Not like riding a bicycle

Last week's push to get new old items listed (as in, items I've had sitting around for months and never photographed to list) has me inspired to make new pieces and perhaps even get on a reasonable regular schedule of putting out new stuff. I like having a lot of items in my store, but I really feel like I want more there. More range. More variety.

I subscribe to Wire-Sculpture.com's email lists and one of them sends a new jewelry pattern every couple of weeks. This week's is a lovely snowflake that incorporates feet upon feet of wire, a handful of Swarovski crystals and seed beads and a lot of coiling. I remembered really enjoying the coiling I did on one of my pendants, so I picked up the project with gusto!

Well, I don't have much silver wire in stock right now. The pattern also calls for some white wire and I never keep colored wire around. I'm not a huge fan of it. I also don't keep Swarovski crystals around, though I tend to have a few here and there leftover from other projects. But I don't really have anything on hand that reads "snowflake" color wise. So, I've decided to improvise and use some steampunk looking brass and copper beads I've been itching to use and make use of the feet upon feet of copper wire as well as some brass wire I've recently picked up.

Well, I'm now nearly 8 hours into making this pendant and I'm realizing that I'm having to reteach my hands how to work with tools. I'm too used to doing everything with my hands themselves. They need to remember how to have a pair of pliers in each of them doing what they need to do. I've been using my third hand tool a ton as well, particularly when I need to be holding on to two ends of wire as well as keeping two links positioned so they can be lashed together. I've work hardened a lot of ends to the point that they snap before I'm ready to cut them. It's been a wee bit frustrating at times and is going a lot slower than I anticipated. But the challenge is really good to get me back in the groove of things. As soon as I finish this piece, I'll throw together a bunch of lamp pulls, I think, to cover the other end of the spectrum (and so I can feel like I'm accomplishing something).

Even if it's frustrating and even if it's someone else's design, I'm happy to be creating jewelry again.