Once more we play our dangerous game. A game called: Surely This Could Be Better. Today's piece is one I've just finished. It's a Diane Fitzgerald variation -- you're going to see a lot of Diane Fitzgerald variations, because making peyote shapes pleases my fingers in some wordless way.
There are definite pleasures here. The chain has weight to it and all those Delicas really catch the light, especially the hex beads. (Hex beads in hex shapes are just about my favorite thing in the world. You'll be seeing more of these as well.) The spectrum holds together nicely, considering I cobbled it together from the odds and ends of my stash. But if I were to make this piece over again, there would be some changes:
- Chain too short: A failure of planning, and probably the most frustrating error. This piece was envisioned as a solid necklace, long enough to do without a clasp. But once I got about halfway through the color spectrum, I found it would really be more like bracelet-length. But it's far too thick and chunky to lay properly as a bracelet -- I cobbled together a necklace extender to make it wearable, but it's a slapdash fix and it shows. Options: to make a rope or chain to support the hexagons, which doesn't appeal, or to make another length of the same chain and fix it together. Somehow this feels kind of ... gimmicky is the word, I think. And it would be a trifle too long. Perhaps the solution is to make a series of smaller hexagons on either end of the chain, which lead to a clasp? Something to consider when I'm in the Sulky Land Between Projects, where nothing feels inspired but my hands still want something to do.
- Abrupt transitions: I could have benefited from a mid-range purple between the dark purple and the lavender beads on the right. Again, I was using stash beads, but still. It stands out more because the green values modulate so pleasingly.
- Corners are jarring: An experiment that didn't quite work. I'd hoped that by making the corners borrow colors from the neighboring hexagon, the transition between shades would be smoother. Alas, it unsettles the transitions instead, particularly when the shades progress faster than they should. Next time, solid hexagons.
It's actually quite a hard thing, to look at hours of one's own work and find it wanting. Uncomfortable and breathless, like wearing a life vest that's too tight around the bust. But like the life vest, comfort is secondary to the purpose. So I learn what I can, and I hope to do better in the next draft.