Thursday's Worktable

Some days are good for planning. Some days are good for doing. And some rare, wonderful days are good for both.

...And then there's today, which is apparently good for absolutely none of those things. Argh. 

For example: this morning, I designed and made a bracelet. Not only did the design flop, but I didn't plan the execution well enough. I cut the leather too short, making it a one-wrap instead of a three-wrap. I started off using the wrong color thread, and even changing to the right thread didn't save it. Not even coming up with a clever name for the design made it worth it. Just, no.

Two-tone Czech glass, olive jade serpentine, a vintage button--beautiful possibilities!
And, no, I'm not going to show you the design that flopped... mostly because I
disassembled it before taking a picture, and am not putting it back together.

Undeterred, I then designed and started another bracelet--but had to stop after the first inch. The bead holes are super inconveniently small, and the thread keeps getting tangled, and my fingers apparently have the dexterity of mud. I. Keep. Dropping. Things.

Bah.

At least I think the design will be lovely, once I'm able to wrestle my way through the rest of it.

Mother-of-pearl shell beads, black leather,
and a vintage button that matches perfectly.

To be fair, though, I've been having a lot of creative success recently... I suppose I shouldn't complain. 

In fact, I've been having so much success that there are two projects that I've made this week that deserve their own separate write-ups. (Those who have been following my Instagram have a heads-up on what those two projects are.)

So, before I go work on those entries (and tomorrow's reveal!), I'll leave you with the other two projects that I have made this week (not today) that have not totally flopped--either in design, or in execution:

Making my first wrap bracelet that used 6/0 seed beads instead of my
normal 4mm rounds--and it turned out surprisingly well!
Will work better with more uniform beads, but still--not bad!

Simple yet elegant design, made with delicate vintage Japanese acrylic.

So, there you go: an honest look at today's worktable. After all, no matter how much we work at this, the creative process can still be messy, and imperfect, and even frustrating at times. 

And that's okay. 

As for me, I'm just going to take a break, have some coffee, clean the house a bit, work on tomorrow's reveal post, and then get back to it--and remember that it's okay to have off days.

I hope everyone is having a lovely Thursday, whether it be perfect or not!