BTW: Practice and Patience
Custom Lanyard
My next door neighbor saw my Blue Iris Necklace when she was at my Artisan Home Party a couple of weeks ago. She asked if I could design a lanyard for her, using a similar design. “Sure, no problem.”, I said.
Blue Iris Necklace.
The Blue Iris Necklace had been part of Lori Anderson’s Bead Soup Blog Party, where participants had exchanged clasps and a pendant with another beader. Stringing the lanyard in a similar design was easy. The challenge came, unexpectedly, when it was time to create the clasp. My Bead Soup Blog Party partner had been Elisabeth Auld of Beads For Busy Gals. Elisabeth had made the clasp and pendant herself. But, really, I thought, how hard could the clasp be??? Meanwhile 5 clasps later…
This is the loop end of Elisabeth’s clasp. I wired on the iolite briolettes and the Swarovski crystals.
I tend to get impatient when I can’t master something as easily as I think I should be able to. The tricky part in this clasp, is that the hook portion has two parallel wires–or rather they are supposed to be perfectly parallel. Mine weren’t!
Over the years, my impatience has been tempered somewhat by the realization that what was once infuriating, becomes easy or at least easier, with repeated practice. Some of the things I do now, without a thought, such as making wrapped loops, were once formidable learning tasks. So, I made about 5 clasps, several of which got cut up and tossed in the waste basket. Here’s the final clasp.
Here’s the lanyard this morning, just before I attached the clasp.
All Done!
Custom lanyard. Lampwork glass by Beads and Botanicals, rock quartz, iolite, Swarovski crystal, glass
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Linda's Bead Blog & Meanderings 