Stretchin'

My last few torch sessions have been a lesson for me in what I can do.  Sometimes a customer makes a request and my first instinct is.. "I can't do that."

And then I stew on it for a bit... grousing about the lost work...wondering what people see in my art that makes them think I can do anything...feeling like I have no skills at all.

Months can go by. Then one day, it just hits me.

"Try it," that little voice whispers.

"But I can't, " I whine.

"Just try. See what happens... you never know," it pleads.

"NO!" I argue.

"TRY IT!!!" it screams.

And so it goes until it hits me at just the right time.

One customer asked me to make a cross. I've never made one; don't have the commercial press that is available for crosses. And that voice said, "How did they make them before there were presses?"

I gave a surprisingly technical answer! Which made me realize, I DO know how to make a cross. And so I did. I loved it! Unfortuantely, my hiking buddy called just as I was fire polishing and ... it cracked. But, I know I can do it... and I can do it again!

The other bead someone inspired me to stretch and create was a small, TINY version of my breast cancer goddess beads. I simply told her...I don't do small beads. Then I was making scads of boobies for a custom order last week. I got distracted and added WAY too much glass to the mandrel. Normally, I will pick small amounts off to deal with volume control issues. But it was a bit too much for that. So I started to think about what I could make with that smallish blob of ivory on my mandrel.

And there was that voice again, "Try it!"

So with nothing to lose but time, I tried a small goddess! And she's so cute!

She is for sale, made to order, in my Etsy shop.

I'm very thankful for customers that push me to try new things. They are a tremendous asset when my muse is otherwise occupied!