Fun with Findings...

I had a customer contact me through my Etsy store,  interested in a pair of earrings I had for sale.  Some lovely Peru Blue Chalcedony Drops on long dangle gold kidney wires. 

I love Peru Blue Chalcedony, so these are some of my favorites.  It makes me happy when a customer takes an interest in something I really like, too.  I want to bend over backwards to share in how wonderful it is.  But this customer asked the unthinkable.  She wanted a photo of them modeled in my ear.

I see this a lot on other shops, where someone models their own jewelry.  Sometimes the photos are nice, but a lot of them aren't.  Weird clothes, bad make-up, odd facial expressions....no I did not want to do that.  Not even on a good hair day.  But this day was not a good hair day.  This was a play with the kids, clean house, do laundry, hair in a top-knot-and-not-the-good-kind, no make-up kind of a day.  At Dusk.  Not even natural light on my side and she wanted the pictures now.  How far did I want to go for good customer service?  She said there were other earrings in other stores she was considering and she wanted to make a decision.  Okay, suck it up.  Say Cheese.  I had my hubby take the photos outside and then I cropped my face to make it unrecognizable.  Surely I will not hear back from this customer, but at least I gave it my all, right?  NO, I am not going to show you the picture!

But she did write back.  She liked them, but they were too long.  She wanted to see the stones on shorter wires.  So I showed her shorter, but they were too short.

She wanted to see sizes in between.  I didn't have them.  I thought about ordering some, but how long would they take to get here?  By the time she bought earrings from someone else, perhaps?  I had to come up with a plan.  I took the long ones and cut them down.  But then I had an idea.  I have been making my own French hook style ear wires in all different sizes.  Could I make a kidney wire?  I could sure try!  My first attempt wasn't half bad.  Can you tell which one it is?  The picture above will give you a hint on some you can eliminate.

I know, the lightly hammered finish probably gave me away.  But this was my first attempt, using craft wire, and I think it didn't turn out half bad.  I hammered it just enough to strengthen the wire, or else it felt a little to pliable.  And that is the one she picked!  I made hers with 14K gold filled wire and they really do look lovely.

So THANK YOU, V!!!  For pushing me out of my comfort zone, saving me money on buying future kidney wires, and helping me to further hone my craft.  Thank you also, for asking me to model these too, on a day that I had my hair down and make-up on.  I can now feel better that you know I don't always look like that first one.  NO, you can't see that picture either!