First, it's easier for me to make an anti-clockwise spiral than a clockwise one. That's probably a right hander thing.
Second, don't feel safe before you have actually and truly completely finished something.
Third, I can be such a brute.
Fourth, sometimes a spiral just wants to stay a spiral.
So what is all of this about then?
I made a pendant the other day using half of a cut up ammonite and some copper wire and it turned out pretty cool. The obvious consequence was to use the other half now.
Of course it didn't look exactly like the first one. I made a different weave, the little spirals and the bail were in different spots on the pendant and the spiral following that of the fossil was a little bigger and not curled in as much. Things looked fine. The pendant was almost finished.
Just tightening and flattening those wires a bit more - CRACK!
What the .... no. Nooooo. But ... seriously now?
Yup. Seriously. The ammonite had several cracks. I mean, hey, only a few tiny bits had fallen out. Good to know that my wire frame held it safely, but ... seriously now? Broken? Now??
Of course my first thought was to toss the whole thing. Out of my sight, you .... you treacherous fossil! It's no excuse that you are millions of years old.
On the other hand I know I overdid it. I pushed you to the edge and you couldn't handle the pressure. It was my fault.
I decided to keep it as a reminder - maybe hang it on the wall or put it on a chain and on one of my teddies - but of course I needed to do something to make sure the parts really stayed together.
*cue ominous music* Glue. Oh dear. You know that glue and I have a somewhat shaky relationship. Granted, there was nothing here that I could mess up except maybe glueing myself to the pendant.
I applied glue to both sides of the pendant and let it dry.
Funny, the glue on the front of the stone had settled in a little groove in the middle that I hadn't even noticed before. I generously applied more glue until the surface looked smooth. Three layers later I still have that little groove showing and decided to leave it that way.
Now I just hope I have really learned something from this! ;-)
I know how it feels, I have had several stones that broke with the final touching up from the wires.
ReplyDeleteYours does look ok now, it almost looks as if it is cast in resin. :)
No harm can come to it now it's wel protected. :)
For me it was a new experience, but there always has to be a first.
DeleteI thought of resin too, but then I remembered my first experience with it years back. I rather dealt with the glue trauma instead :-P