We had our bead group meeting on Saturday (sorry to be reporting so late but I have been fussing with Lulu.com about how to publish my tanka poems) and we had a very productive time. Barbara Rice demonstrated transferring laser-print images to clay (never have we had such a professional demo!) and we got fairly good results from the beginning. However, our ovens (we had three) all seemed to go wild and some batches got burnt into crisps and others just got too brown. Here I was working with a photo of me when I was seven. I had trouble with the paper sticking to the clay and when I tried to rub it off, the toner smeared and I really look like the ratty kid I was.

I learned a neat new way for make a bail from Barbara and really liked the result.

From the meeting the month before Barbara had brought an example of a way of wire crocheting that I tried to quickly learn from her but only ended up with a birdnest of wires. However, Judy picked up the technique and really ran with it. She had 8 or 9 pieces that she covered with wire cages that really looked great! I wish I had a photo because she really took the idea in hand and made it work for her.

At the end of the meeting this time some of gathered around while Judy and Barbara tried to teach us how to really do the stitch. I think the next meeting will be another attempt - thank goodness.

I came home and tried to duplicate what I had done at the meeting and fussed and bent wire and myself out of shape all evening. After I gave up and went to bed I woke at 3 a.m. with an idea. I am able to do something but I suspect my method (basically crocheting without making the second pass-through) is not like the way others are doing it.

I was able to make a bracelet sort of like the one Barbara had made.

Then I tried another one with a thicker wire I had and it just got uglier and uglier. I began to think about our group having a challenge contest for the "ugliest bracelet" and realized I could not sponsor a contest I was sure to win with this one. I tried everything I knew how to do and nothing could rescue it!

Yesterday afternoon then I was feeling a bit blue (with so many failures who is surprised) and I decided to really appreciate the panel I had finished last week. So I pinned it into a black box and let myself delight in it. A good thing for me to do.

Also I got an email from Arbel at Fire Mountain and he said the photo-shoots of my two necklaces went very well and they were pleased with them and ready to mail the necklaces back. I started a new one last night and for the first time, did it all in peyote. The good thing about peyote is how easily it is to rip it out - which I did and then at midnight started a new one.