What is Wonky?

No....it's not a pet name for a famous chocolate confectioner or a Star Wars creature!  Wonky is one of those words that is often used by beaders.  Just last Saturday in class, my new student Marie let fly the adjective.  Oh, the things my students will say!  Wonky means wibbly-wobbly or better yet, skew-whiff.  Plain English?  Bent, crooked, uneven.  But....I embrace wonky.  To me, it means something is very interesting to look at and requires further examination.  Ah, but you say, "it doesn't look right".  And maybe you're right.  But it's all really semantics.  You know....I say potatoes, you say patahtows.  Sometimes wonky definitely isn't good.  Like when you need your wire to definitely go in the other direction.  Sometimes wonky is great.  Like when you didn't mean for the wire to do what it did, but now it looks so much more interesting and possibly sends you on a different path of creativity.  That's when wonky is truly great.  Okay, so what am I really talking about here?  I'm saying think outside the box.  When working with wire, be forgiving of yourself and your skills, especially if they are newly acquired.  Repeat my classroom mantra, "This is Art....not Science", take a deep breath and ask yourself, "do I really need to re-work this"?  If I'm there, we can work through it.  If not, you can always call me (just don't be hysterical or call me at 3 a.m.), or you can send me an SOS email with a pic.  Step away from the project and take a break.  A solution is literally at hand.  As evidenced in the above image.  I had a nice cuff armature that I had begun to bead.  The beading started going in a direction that I didn't like and I kept thinking, "do I really want to do ANOTHER cuff like this"?  I didn't, so I literally cut the cuff in half and then had two very interesting shapes to play with that were partially beaded.  Thus, the concept for Free Form Wire Pendants was hatched.  I taught the class at the Pasadena show in January, and it was a huge success.  Keep your eyes peeled for a class offering soon.  Keep up the great work and keep me posted!  I love to hear from you.