Things Don't Always Go as Planned, But...
Updated: Jan 1
A friend of mine challenged me to make a pendant with a wire-wrapped paw print on it as decoration. I'd already been thinking about trying something like that, but her urging pushed me to try it sooner rather than later.
My first attempt was a failure (pictured here), as far as creating a paw print, but I managed to craft something more abstract, rather than cutting off the wire and starting over.
It might be hard to tell from the photo, but I used a piece of rose quartz; a very light-pink stone with a heart-ish shape. The two circular loops were the beginning of a paw, originally, but the larger circle wasn't large enough. I messed with it for a minute and then realized that I'd be less frustrated if I just forgot about the paw and did something "freestyle.
There's a better picture of the pendant at the bottom of this page.
Anyway, I was pleased enough with the result, and it passed the "Would I wear it?" test, so it ended up for sale at an area gallery. [And I'm happy to report that it sold recently.]
I'm determined to make paw print pendants eventually, so I'll keep trying. I can see it in my mind; I just need to work it out with the wire and the stones.
Even small experiences like this remind me of the line from one of John Lennon's songs: Beautiful Boy, released in 1980 ... "Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans."
Lennon has long been credited with coming up with the sentiment, but he simply adapted it for his song.
In recent times, the general expression can be traced back more than two decades before Lennon wrote Beautiful Boy. The first appearance was in the January 1957 issue of Reader’s Digest magazine. The statement was included with nine other unrelated sayings in a section called “Quotable Quotes," and was credited to Allen Saunders: "Life is what happens to us while we are making other plans."
Historically, the idea that human goals and plans are commonly thwarted (by fate or God or chance or what-have-you) goes back centuries.
From the Old Testament, Proverbs 16:9, we find: "A man’s heart deviseth his way: but the Lord directeth his steps."
Similarly, "Man intends one thing, Fate another," (Homo semper aliud, Fortuna aliud cogitat.) was found in the Publilius Syrus, Sententiae. No.253, circa 43 B.C.
