Thursday, January 19, 2012

Thoughtless Thursday

Little Rylee Jade - photo taken a couple of weeks ago on her first day home.

Have you ever sat down to write a letter to someone; you know you need to do it, you know you should ... must ... do it; but as you sit and look at the blank sheet of paper your mind is a blank? It may be a letter to dear, loving aunt Matilda who dotes on you, relishes your letters and to whom you've not corresponded with in far too long ... plus you really need to thank her for that thing-a-ma-bob that she sent you for your birthday ... have no idea what you'll ever do with it but it 's the thought that counts.

You begin to write; "Dearest Aunt Mattie - Hope you're fine. The weather here has been..." The words seem forced, contrived, so you crumple up that sheet of paper and start over again. Then you realize that though you adore auntie Mat, your heart and soul just are not in tune with your brain and it is impossible for you to write that much needed letter.

Well guess that has been me for some time now. Not just with blogging but with a number of other things as well. I've been playing an exasperating game of catch-up and find myself consistently falling behind. As they say; "The hurrier I go the behinder I get" !

Scattered across my work-table and desk-top are too many projects to count, all in differing stages of incompletion. Most are in need of an item such as a special focal item, a bead or beads, a certain size of jumpring or the right clasp. Frustrating! Annoying!
About the only thing I've completed in the last couple of weeks was a bird's nest necklace.  It was my first attempt at making a bird's nest. 
I found that my vast stash of beads was lacking in small oval, egg-shaped beads. The best I could come up with were these 8 mm x 6 mm oval, Dalmatian jasper beads.  Some eggs do have spots, don't they ?  
Once the nest was complete it needed a necklace, however all the chains in my supplies were either the wrong size or the wrong color.  This brass tone wire (called "Jeweler's Bronze")from Fire Mountain Gems is not the easiest to match, especially where chain is concerned.  And the color of the Dalmatian jasper was a pain to match with seed beads.  I now own at least half-a-dozen more tubes of seed beads, all in tones of beige or tan and not one of them is a dead ringer for the gray-beige background of the jasper.  I ended up settling on a
gold-lined cream.  Not perfect and in the photos it looks white but is really a soft cream-tone, very neutral.
It took several tries to finally come up with a combination of beads that complimented the bird's nest and that would fit through its bail (I should have used a larger mandrel to form the bail on). 
 Next problem was to find a clasp and, naturally, nothing that I had on hand matched.  A hook and eye clasp would have to be handmade out of 20 gauge wire of the same color; "Jeweler's Bronze".
So it's done; one project, out of far too many, that's finally complete.  Funny thing is that my first attempt at making a nest turned out fairly well though not perfect,  my second attempt however ... well let's just say it looks more like the wire in my wire scraps jar.

12 comments:

  1. I love the nest and especially the speckled beads. It's different from everybody else. If I have too many projects going at once, I start feeling overwhelmed and nothing gets done. So I don't work on more than 2 projects at a time. Then I feel like I accomplished something when I finish one!

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  2. I love your bird's nest necklace. The beaded chain is a nice options and speckled eggs are perfect!

    I have lots of undone projects as well. It has been tough getting back into the swing of things after taking a couple of weeks off.

    Valerie
    Everyday Inspired

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  3. Rylee is adorable! I can see why you might be a little taken over at the moment keeping your finger on the family pulse instead of the writing world. No worries on not blogging but I know exactly how you feel in regard to finding the time to fit it all in. That's been my own chief complaint for months now! I love the necklace, the colors go well together and the eggs could be anything - alligators, dinosaurs, birds - that the literal translation is anything you want it to be. I think this necklace is stunning wearable art my friend!

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  4. I hear you my dear friend :)

    I have a desk, a sewing table and an antique dining table which I used to use as a cutting table in my office/sewing room and I decided to tidy up my sewing table with all best intentions, New Year and all that and where did everything go? I piled even more stuff on to the cutting table which I now have to rename the dump on table, LOL!!! :)

    I LOVE the photo of Baby she is so adorable :) I haven't held a newborn in such a long time. Give her a big hug from me :)

    Your new creation is beautiful, I love that you used coloured opals for the eggs, they work so well. Congrats on getting something completed, I think I have just made more work for myself :(

    I still haven't taken everything down from Xmas. I did threaten to wrap the Xmas tree in cling wrap and leave it up all year (He! He!)

    Have a lovely evening, cheers, T. :)

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  5. Love that nest those jasper are perfect eggs!!! I have been suffering from the same brain fog as you - nothing to say - which is hard to imagine I know lol ...sigh maybe it is the winter...I keep waiting for that burst of energy ....well we can wait together XOXO

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  6. First and foremist - congrats on your new granddaughter!My heart melts for her. I feel the same about writing to someone I should write, and cannot find the energy for it!
    Your jewelry is stunning!Beautifully made!

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  7. The speckled eggs are great. You did a great job on the clasp.

    Lori, of Pretty Things recently did a post in which she said when you comment say something more than "pretty" and a link to your blog. I commented that sometimes "pretty" is exactly what I want to say. To the point of your post, sometimes just a word or two is all that is required. Personally, I worry that I blog all to often that I am just trying to get all my stuff organized; but it is simply the truth at this time in my life.

    As for multiple projects- at least you have them started. The slab turquoise I am working on was purchased at least a year ago! All those things that get in the way are important too, that is why they get us side-tracked. Enjoy your accomplishments.

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  8. cute girl...Wish her lots of sunshine on her path...Have a great week ahead..

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  9. You could have fooled me. I wouldn't have known that was your first attempt at the nest design. The jasper beads do look like they may be real eggs!

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  10. Love the "egg" beads!! I've never seen anything quite like that. It looks like a project that would have taken a lot of patience!!

    I'm with you on the feeling behind lately. I feel like January is almost gone and I've accomplished not a whole lot of anything!! Where does the time go? First it was my husband getting sick (thankfully well now), then work has been extra, extra busy and my son who plays soccer for high school is in major practices, games and tournaments and since he doesn't drive yet, I'm the carpool queen!! Lol...oh well, deep breath and a new day begins!

    Have a great Tuesday!!

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  11. Oh she is so precious! Congrats to you and your family!
    Oh, reminds me of when we brought home our little one!

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  12. WOW that is gorgeous. Even forced to finish it has made you shine. Very organic and elegant all at once. I know the forced thing and it is hard to get over. This is a great post though!

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