Lemonade from Lemons

I did start with a sketch.  But not a very detailed one.  This lilac necklace idea was so exciting I really didn't want to spend time in two dimensions with it.  I wanted to get right to the 3D part I love!  So although I thought about color, I didn't ever sketch in color.  I think that would have changed my mind, but hindsight is always 20/20.  If I had REALLY considered how busy this piece would be with 4 colors, TONS of texture, frenetic lines, and complex shapes, I'd have RE-considered.  But I didn't.

I didn't enter Bead Dreams last year because I was involved in a complex and time consuming piece with Hannah Rosner for the ISGB exhibit Convergence II, Adorning the Past, Present and Pretend.  So this year, I thought the time was ripe to collect a second rejection letter, and I planned to do that with the lilac piece I had envisioned.  Somehow, my day job got really busy.  So I worked in fits and bits and starts, assembling parts and making components, without ever laying them all out together to see how I was doing.  That would have helped too.

I arrived at the end of March with 72 4-petaled lilac flowerettes in three colors, 9 lilac leaves in various sizes and two different neckstraps, neither of which I was in love with.  The little flowerettes and leaves reminded me of my son's video game, Pikmin.  They seemed to flock on my bench like the little "floral militia" commanded by Captain Olimar.  If you have seen this game, I bet you know exactly what I mean.

Unfortunately, when I assembled the three colors of flowerettes into blossoms and laid them out together it was painfully obvious that that multi-colored blossoms were an unfortunate choice. There was way too much going on. (Note to self, next time, sketch in color!!!)

But all was not lost. There was the Etsy Beadweavers April challenge, with the serendipitous theme, "Spring Around the Corner" on the horizon, and I could take one of pretty awesome  blossoms and make a simpler necklace. So I put one together, using the least disliked neckstrap, but drat, I just didn't like that strap, (see the little ripple on the left side where it does not want to lay flat?) plus the blossom was not proportionately long enough.

So I listed it, because I know I am obsessive-compulsive and fairly hard on myself, and it wasn't terrible. It had potential for greatness. :o)  And then I began a race with the clock to make a new neckstrap I could like, and a longer blossom configuration, requiring several more flowerettes.  And, pwhew, at 10:30 ish on the evening of the 5th of April, minutes before the entry deadline, I posted the new piece, and I am SO happy with it.  And best of all, I can now make two more, a lovely pink one, and a pale lilac one.  Lemonade from lemons!