Rework

Not wanting to tweak a new design after completing it for the first time is rare.

Sometimes the first time is hideous with germs of a good idea, and sometimes it's decent needing quite a bit of work, and occasionally all I really need to do is up my game on colours and figure out a good way to explain what I did (or do it in a less convoluted way - I kid you not) so that I can teach it.

This one falls in the middle of the spectrum.

While the colours all go well, they don't integrate throughout the piece - the gunmetal-and-pink layer is almost completeley disconnected from everything else except the tippy-top where the jump ring is attached, and the silver-lined beads while good and sparkly don't help define the shape.

Plus for instructions the hotos show nothing useful to someone trying to figure out what's going on in a picture.

While more shiny may have made for a glitzier piece, I'm happier with the way the second version turned out. The use of contrasting seed beads in more places, and fire-polished beads that accent rather than blending help to unify the different elements.

Shaping and slightly shrinking the outer layer makes for a more attractive (in my opinion), curvaceous and flirty design.

Much as I sketch and preplan, sometimes you just have to do it wrong first to get it right later.

Oh and by the way, I'll be at Bead and Button again this year - yay! This is the lineup (so far - things change sometimes):

Triangle Slide

 Cru

 Dangerous Buds

 Mace

Trivoli (again!)