I Found My Marble

Sometimes I make actual paper lists, sometimes they're digital, sometimes mental. Either way, I generally have a list of things I want to or have to do, and sometimes I'm even quite serious about it.

Take this.

It's the start (and I'm more than halfway finished) of a sample of a new colour-way for an old kit, and my first beading priority for the weekend was to finish it. First thing on my list of Beading To-Dos for the weekend.

Really.

It's a little, um, repetitive and while there are times when repetition and rhythm are just the ticket, sometimes I need something more.

Not unlike others of my ilk (those who like to Make Things), from time to time I acquire odds and ends which seem as though they could be useful at some point in the future, like those mesh bags of glass globs or glass marbles that are supposedly good for keeping flower arrangements, well, arranged.

(And seashells. You'd think. Less of a good idea for me, as it turns out, but perhaps there'll be a story in that someday).

I've used less of them than I imagined I would when I bought them, but there's still time. I'm not dead yet.

Instead of the spiral sample, I thought it might be fun to cover a marble.

It only took two tries to get it right, not that there isn't room for improvement. Fringe beads seem like they might not be out of place, for example.

I wanted to finish it, so I made a loop for it to be a pendant, but my first thought was that it would add wonderful heft to a lariat.

Also, I'm clearly stuck riffing with tone-on-tone. The faceted beads are bronzey-golden, but the seed beads are all variants on pinky-beigey-burgundy, and nothing is hugely darker or paler than anything else. (I said "hugely". That didn't mean that there was no difference at all).

What you can't see in any of the photos I took (note to self: take more better) is the view from the top, as you'd see when wearing it. The place where the stem connects to the swell looks like petals when viewed from the wearer's perspective, attractively and appealingly so, which to me is an added bonus.

I like the things I make to look good (and by "good" I mean "good to me", because really that's all I've got) when worn. So a necklace should sit nicely on the chest or at the base of the throat or wherever, a bracelet should flatter the wrist, earrings should dangle appropriately, that sort of thing.

Where feasible, I want the wrong side to look good too, so if a pendant flips over (assuming it has a back and a front), it shouldn't look like a mistake. In the same way, when I used to make more of my own clothes, I wanted the inside to look good too; I always wanted to be sure I wouldn't be embarrassed by the seams. The lining of a jacket should be functional (so that the jacket's shape is maintained as you wear it) as well as pretty. Floral! Paisley! Silk madras!

For example.

Something pleasing to the eyes of the wearer while being worn fits nicely with that aesthetic in my opinion.