The VERY belated bday bracelet

Mom's bday was Feb. 6th. I had the great idea to make her a bracelet using gold mica shift beads. She wears yellow gold and some sterling...so I thought gold clay would be great for her daily wardrobe.

Oh wait! Let me back up a bit more. I recently experimented with mica shift tile beads and came up with this bracelet for myself:

It was one of those morphed ideas that turned into my most favorite thing I've ever made. Since they were my first tile beads, the thickness was an experiment. They were almost too thin. Drilling was tricky so as not to crack the beads. And I could not afford to ruin any beads drilling...not when it takes an hour to make each bead (and clay time is in short supply for me)!
ANYWAY...point is: I judge all new beads against these for the cuteness factor. But wanted future beads to be a little thicker.

Now back to Mom's bracelet. I made very pretty gold beads and decided to add turquoise as the accent color.

I did not love it. So I asked my friend as PCC
for help. They suggested black crystal rondelles. So I ordered some. In the meantime I found these beautiful 6mm cathedral beads and gave them a chance:

Didn't like it either. So finally the black crystals arrive. The picture does not do them justice...they are simply elegant.

But I STILL don't like it! Not to mention...the bracelet is an INCH TOO SHORT. Aaron bought me a new baby bench grinder. I was using it to polish the gold beads this past week. I lost control of one bead and, well...you know what happened. PING! VROOM! BAM!! The screaming astroid bead got damaged during re-entry. Damn it.

Yes, I could make one.more.bead. But I'm not gonna. I'm sick and damn tired of these gold beads! I've decided the problem is the thickness. They are too chunky. Too chunky for an elegant, glistening, swirly design. Do you know WHY I know this??

Because I made another set just like them, only in beautiful baby blue. They are so pretty. I mixed the color specifically to go with these cool tortoise shell glass window beads. Brown and baby blue...very cool color combo. Right?!? Wrong! Not when the pretty blue beads are TOO DAMN CHUNKY!! See:

I am so design challenged. It's driving me nuts. I'm getting rid of these two sets of beads. The beads are great! I know they can make beautiful jewelry in the hands of someone with imagination. And it ain't me! I'm going back to the drawing board. I'm going to find the perfect thickness. Thick enough for easy drilling....not too thick to look chunky.

Whew. I feel better now that I've spewed and rambled on about this very un-important topic!
(p.s. click any of the pics for a larger image)

Back in the saddle

I started this blog to host a weekly recipe swap. That idea flopped, floundered and died. But oh well. No biggie. It was not my first bad idea...won't be the last. :)

I had also used this blog to talk about my clay work. Almost every item I make has a story behind it. Not always interesting stories...but stories nonetheless. Personally, I find it fascinating how the stream of conciousness idea works. Ideas and thoughts sprout new ideas, and they morph into new ideas, and maybe because of special circumstances they change again, and so on. This is how most of my clay things come to life. In my sketch book they start out completely different. Perhaps the journey to the finished products will only be interesting to me. But again...no biggie. That's why I love journaling. Looking back and reading about what once was and how it came to be.

With that in mind...I'm going to go crop/edit/and upload a couple new pictures. I'm frustrated with a current idea and I need to talk about it. :)