Friday is for finishing off, or it should be

I had intended to finish off the re-perforations on this challenge piece, but the best plans often get changed.  When I started doing it, my gold gel pen decided it hated me, and began stuttering and scratching, and left me with a messy line.  I finally found another gold pen and went over the lines.

BIG MISTAKE!!

I should have tested it out more carefully before going for it.  Please learn from my mistakes.  The original pen gave a thin line which is what I wanted.  This new one turned out to do thick lines, not the right look for this oriental design by Marina Wiyadharma.  Once I had started, I had to keep going.  Not happy!

That was yesterday.  Today, I found another thin pen and started all over again, right from the beginning.  I was tempted to give up and throw this disaster in the bin.  However, I hate being beaten, so I will try to rescue it later after I have had time to think about it.  I will now work more slowly and carefully on the replacement, which incidentally was number three attempt.  So number four needs to be right.  I can live with the odd misplacement of a hole as there are a load at small flowers to add anyway.

This is where I have got to so far, hard to see as the perforations are not strong and the colour and whitework has not been started yet.

My other finishing off task was to do another layer of embossing on the first project from the retreat.  I have come down today to the Pergamano number three tool, still very gently.  I reckon I still need at least another two days of that to really finish the shading of the white work.  Then there is a lot of cut work to do at the end.  I loved the project so much that I do not want to spoil it by rushing at the last stage.

As there is no workshop tomorrow, I think I will start another couple of replicas, partly to make sure the technique stays firmly in my brain.

Have a good evening, folks.