Cages

When I was 10 years old, I painted my first piece of white ceramic. It was a little kitty about 4 inches tall and I had big plans for her! When I saw how awful my creation looked compared to what I had in my head I was devastated and inconsolable.

In time I learned to drag a nice bead of paint along with my brush and I painted many more ceramics at a later date, some of them I still have.

Now - I am finally matured and no longer have this overly dramatic response to failures! Hehe, just kidding! Ok, I don't fall apart over the first failed attempt...but if I apply myself to learn something and practice it over and over and still don't get results, a deep and unshakeable discouragement tends to set into my soul.

I've been going through this discouragement for several weeks now. When I sit to work with the wire, the smallest amount of discouragement or frustration is too much for me and I walk away. So nothing is getting done:(

So last night I came home and ate Pop Tarts for dinner. For those who don't know what Pop Tarts are, it is a breakfast pastry, with icing and fruit filling, warmed in the toaster. NOT a healthy dinner choice, or a healthy breakfast choice either!

Than I sat on the couch with some wire and said to myself "I think I will try to cage something". And I said back "Yeah right, for about 10 minutes you will".

Caging undrilled stones is my current nemesis. I worked at it some 6 months ago. And than several weeks ago I spent an entire week struggling with cages and had only yucky twisted wire for the trash bin at the end of that struggle.

So it was a big surprise to me that I actually made a tolerable cage and stuck with it for several hours. It has some flaws in the wrap, but I know I can smooth out my wrapping next time around:)

This cage was partially influenced by this Iza Malzcyk design http://www.izamalczyk.com/en/gallery-346-2295.html and also by researching through Dawn Blairs cages in order to understand the basics and beyond http://www.dawnblairjewelry.com/