Following directions

It's relaxing sometimes, y'know?

I'm not very far along on this one, but it kept my sanity intact while judging the Ice Queen Challenge. There were so many gorgeous entries; it's a total cliche, I know, but I wish we could have declared all of them winners. There wasn't a piece entered whose merits we didn't debate; it was terribly hard to choose just three winners. We were still debating it less than an hour before it was time to announce.

But that's neither here nor there.

I've actually used two tutorials from two different shops to make this little snippet; I will be adding more sections until it's long enough to wear as a necklace. The beaded bead is beAd Infinitum's Ionic Octahedra, and the rope is a variation of NEDBeads' Trellis Series Necklace. I used the beaded beads in place of the crystals in the rope, and made it a little bit bigger around to balance the beaded beads. Both changes were super-easy to make; this rope has room for a lot of variations.

I'm not normally very good at following directions, but when my mind is occupied with other things, it's a real relief to have something to do with my hands that doesn't involve thinking. Using a tutorial is like stepping into another artist's brain; it's very inspiring once the need for relaxation has worn off.