those eyes are stuck in my head.) :)
I love what you did with the cording and seed beads! It looks great, and your technique looks already perfected! I think I'm going to have to try that myself.
Love, love that you share your thinking and process in creating jewelry. And frustrations, too! I really love the beading design around the top component!! Great response to the striped shells.
Well, I think your earrings are really lovely, I love the knotting, your choice of beads. They really appeal to me. As for knotting, I have quite some training to do and what you came up with, seems perfect to me!
I think they turned out awesome!! I know what you mean though, sometimes things just don't go smoothly and it can be very frustrating. I'm happy you shared them with us!!
At least you remembered this hop. I keep wanting to join in but am always a day late. It is stuck in my head that this hop is at the end of the month.
I have struggled, too, in overcoming fear of waste and fear of failure. All I can say is that the more you share like you did today, the easier it gets. Besides that, I really do like your earrings!
Seems we were thinking the reveal was next week... the cording on the donut..genius..your earrings turned out fantastic!
Really cool and unique earrings. I love the stitching and also the beads you used. They totally draw me in to that photo. Love them!
Great idea using the cording and beads! You nailed the colors and shape.2
lovely pair like the earrings..
So great that you shared your process...many of us can relate...and I did get my post up, a week late. I think your earrings are fun and your knotting looks great! Eyes watching me are now stuck in my head after your comment but other than that...great job!
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