Day of the Damned part I

This is the project I was working on. 

We've all had them, those days when nothing we do goes right, those "Days of the Damned". A week ago today I had my day of the damned. It started with a project I wanted to complete but no matter how much I tried it just would not come together in the way that I had envisioned. It was reminiscent of watching a repetitious sports video replay: rewind (take apart) and replay (redo).   Rewind . . . replay . . . rewind . . .  replay.

On my 4th or 5th attempt I decided it was finally starting to work out but I would have to consider the piece I was working on as a prototype or a practice piece and start afresh with a new length of nylon beading thread as the old piece of thread was showing signs of fraying. 

Normally I keep my works in progress stashed on individual trays and usually my work bench will harbor at least two or three stacks of these trays. Without thinking, I lifted a stack of these trays in order to reach my bobbin of thread.

(These were not the trays that I had to move.  The top tray in the stack I moved held several little pots of teeny seed beads - size Delica #10's and  #11's  and Toho #15's - hundreds of seed beads in each little pot.)

 Naturally the top tray slipped off,  came crashing down on the floor and scattered teeny, tiny seed beads throughout my work room.  They probably would have gone much farther than my work room had it not been for the 4 walls that helped confine them, otherwise I sure some of them would be in Cucamonga by now.

 The next hour or two were spent on my hands and knees picking up seed beads. During this endeavor of hunting for wayward beads there were a few pieces of furniture that had to be moved in order to retrieve beads that were hiding behind or beneath them.  One such piece of furniture was a rolling storage unit. 

(Yes, I confess it usually does have that much clutter on top of it.)

I pushed it out as far as possible, which wasn't very far, and then I squeezed in behind the cabinet to collect the handful of beads that had found their way there.  As I attempted to extract myself from behind this cabinet I somehow, someway managed to snag an unfinished necklace that had been laying on top of it. 

Exactly how it happened I'm not sure, perhaps Gremlins, but the necklace shot off the top of the storage unit and most of the beads were propelled like buckshot across the room.  The beading cable, with only a small fraction of the beads left on it, dropped pathetically to the floor at my feet. So, back on my hands and knees to pick up more beads all the while hoping that I could remember the order in which they had been strung.

By now I realized that fate had not intended me to complete any of the many unfinished projects which cluttered my work bench, at least not today, and therefore I decided to divert my attention to photographing some of my finished pieces of jewelry instead.

Since it was a bright sunny day and my camera records colors more truthfully outside in bright sunlight, I proceeded to set up a temporary photo studio on my back patio. Dragging out a wooden, folding TV table, I began bringing out a few earrings, some props, sheets of different colored paper, a ruler (for size comparison) and of course my camera.

Unfortunately Mother Nature would not comply.  She was in a windy mood and her brisk breezes keep blowing the papers off the TV tray.  When I placed a pair of earrings on the rim of the glass she insisted upon jiggling them about mercilessly. Hard to get a sharply focused photo when the object won't be still. 
Then there was the sunshine, the sun kept playing hide and seek with the clouds. First it would be brilliant sun light, then slowly the light would darken and everything was in shadow. Time and time again the sun taunted me, darting in and out from behind the clouds until I finally admitted defeat and began bringing all the paraphernalia for my photo shoot back inside. 

I vowed I would try again in the late afternoon, perhaps then the wind would die down and maybe there would be less clouds. As I picked up the glass,  I forgot I had a pair of earrings still clinging to its rim and suddenly I heard the heart dropping sound of an earring as it clinked to the floor of the concrete patio. Looking down I expected to see it laying at my feet but it was no where in sight.

 

 

Yes it was one of those days ! I spent at least another 30 to 45 minutes searching for that earring.  It had dropped and taken an impossible bounce, landing under the bushes that bordered the patio. Not only was the little devil under the bushes but it had buried itself under the leaves that covered the ground under those bushes.  So I was shifting through leaves and had almost given up hope of ever finding it when I suddenly caught sight of a faint sparkle.  Gently I brushed aside a few leaves and there it was. Well I had found it so at least one thing had gone right.

I will stop at this point and post part two of this horrid day tomorrow as this post is already far too long.   But if you've ever had one of those days please do leave a comment and share it with us.