I Am Still Learning...

 Some days it just doesn't pay to try to work in a new-ish medium.  Inspired by a new book with all kinds of fun projects in precious metal clay, I decided to sit myself down and create some new masterpieces.  In reality, the only thing I ended up creating was a big, sticky mess!  I guess I should read the directions again...

However, all is not lost, because I discovered something important about working with precious metal clay: unlike chain maille, which I can work on for a short time, and put down when I get sick of it, metal clay is a medium that demands your complete attention.  Put aside all other endeavors for a while; you'll need to concentrate on this one thing, and nothing else.
 
So far, working with the clay has been a bit hit or miss for me.  Sometimes everything goes very smoothly, and the pieces turn out just the way I want them; other times (like today!) not so much.  I'm not prepared to give up on it just yet.  For one thing, I have a pretty fair amount of money invested in it - there's the kiln, the packages of clay, the molds, stamps, cutters and assorted equipment that I have stashed away, but the most important thing (I think) is that I can't allow this stupid, stupid stuff to defeat me!

I've managed to make a few pieces that I'm pretty happy with; these are the most recent ones:

In the immortal words of Michelangelo: Ancora imparo (I am still learning).  I guess I'll try it again another day...