Trial and ERROR

Well as a self taught artist, learning things through trial and error is something quite familiar to me. I had another taste of the error part yesterday while working on a new technique I'm excited about. The piece looked gorgeous right up to the point where I had to put the glass-like finish on. Then my gorgeous piece rather quickly turned into a piece of garbage. :o(

I know every artist out there can relate. Since we work hard to develop our own designs, we usually have few guidelines to follow. Such was the case with me and this new technique I am so excited about. I am not used to working with varnishes as I usually prefer a matte finish on my pieces.

So I was quite unprepared for the tear-your-hair-out experiences I had working with the particular finish I was using. The culprit? Glossy Accents by Ranger - HATE IT! Air bubbles galore no matter how careful I was. Stored the bottle upside down, opened it upside down, worked with it upside down to try to avoid shaking it up. No luck. Does give a gorgeous finish if and when it dries without all those bubbles. But it's so thick that bubbles often do not make their way to the top of the piece until it has dried and there's nothing you can do about them. :o( It doesn't matter how long you've been working with a particular medium, trying new things brings new challenges. Those new challenges bring a need for greater than average patience. LOL

Well as my fellow artist friend Michele reminded me, Thomas Edison once remarked "I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work."

Thank goodness it usually doesn't take me quite that many tries to figure things out. LOL

While I wait to perfect my new pieces, here are some recent pendants currently on ebay: