Do the best you can until you know better

There’s this concept in jewellery-making called “bead soup”. You have a somewhat random selection of beads – maybe leftovers from a project, maybe random shiny things found in the back of a drawer – and you put them all together to create something unique. Somehow, bead soup creations that people share on Pinterest and Instagram always manage to be delightful, delicious, daring (and many other delectable words beginning with D). My bead soup creations can end up looking a wee bit deranged.

I spent hours yesterday making bracelets. I used a lot of beads that have been in my cupboard for months, waiting for their moment to shine. It’s a considerable list of potential ingredients that I sort into the scientific categories of rocks, sparkles, and metal. I made 30 bracelets! Result! And I liked two of them. 

So what happened? I woke up yesterday morning thinking, “only 5 days of holiday left before I go back to work.” I wanted to have lots to show for my “me time” so I needed to get serious. I tipped up several boxes of beads onto my table and dived right in without direction or design. Which scored an A for enthusiasm but an F for success. It’s a pretty common hole for makers and designers and artists to fall into, but it’s a hole with multiple possible escape routes. Mine is to aim for one good thing a day. One good painting, one good necklace, one good bracelet, one good choice. Today’s good choice is to investigate ethical production and resources (where I have lots to learn) and today’s good design is a triple strand sparkly bracelet (because you can’t beat a bit of sparkle).

“Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.”

Maya Angelou

I also made a resolution, which is something I didn’t plan on doing this year. But it’s this: My best designs will become reality.

If I don’t want to wear it, I won’t make it. If I wouldn’t put it on my wall, I won’t paint it. I won’t make furniture unless it would have a place in my house. 

Fingers crossed for the next three days. And the next three hundred.