How long does it take to design something unique?

I thought today I would share my view on how long it takes to design a beading tutorial.

When I tell people about my work, that I bead, and design jewellery often I get a smile and some meaningless compliment like "That's nice" but their face truly shows they don't have the foggiest idea what I'm actually doing. This became even more obvious when some of my closest friends actually been in my studio (which is in fact a fairly small space at the back of our bedroom) and after seeing my beads and tools they are convinced that I have some serious obsession going on. (Well, to be clear I've never denied that.)

And then comes the moment when they want to know what on Earth I'm doing with all these tiny-shiny objects. So boxes gets opened, drawers gets pulled and jaws gets dropped. Some from excitement some from the shock. Some of them admits when I talked about beading they were sure I'm stringing simple necklaces with cheap plastic beads or making friendship bracelets, like the ones you can get for pennies in some shops.

Well I don't. Some of my design takes days (even weeks) to make. Some takes only a few hours. Some never gets finished. My drawers are full with half finished / half started beaded objects. They are not forgotten, just waiting for the right moment, the inspiration or sometimes the scissors. Because as much as I don't like to admit to myself: not everything works out. Some beadwork is just not meant to be finished.

My beading corner is my playground. It's like being a kid again. I'm allowed to fail, to try, to experiment as much as I want. Not all my beading attempts work. But I put my heart into all. I give my best. Yet, I fail more often than you could imagine. I know failure is not bad. It's just part of my learning curve. So when some people ask me how long it takes to design something the answer is never straight forward. Do I count the hours I experimented with each bead? The hours I invested in other beadwork which never got published? The ones that failed yet gave me the inspiration to this piece of beauty?

You see it's not that simple. Designing something unique takes time regardless what is it you are doing. You are not following something tried and tested. You are the one who tries and fails and tries again. And when you succeeded (if you do), how would you answer the questions: "How long did it take?"

You can't put a time-tag on everything :)