I was going to make this “N is for None: the number of beads that turned out as I planned,” but then I remembered that my eyeball bead turned out exactly as I planned. W00t!
So, I went with nimble: agile, resourceful, clever, easily changing course. I have had to be pretty nimble during my beadmaking and just go with the flow several times.
For example, the hawk skull was supposed to be a bead but turned into a pendant. Although the change wasn’t planned, it wasn’t exactly a surprise either. It was my first attempt at making a bead, so I knew that I might not get it right. And I didn’t. So, I’m glad that I had the backup plan and that I can still wear the hawk skull as a pendant.
My bird feeder bead was redesigned halfway through when I kept breaking one of the pieces and couldn’t glue it back together. That time, I didn’t have a backup plan. I really thought that I was going to have to scrap what I had done and start all over again! Thankfully, I took a day or two to think about it and came up with a backup plan that allowed me to reuse all of the pieces that I had already made with just a small change in the plan. In the end, I think the final design is even probably an improvement over the original.
My Hannibal bead went from three pieces to five when my original plan didn’t work out. Despite my template pieces appearing to join nicely, when it came putting together the three clay pieces they wouldn’t stay in place long enough to bond. Again, a day of thinking gave me a new plan (adding a fourth piece) and then another new plan (adding a fifth piece) and finally the plan that worked (making a ring to give it more stability and a solid base to attach the five pieces to).
Then, there are the ones where I only start with half a plan and “plan” to make up the rest as I go! For my Christmas traditions bead, I knew that I didn’t want too many spaces between each piece. And, I knew that it would be hard to figure out exactly how the pieces would look together until they were on the curved base. So, I planned half of the bead, put it together, and then figured out what pieces I was going to make for the rest of the bead.
Perhaps I should have called this “None: the number of beads that I’ve had to bin despite only having plans for only half of them” :D
Are you good at flying by the seat of your pants? Or do you get stressed out if you don’t have a plan to follow or if you have to deviate from your plan?
Life is like that, isn’t it? Always demanding us to be flexible and ready to improvise. I know I’ve had to change course mid-way through hundreds of times!
– Chicky @ http://www.mysteriouskaddu.com
It is certainly much easier to get through life if you can go with the flow a bit :) But, so often we are conditioned to fix our mistakes rather than learn from them.
I like the way you adapted when your original plan didn’t work as intended. These pieces are lovely, Tracy.
Susan A Eames from
Travel, Fiction and Photos
Thank you, Susan :) I think that I am getting more comfortable with adapting as I go, so hopefully I can always find a way to finish my beads, even if they don’t follow the plan that I had at the start!
I’m definitely a plan as I’m going along, except when I’m not… I tend to live at the two ends of this spectrum, I either super plan, or go with the flow!
Argh, I guess depends what it is… harder question for me to answer than I first thought, will have a think as super tired from my “F” so bed soon!
Mars xx
@TrollbeadBlog from
Curling Stones for Lego People
I think I’ve determined that I’m a last minute planner for most things, so it looks like I don’t plan. Or perhaps I’m just not very good at it. :D
I hope that you managed to get a good sleep!
I am a pantser when I write, so I totally get your creative method – sometimes there is half a plan, sometimes barely even the idea of a plan :) It all comes together in the end.
Tasha
Tasha’s Thinkings | Wittegen Press | FB3X (AC)
:D I hadn’t seen the word pantser before, but it’s perfect! You are right, no matter if you plan or not, you get something in the end!