Art Elements Design Challenge and Blog Hop - Swirl

This hasn't been my month for different reasons. Life got in the way and ate up my motivation, my concentration and my creativity.
It would have been easier to send an email in time saying sorry, can't do it this time. On the other hand I can be so stubborn. I've got this. Some light stretching, shaking my head free from the cobwebs, grabbing my wire and ... hm, can you also hear that cricket in the background? And where's that tumbleweed coming from regarding the fact I'm not even in a desert? Oh, dust bunnies. Wait, just how long have I been sitting here with that wire in my hand??

It's strange that swirls - the topic for August at the Art Elements Design Challenge and Blog Hop given us by Marsha - didn't make me jump all over the place with ideas. You know that I love to make tentacles for example which could have been one way out of this dilemma, but this time not even they helped me out. I drew a complete blank.
So I started making a little spiral hoping it would awaken some creative spark - today, on the day of the reveal! - , and there it was.
I had been admiring wire woven vessels for a long time. Mary Tucker's work was one of the first one of that kind that caught my eye. 
Basket weaving translated into wire fascinated me and I made some very feeble attempts long before I even contemplated diving deeper into the wire weaving world. Maybe it was time for another one, hopefully not that feeble this time.

This is a prototype or maybe a WIP. The piece is closed from both sides, so it's not like a basket, more like a chunky and rather heavy button. I'm not sure yet if I want to use it in a piece of jewelry or if I'm going to keep it as a reminder and as an inspiration to keep going and trying to make this work in my way. One thing I know, I will not be able to put it on my desk or Gundel will kick it round the place in no time! She already has that look in her eye ...
As you see I haven't put a bail on, I haven't oxidized, it just has been a bit of wire play for now, but who knows what's going to happen next? :-)

Other participants in the Challenge have not been quite as unmotivated or uncreative as I have been, so please go by their blogs and see what they have come up with. It's what I'm going to do myself now, and I do believe that they have to offer a big inspiration boost!

Guests
 
Alison -  Anita - Cat (aka me) - Caroline - Jill - Kathy - Karin - Kimberly - Mischelle -  Raven - Sarajo - Susan - Tammy 

AE Team Members
 
Cathy -  Caroline -  Claire - Jen - Jenny and Lesley - Laney - Marsha - Susan

Do you know ...

.... how difficult it is to stay concentrated and not lose patience when a very loud cat is sitting in front of a closed door?

When I started to work with polymer clay, the upstairs kitchen became off-limits for the furry inhabitants of this house. As the fur tends to creep in under the door, it's hard enough to fight it off without having a wild chase around the table with hair flying in all directions.

The fact that there is a closed door is particularly hard for Ponder and Esme. It starts with a soft sound that changes into a yodel (Pon) or wild squeaking (Es) pretty quickly. Ponder takes it even harder than his sister. Even when he hasn't been around me for an hour or longer, he seems to feel that I'm behind "The Door" suddenly and he just won't have that.

So imagine me trying to roll clay with my hands while nerve-wrecking yodelling comes through the door, so loud that I'm afraid the neighbors will get me for torturing my cat. Imagine me trying to poke holes into about 40 beads while the yodelling starts to be accompanied by scratching on the door, not to mention the attempt to climb the door. Yes, Ponder walks up doors and it's a very distinctive sound.
I'm weak and can't stand that for very long which is the reason why it took me a few days to make all the beads.
I had started with the big focal one. The smaller ones are not as clear in their pattern, but that is why a focal is, well, a focal.


The necklace is not finished yet. I still need to string the beads and add a clasp, but I was curious to see what it might look like.


And now I have a purring black cat in my lap, happy that I came back out of the mysterious room, back to him, to serve him, in good days and in bad days. Doh.