Custom Orders.....Blessing or Curse? (Part 1)

Custom orders are mostly a blessing for me but there is an element of curse.  I'm pretty much a brat and some days I just want to make what I want to make.  That's not always possible when orders need to go out.  Most of my customers are very patient.  I try and sit down and get orders out of the way but often my muse is pulling me the other way.  There are the orders that are REALLY a challenge.  Things that I know I can do; I just don't know exactly how.   Usually those sit on the back burner for a while until one day it comes to me.  Those are the ones with the "Eureka!" moments.  More about that in the blessing discussion.  There are things that I DON'T want to do but have agreed to do.  Not many of these.  I have actually learned to use the word "NO" but it does happen.  Usually this means I really like you but that may not be apparent when you wait two years for your order   The "Don't Want To" back burner takes even longer to simmer than the "Don't Know How To" back burner.   But all of these actually don't qualify as curses, just minor annoyances.  The only real curse of taking custom orders is the person who really doesn't get my work  but wants to order for reasons of their own.  There are some pretty benign members of this group.  The collector: just wants a hippo.  Doesn't matter who's hippo or what hippo as long as its a hippo they don't already have.  Its pretty easy to make them happy so collectors probably don't belong in the curse category.  So who does belong in the curse category?  Sadly its the Wannabe Artist.  They have worked out every tiny design detail to the point that I wonder why they need me.  Then I realize its my damn skill.  There is something about "Art by Proxy" that just kills my soul and make me want to scream "I am NOT your bead monkey!"  Just to put your mind at rest if you are one of my customers and wondering "Is this me?"  If I did a custom piece for you and you got it and you love it, then "NO" because I have learned to say "NO" to this person.  It never works out anyway.  Seems I have rambled on for quite a while on the con side of custom orders.  I will save pro for another day.

Monkeys are based on a custom order request. The "Monkey Love Bead" was inspired by the monkey pattern I came up with for the dress of the monkey girl.  I often like results so much that part or all of custom winds up in my non-custom work.  Mean Girl and Mean Boy at the top of the post are a brand new custom order based on my Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum.  They haven't even shipped yet.  Love these but they are extremely difficult to do, so I will probably do variations but not many.