The Three Ps

I like playing around. I normally have very little time to play around, and, if I'm honest, little time to do the whole PPP thing, you know the one, practise, practise, practise. And that's okay...sometimes. Sometimes, it's okay to just do what you find easy for a while, to settle, to gain confidence, to establish yourself. Sometimes, you need to play. Nobody will ever see those beads, they're colour combos that you thought might be worth trying, the first goes with a new press. If you try it once or twice, then move on to something else...that's playing. And sometimes, you need to play.

But sometimes, you have to practise. There is an idea in your head, a bead that you see so clearly, you are convinced if only you lit your torch, you would hold it in your hands the next day. How can you not - you see it so clearly?

First, I made the murrini. And I have to say, hurrah, it turned out pretty much exactly as I wanted it. Apart from the fact that I'd done a black outline on it, which grew ad infinitum on the bead - blob-headed geishas! So, I ground the edge of my titchy-tiny murrini, to see if that would work in principle. Huzzah (this is why the face is a bit grimy, but at least now I know it's worth to do another one! And thus started the PPP - colours for the cherry blossoms, for the dress, the obi (belt). Research into layers of dress, right over left, left over right...translating these into stroke order. What to melt in, what to leave raised. Which colour for a background.

This is the bead I'm happiest with. It's not perfect, but it's the result of a lot of PPP - don't be surprised if there aren't too many beads newly up for sale this week-end! I've got some more PPP to do ;o)