Battle of the Beadsmith update

BOTB13 Update. 

I spent yesterday morning joining 12 components with trepidation. I wanted my main components to sit exact and in a certain way and have been really concerned there would be buckling. 

Pheeeewwww! - no buckling!!! 

I then sat looking at my design pinned to a bust for the first time....and I thought to myself 

"Now what do I do?" 

I am not one for drawing out my ideas. I have tried at times but they always morph into something else. I usually get an idea, make the bits, wait for the next bit to be shown etc etc. 

It is an evolvement for me. 

I have spent this morning exploring possibilities, doing - "nah too much of this colour, tone it down" - undoing and doing with two colours - "nah too busy" - undoing and doing a seperate sample 

piece - "nah too big overall" - undoing again. 

Got out a different bead and started adding this - "hmmmm that looks interesting, colour works " - worked on it further and I like what I have done. Put it back on the bust -

 "ggrrrr buckling is happening, damn". 

Good news is I can fix that and I now feel I know where I am going.

Some of you may be asking, "how come Patrick is sharing so much about BOTB?" 

I just want to let aspiring designers know that experienced beaders/designers don't just create a necklace design as easily as a magician does a rabbit out of a hat. It is trial and error and trial and error, hair gets pulled out, tempers flare, frustration abounds etc etc etc. 

and it can get even worse when you have a time limit.

When to abandon?

Here is a picture of a piece I was experimenting with. I had been playing with cubic right angle weave and making shapes. I went right off the track I feel. 

I kept telling myself keep going it will reveal itself and I spent quite a number of hours on it.

Eventually I stopped, took a good look at it and decided I was wasting my time and put it aside.

Today I was looking at it again and thought it could make a story for the blog.

I would like to ask - 

Do you abandon pieces you started? 

Do you keep going no matter what? 

How far do you have to take a piece before you know it isn't going to get any better? 

What do you do with abandoned pieces?

Do they stay in a container of possible ideas?

Do you pull them apart and return the beads to their containers?

I would really like to hear your story.