Everyone once in a while a new design just sort of comes to me, but most of the time it's not that easy. I've been playing around with a new micro macrame pattern for a few weeks now and I still don't feel like it's "right". I started with a sort of knotted ripple design that I used in between the diamond sections in this piece:
And I like that section a LOT! But the diamond part is too similar to other designs I've done and felt lazy, so I started experimenting.
I tried a knotted shape (top of the left piece) but that overwhelmed the new part, so I tried beads (bottom left) which just looked sloppy. I tried reversing it (top right) but that ended up with no structural support. I tried a combination of knotting and beads (bottom right) which wasn't bad, but again felt like it detracted from the ripple design.
I ended up going tack to the concept of reversing the knotting but this time added an outline row of knotting to keep the design together. See what I mean about it not being an easy process? It may not look like a lot, but the hours involved in brainstorming and actually knotting all of these options really add up. By this point I was feeling like I might be onto something, so I tried it again to test it out (and used red just because I never do):
I like it, but I'm just not convinced it's perfect yet. I think I will try again leaving out the beads along the edges and pulling those "corners" into a more rounded shape. This pattern is using up the cords at wildly different rates, too, so I will need to try to figure out which cords need to be longer at the beginning and which can be shorter. I don't mind the excess cord so much as I just try to use it up in another project, but it seems much more professional for the tutorial if that doesn't happen. This isn't an easy thing, by the way: I either have to try to track each cord through to the end or make another piece using different colors of cord so I can see where they go.
And all this happens before I can even start making the design into a tutorial or class, which is a circus all by itself (check out this post if you missed it). PS: this is why it bothers me when folks copy my designs without purchasing them or post them on share sites. It's like they're stealing a little part of my soul, I swear.
Meanwhile, though:
Shoe doodles! I can only focus on one thing for so long before I start to get bored (and/or frustrated) so this week I've been playing with a new project - drawing and coloring on shoes!! I'll tease you with this in-progress photo, but if you want to see the finished product, you'll have to pop over to the Love My Art Jewelry blog tomorrow!
Meanwhile, though:
Shoe doodles! I can only focus on one thing for so long before I start to get bored (and/or frustrated) so this week I've been playing with a new project - drawing and coloring on shoes!! I'll tease you with this in-progress photo, but if you want to see the finished product, you'll have to pop over to the Love My Art Jewelry blog tomorrow!
I love the design just the way it is (the red one). I hope you will have a tutorial on Etsy soon. I am looking forward to making it.
ReplyDeleteAnn (lizzielooms)
Oh no. I do share the pics of your designs to hopefully spread your work. I didn't think that people would be able to copy them.
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