Learning from Mistakes

During my recent class at Bead & Button, one of the students made an error in sizing for the two parts of a Garden Window pendant. It's an easy mistake to make. Concentrating on making the window opening the right size can lead to overlooking the outside dimensions of the front piece, which have to completely cover the box which holds the painted glass.

I suggested a quick addition to the student's window front to deal with the error: a rolled snake of clay all around the perimeter. It was such a nice addition that I had to make one myself once I got home.


It just goes to reinforce the idea that mistakes are good. They are simply design opportunities. Truly, the measure of an artist is not what you can do the first time out, it's what you can fix.

This piece is a good example of how one thing leads to another. It's a Garden Window pendant, certainly. But it got a bezel set moonstone cabochon, since I've been incorporating a lot of those lately into earrings. And the shape came from the painted fabric and stitched metal ornament I made when visiting fiber friends and the birdhouse I designed in Kate McKinnon's workshop. It all works together to move us forward.