practice makes perfect

With less than two months until my first jewelry show i have been cranking out designs, but haven't spent nearly enough time improving my wire work. It looks easy, but it is a mother trying to get every little loop the same size and shape. This weekend i took some pretty lampwork glass beads and made 45 pairs of earrings for the practice.
Yes, i did say 45.
Yes, that is a heck of a lot of wire work.
I couldn't feel the end of my left thumb and the nail was wrecked, but i feel more confident.
Of course, i now have 45 new pairs of earrings, of which i really would only choose to keep about 5 for myself. So then i thought to myself, Self, you should take those to work and sell them for $5 a pair; they'd make excellent last minute presents.
Indeed.
Then i had to figure out how to transport them and display them. I went with a vintage frame that was in my studio wrapped in fuzzy white fiber so that the hooks wouldn't slip.
Not only did i get practice in wiring, but now i have a good idea about how much time it takes to make certain pieces, a new idea for display and an idea of spacing so i can adjust my stock goals for the show accordingly.
I consider it 24 hours well spent.

ps - if you see anything you like, it's $5 a pair and i'd be happy to mail them to you. ;-)