do as i say, not as i do...

I tell my students 2 things all the time...

1. Know when to stop... you can over work a piece.

2. Know when to start over... sometimes it takes less time to start an entire project over than to try to correct one in progress.

Apparently I am better at giving out the information than taking it.

Basically... after I slept on it, I realized everything I had to do. Sometimes, walking away from a piece really makes it clear...

1. Start Over

2. Make all 3 heads at once. I kept trying to make the 3 heads separately at the industry standard 70 degree angle... then connect the 3 heads and try to adjust the angles to make it work... blah blah blah. THAT WAS TOTALLY WRONG! In remaking them over, I started with a block of wax, traced 3 squares and started carving. IT WORKED SOOO MUCH BETTER!

3. I had to rearrange the hights of the stones. The 1 carat is still the highest, but now the 1/3 carat is the middle and the 1/4 carat is the lowest. By switching these hights, it creates a more varied size of the 2 smaller stones so I can have them closer together. If you can't follow this reasoning, all you need to know is it helps that bottom one look less lost.

NOW... all I have to do is clean these up a little more. AND I need to take a little bit of the bulk off of the 1/3 carat bezel (the lowest one.)