A-HA!!

I was a participant in Lori Anderson's annual Bead Soup Blog Party this year - for the first time - and had a kind of "a-ha" moment in the course of making up my "soup" pieces. Among the many (many!) things my fabulous partner Michelle Beuttner sent me were two great pairs of hand-made copper earwires.

I used the ones at the top (with the extra swirls) to make one of my "soup" pieces and was really struck by the difference those big swirls made to the overall design.

I have always preferred using handmade earwires in my pieces, but I confess that I have stuck primarily to three simple basic styles: a simple flattened loop; a ball-end silver earwire; and a classic kidney shape. My thinking was that I didn't really want the earwires to compete with the design of the earrings.

But the bead soup process - working with components that someone else chooses for me - forced me to work outside my usual comfort zone, and I realized that the earwires ARE part of the design of the earring. ("I coulda had a V-8!") It was one of those things I knew, but didn't really know I knew - or, at least, I had never consciously considered. This a-ha moment sent me back to my workbench to start experimenting with different styles of earwires for my earrings.

What about you? Have you had any a-ha design moments recently??

Until next time!