Learning From Mistakes

Or not, as the case may be. I'll let you know in a couple of weeks or so.

Those who have been paying attention will remember that I made a backpack for my trip to Eastern Europe in 2012.

I planned it carefully but apparently not carefully enough because even though I made a pocket for the iPad, it was EXACTLY the right size which made it a tight fit for quick removal or insertion. Also the strapping I bought and carefully heat-sealed to prevent fraying turned out to be more than the backpack fabric (ultrasude) could handle and wore a hole by the end of the trip.

It's fixable, and it's in the pile of things it would be a good idea to fix but which in reality there's a very strong chance I never will.

Then when I went to Australia (as it turns out, to avoid the Polar Vortex) I made another bag which was more generous in its proportions and replete with all manner of pockets. I carefully chose a slipper lining fabric and it was going to be perfect, I tell you.

It was too big and floppy and the lining was black so I couldn't see anything inside it and besides it was so slippery and flimsy that you couldn't even tell what was pocket and what was not in the darkness of the interior so it turned out that it too was less than ideal. And then the handle broke on the way home when it was overstuffed due to stupid airline regulations in Australia limiting carry-on to seven and a half kilograms per bag (that's not much at all) which forced me to check my wheeled carry-on because I was carrying a painting which counted for one of my two items.

Loved the fabric though.

Decided to save it.

This one has an iPad pocket which is the right side with a little room to spare. The lining is medium purple, not black. The end of the strap is zig-zagged up the wazoo (no hard melted nylon!) and there's plastic canvas for stiffening. It doesn't have quite as many pockets as the last one, but I have seventy-leven little zippered bags that will serve perfectly well.

I also had to make a new pendant. Sharp eyes will notice a similarity to the simple little earrings from a week or two ago - I joined six of them, changing some of the beads to what my local bead store has in stock and adding a rivoli.

I'm not dissatisfied.

 Here's the first noodle (a series of experiments to see what's decent) with the earring (sans ear wire) for comparison. I really wanted to use mini-daggers but they were ugly no matter what I tried.

 The next one had a different arrangement of beads around the rivoli which I didn't like at all. I also tried to start it from the centre but that turned out to not be a very good idea (which you can't tell from the picture) so by the time I made the blue one, I pretty much had figured out.

 I didn't show you this one, did I? I finished it last week but apparently forgot to post a picture.

I don't have official or formal notification, but Bead & Button is going to be super-busy for me; I'm pretty psyched! My time in Milwaukee will be more efficient too with no wasted days between classes like the past one. I don't know exactly which classes I'm teaching though...