Friday, April 13, 2012

When Designers Screw Up!

Sometimes things just don't go well...sometimes you just screw up :)

It's been a few days of things not going the way I want them to, it happens and I don't get upset about it, it's the nature of the beast for a designer.
But I thought it might be interesting if I showed you how I manage to screw up and at some point you'll see how I worked through it.

I'm doing a challenge....Layne's Legacy better known as BFAC or Beading For A Cure.  You buy a kit...which are limited and sell out super fast...and then create something which you will donate so it can be auctioned off to raise funds.  It's my first time and I was super excited to get the kit and see what we were given to work with.

I was thrilled with the colors...very in my comfort zone and decided I would make an evening bag.  So I started pulling things from my stash to add to it. Got all this done :)


And, have to say I'm loving it, I know the design will work and the only issue I was having was going to be parting with it.

Then I reread the challenge rules!!!

Silly me missed the part about only being able to add ONE other bead type...by this point I think I'd added four!

POOP!

So....this is set aside to be worked on when I have time and I had the brainwave that most of the beads in the kit are what it takes for my Lace Cufflette and I wondered if it would work with a multi-color palette.

Well..here it is, and though I like some things about it, like the design I worked into the lace I am not happy with it.  There are two things I really do not like....the bugles are too heavy....larger than the size I used and they just over power it. The other thing is the brick red...too much of it.

I designed the lace for 15/0s and I really think it needs to be that to really capture the lace quality.
And some of you may squirm when I tell you I will probably take my scissors to this but sometimes that's what you need to do.


There are really no mistakes if you learn something so I take this week as a school week :) 

I did receive my antiqued silver ear wires for the latest tutorial I'm working on (which would have been finished if I hadn't been doing the two things above).
So I did manage to finish the earrings and take the photos for the tutorial.

I had fun taking the pictures...I wanted to make the cubes float as if in space because they totally remind me of the Borg ship from Star Trek: TNG :)


The little box pendant can also be made as a ring box.
The tutorial is called "HoneyCube" and will be in my store next week :)


Quite the week!

17 comments:

  1. Mikki,

    Thanks for sharing projects that didn't come out the way you wanted them to. it's reassuring to know that even very good artists sometimes have bad days.

    I think the colors you added to the BFAC kit for the evening bag make all the kit colors glow. the brick red seems perfect when you add the peach color to it! I love the intense red of the cabs you selected for your evening bag, too. the only mistake in the evening bag intended for BFAC was missing that one little sentence in the instructions - everything you did is great. I hope you finish it.

    love the cube pave' earrings and box pendant. I'm still working patiently on the pave' bracelet, in between sessions of arguing with my quickbooks business files (ugh!!)
    Mary Alexander

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  2. Mikki I think we all have this type of learning curve experience at some point whether it is with beads or something else.

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  3. Talking it through with you Mary...really helped me see what was wrong. It was great to get an honest critique :) You rock! It's good to have someone who will tell you the truth about a design....I wasn't happy with it but was having a problem defining exactly what I didn't like. It's easy to just cut it up and start over but you have to do the analysis or you don't learn.
    Yes...we all have learning curves, we never should never stop learning, it keeps us young :)

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  4. Geetings Mikki, I like to write about my process as well, not just the successes. Thank you for sharing. I actually don't mind your lace bracelet with the larger beads. It reminds me of American Indian jewellery - probably the colours
    Cheers...Patrick

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  5. Hi Mikki - one can never stop learning or making mistakes to learn from. We who bead love to see that others are human too and we love to read about the trials and tribualtions. It makes you real from the other side of the world.Your mistakes are pretty cool though and I love the colours. Looking forward to seeing your original mistake completed at some stage. All the Best from NZ

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  6. I agree with Patrick - I would go further - I love it!
    Shame about the challenge piece - looks as if it would be great. x

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  7. Bravo Mikki. You are so right. The reality is, mistakes happen and things do not turn out the way we expect them to, and it's all good if we learn from it and go on. REALLY sad about the bag, because that was some great stuff you had going on there!!! But you will find a way through. Thanks for the interesting post and read.

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  8. Thanks guys :)
    The bag will be finished...it just has to go on the back burner. I will be picking it up to work on the striped fabric when I need to relax...there's a lot of it to be done. If I concentrated on finishing it I wouldn't get any income generating work done for weeks...lol! I am also about to start a VERY big project for a challenge....again a non-income generating deal so I need to make sure I balance everything workwise so I don't end up 'Homeless Mikki' :)
    More pavé coming....next is a square donut in two sizes :)

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  9. Unos trabajos espléndidos!!!

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  10. There are certainly a lot of details like that to take into consideration. That is a great point to bring up. I offer the thoughts above as general inspiration but clearly there are questions like the one you bring up where the most important thing will be working in honest good faith. I don?t know if best practices have emerged around things like that, but I am sure that your job is clearly identified as a fair game. Both boys and girls feel the impact of just a moment’s pleasure, for the rest of their lives.Carpet Cleaners In Allen

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  11. Hi Mikki,
    All the best for the 2012 battle !
    Ingrid

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  12. Hi Mikki, me again !
    I check your blog regularly and was a little bit worried, no signs from you in a while but then on a forum I just saw pictures of your new spiky designs, I love them ! Am going to buy the pendant/brooch right away !
    All the best,
    Ingrid

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  13. Good luck for round 2, love your purse !

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    Replies
    1. hi agree with you. its really good idea here and i say thankyou for sharing.

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  14. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  15. Hi,
    Will you please post a link to your Blog at The Beading Community? Our members will love it.
    It's easy to do, just cut and paste the link and it automatically links back to your website. You can also add Photos, Videos and Classifieds if you like. It’s free and easy.
    Email me if you need any help or would like me to do it for you.
    Please feel free to share as often and as much as you like.
    The Beading Community: http://www.vorts.com/beading/
    I hope you consider sharing with us.
    Thank you,
    James Kaufman, Editor

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