Unravelling a Ruffled Riddle, or, Resurrecting the Fugly

Ever had one of those projects that looked absolutely fabulous in your mind, but in reality, eh, not so much?

Yep, I have a couple of those. Actually, a lot of them. More like a great big, mountainous stack of misbegotten projects that threatens to topple over and bury me in beady badness (and not in a good way) every time I dare to look at it.

This was one (although for some reason, Blogger has decided to show it rotated 90 degrees counterclockwise - go figure).


In my mind, it was going to be a really wonderful freeform necklace.

It started out great. Ruffles, soft colors, cool bugle beads fanning out in a nice textural section.


Whether it was because I've never been a particularly ruffly girl and therefore did not properly speak the language of the furl, or because the necklace was just a bad idea to start with, it turned out to be a wonky, off-kilter, badly balanced pile of pink ick.

I was tempted to cut it apart and pretend it never happened, but frankly, after undoing the original side sections, it was easier to let the rest crawl onto the fugly project stack and mock me endlessly than to sort the rest of the countless seed beads back into their original tubes.

Then one day a week or so ago, I saw it again and thought, "what if?" Perhaps it was the haze of Ohio Valley allergens blurring my judgement, but I tackled it again. And rather than trying to heal the wonky, I embraced it (kind of like I'm learning to do with my various body parts that sag unexpectedly and alarmingly).

Here's what it turned into:


Now, why I was previously uncomfortable with asymmetry, particularly in a freeform piece, as a solution to the fugly, I will never know. Perhaps it's greater maturity on my part. Or perhaps this necklace required a lot longer than others to decide what it wanted to be.

But I'm pleased with it. It hangs beautifully, well balanced on the neck. It's feminine but not overly fussy. Pretty, but with an edge. I think I may call it "Late Bloomer" -- what do you think?