The Agony and The Ecstasy

Well, perhaps not quite.  But I'm referring to the absolute tedium of the groundwork when making a wire piece compared to the thrill of making all the little twiddly bits.  It's a real chore for me to spend hours wire-wrapping - especially if no beads are involved! - so I often save it until I have something to watch on the telly.  I can then concentrate on the good bit when the telly is off!

To me it's very much like decorating - you have to spend hours (sometimes days) preparing the walls and paintwork - rubbing down, filling, sanding etc. and it's only after all this hard graft has been done that you can get on with the fun bit - slapping the paint on.  Yes, I know that I can't have instant gratification, and I do understand that the finished result will only be acceptable if the groundwork was well-executed, but it still bores me! ;)

Case in point my latest piece below - wrapping that trellis took a lot longer than you'd think, and in my head I was already working on the vine, but you have to get the basic stuff right!  The trellis is in fact not perfectly shaped (I like to think of it as rustic) but I did spend hours wrapping the wretched thing.  And I'm quite pleased with the result.  After a lot of false starts and failed pieces this week, this one at least looks like it did in my head!

Back from a lovely holiday

I'm back (at work - boo hoo) from a wonderful week's holiday on the Norfolk coast - very relaxing, breakfast outside looking out at the sea, lots of beach walks and then later cups of tea and glasses of wine looking out at the sea again.  We had fabulous weather, with only a couple of rain showers during the week.

And naturally, I still found time to do some beading and wirework in the evenings!  The size 8 seed beads - a pressie from my Dad and Stepmum received the day before we left - were perfect for making bunches of grapes (perhaps inspired by the imbibing of one or two glasses of grape juice ...) 

And I also made a few wrapped bracelets with different beads and wires.

My dear hubby failed completely to assist me when I threw a whole bag of carnelian chips into the patio pebbles, and instead took photos of my misery (as usual).  He's never a whit surprised by my accident-prone carryings on, and yet it still seems to amuse him.  (I suppose I'm just lucky he didn't video it this time ...)