Perfection is a Problem

Perfection is my problem but that's a story for another time.  Once again I had a vision, I knew just how I wanted the out come to look like...well pretty much anyway.  At first I played around with the beads and findings getting a feel of where I wanted to go and then I sketched out what I thought it would look like. 
This design allowed me opportunity to use my new wire coiling tool, unfortunately the smallest mandrel that came with my tool was too thick to make all of the springs that the design required so I would have to improvise for the tiniest coils. 

Everything looked well until I actually began putting things together.  It was like driving in a section of town where you've never been before, you think you want to go straight down 1st street and turn left on 2nd avenue, only 1st street does not connect with 2nd avenue and so you go round and round trying to get from 1st to 2nd.

Originally I had intended to use the large 7 mm jumprings (see photo above) to attach the 3 coils and their spacer beads directly to the earring however when I placed everything onto the jumprings the coils stuck out at rather ridiculous angles.  So the hunt for 2nd avenue began!  I decided the coils and spacers (which are tiny - 3mm x 1.5mm - sterling silver flat rondell beads) needed some type of straight object to hang from. 
Well I went down one street and up another and after a couple of different attempts came up with the combination shown above.  A sort of triangular bail that I constructed out of 20 gauge wire and embellished with gold plate wire coils (also handmade by me).  These were attached by way of that hefty 7 mm jumpring to the loop of the earring.  Rather indirect route but now that it's done I find I like the effect even more than the original plan.
Would you like to see more ?

I made all those little coils (or springs) myself, some required the use of a piece of 20 gauge wire as a mandrel in order to get the inner hole small enough and were made with 26 gauge wire so as not to overpower the effect I was striving to create. 
The dark gray beads are hematite capped with tiny silver plated bead caps and threaded on to gold plate ball tipped headpins.

Right now I'm debating whether to list them on Etsy or place them in a local gallery.  I'll probably decide upon the gallery as I find my jewelry sells best where people can actually pick it up and see it, as they say; "up close and in person".  :)

Potato - Potahto

People's perceptions of things can differ, at times drastically. It's been often noted that eye witnesses are not that reliable as testimony from one witness to another can vary, and a witness can also be easily influenced by what others may have said. But even the very basic things such as fragrance or color is perceived differently from person to person. I enjoy the fragrance of carnations, however I've known others that couldn't tolerate it. To me the fragrance is light, clean and spicy, much like cloves or cinnamon, to a friend of mine it was heavy and cloyingly musky. Star Gazer Lilies are another thing, I can't tolerate their powerful fragrance, my husband and my daughters feel the same way, yet a great many people find the gorgeous pink and white lily's fragrance sweet and pleasingly aromatic. Some like the aroma of roses, to others the odor is bland, insipid.

Color is a whole different, chaotic ball park. What's yellow to one, is gold to another, what's gold to one is orange to somebody else. Is it teal or is it green, or maybe blue or even turquoise ? Is it burgundy, or is it purple or perhaps red ? Since secondary colors are simply combinations of primary colors (blue + yellow = green) it becomes rather murky, and vague and invariably ends up being left to each individual's own perception.

Recently I listed an item and described it as being lilac/lavender (when I purchased the items they were listed in a very large and prestigious catalog as being lavender) however I had someone comment that it was not lavender nor lilac, it was mauve.

Okay so what is lavender ? What is mauve ? Basically purple. What is purple ? Combinations of blues and reds...add white to make it paler. White also transforms the brilliance of reds into a multitude of pinks, from shocking hot pink, to cotton candy pink, to whispery, powder pink. So what's your opinion, is it lavender, mauve or something entirely different ? Me...I'm going to revise my item description to read; "pale purplish colored beads"...mmm, maybe ! But first I have to retake the photos because a couple of people said the sterling silver clasp looked like it was gold colored !