Learning from beading mistakes

I prefer to think of them as opportunities or experimenting rather than mistakes. When designing a piece of jewelry, I have been known to make a good number of starts and stops before I settle on a final design. Often, I leave little swatches of these initial attempts so that I can refer to them later. Some may think of them as UFOs (unfinished objects), but I think of them as my learning curve.

When I’m working out color combinations, I stitch a few different versions of the same design with different beads. When I’m working out the shape of a design, I use beads in colors that won’t end up together in the final design, but which allow me to clearly see the pattern I’ve made. It helps to use odds and ends and leftover beads so I don’t feel as bad about not using them in a finished project. The leftovers now have a job and I feel better about putting them to good use. I also feel good about going forward with my design after I’ve worked out the kinks.

I didn’t always view my projects this way. When I first started learning to bead, I thought of this type of experimenting as wasting my time — I wanted to finish every project I started so that I could have something to show as a result of my effort. After having finished plenty of projects (some more successfully than others), I’ve learned that the lessons I’ve gained from abandoning projects hold a value all their own.

In the end, my finished designs benefit from trial and error. Additionally, allowing myself to abandon a few attempts breaks the fear of messing up in the first place. If I allow myself to make mistakes, I have the courage to keep practicing my beadwork and to try new techniques.

If you want to read more about experimenting with beads, check out Associate Editor Anna Elizabeth Draeger’s newest answer in Ask Anna, as she makes test swatches of beads to determine the finished size of a graphed project.

For even more discussion about jewelry design, read Maggie’s Musings.

Comments

Rebecca wrote re: Learning from beading mistakes on Tue, Mar 3 2009 3:59 PM Thanks for that revelation. It's good to know that an accomplished beader makes stops and starts before settling on a final design. I tend to do that a lot and have wondered if my tendency to change my mind about colors, beads, and methods before really getting started on a project was a weakness. I feel relieved. Is there anyone who always gets it right the first time?

Jean from beadingprojects.org wrote re: Learning from beading mistakes on Tue, Jul 5 2011 10:45 AM I especially liked the idea of using contrasting beads to help you see the pattern you are developing for your stitch. I too felt everything had to be useful and perfect but mistakes do help teach me what not to do or send me in a different direction.