Trying to hard to be perfect

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Originally uploaded by steampunkglass

Well, as promised, first release of MARBLES! Now in my Folksy shop, http://www.folksy.com/shops/SteamPunkGlass Just a few mind you, still expecting and hoping to make some even better ones!

I seemed to have got stuck for the past few weeks, and my failure rates has gone up too – the one that was most frustrating I’d been working on for about 1 ½ hrs, it was looking good too – one of the nebula type which I’ve found really hard to recreate. It was past that point when good sense says’ ‘stop fiddling and leave it alone!’ Just saw one little dent that I KNEW I should have just accepted, but wanted it perfect – you know what comes next…….. clink! BIG crack, followed by a few more. Welding the bit together really didn’t work, still left a big fatal flaw in the middle.

Nevermind! Glasswork I find can be a bit of a ‘Zen lesson’ that you cannot control everything, and to accept some things will not be as perfect as we’d like – just accept them and move onto the next and try again. It’s still surprisingly difficult for me to let them go if they are not perfect though, I spend more time pointing out the flaws rather than the good bits!

It seems to go to that ‘bubble or no bubbles’ argument; I spend ages trying to pluck out every bubble or imperfection, yet it’s those that show the handmade marks people seem to like more! People tell me they like the very things I am trying not to leave in them saying it gives more ‘character’ and ‘shows it’s really handmade.’

Of course, me picking faults with them is probably really just an excuse not to sell them so I get to stare into them for a bit longer!