The Agony of Learning

If you are accustomed to reading the newest blog posting first, that isn't going to work with this posting sequence. As you'll discover, there is a very specific sequence to these three posts. I'm posting the last first and the first last. So please continue reading!

After starting improvisional bead embroidery and joining the Bead Journal Project I decided it might be a good idea to really learn beading. You know, the kind where the beads are attached to each other without any fabric. That is a skill, incidentally, I've had absolutely no desire to learn my entire life.

I bought a couple books (I'm not going to mention names because I will not recommend them ... at least not for learning!) and pulled out two colors of beads. Then I spent about three hours of total agony to create the top item in the photo. I want to stress that this was total agony! Trying to do this brought me close to tears. If I didn't have a persistence gene that refuses to accept defeat you would have heard my screaming from here to whereever you live!

Despite the agony, I tried again. A couple of hours produced the next sample. Better. Then I tried smaller beads (not pictured). I don't like doing samples so I decided I would try a project.

And that is the next posting.

-- Joanna