I got smart this year and formally hired help outside of my household. Right now, my friend Laurie comes by every week and lends me a hand with our project of the week. This week, it was feathers including an experiment on peacock feathers. Why peacocks? Well, the Art Bead Scene’s monthly challenge is Black Peacocks with Japanese Persimmons. It’s a lovely painting.

My peacock feather borrowed from a couple of feather tutorials on PolymerClayCentral.com and then… I sort of improvised. It worked out, mostly. When I do another, I’ll brighten up the shading and thin down some lines, thicken other but I really like how it pops on a black bead with the little persimmons.

I took the art bead and wired it up into a bracelet with my usual random collection of rocks and bits. The magpie approach to things. The sparkly lampwork right beside my focal is made by Cheryl Harris of California.

One of my resolutions for the year is to be disciplined and do ALL of the ABS challenges. We’ll see how that goes!