lucky. horseshoe.

so the lovely j.r. wanted to see what i wasted so much wire on yesterday.  i've been mulling over the idea of a horseshoe hinged earring design - where the lower part of the hoop is made up of substantial hammered wire and then the loop that goes through the ear is thinner but still sturdy.  i wanted movement but chunky - does that even make sense?  i have to admit that i am not the best at making wire loops (damn carpal tunnel!) but i've been trying. 
the main design issue for me is making sure that the loops on the larger part of the earring are roomy enough for the smaller wire loops to move so that the earrings have some swing to them.  i also need to use a thinner gauge wire for the part that goes through the ear - 18 gauge is a little too thick, i fear.

here are the workable "prototypes" of the lucky horseshoe earrings that i finished last night.  the larger one is in copper (which i probably should have started with in the first place instead of wasting all that sterling) and the smaller in silver.  "lucky" is an appropriate name since it was probably not a good idea to have worked on them after having a drink - i was pretty lucky that i didn't hammer my fingers off.  (i did get my thumb once though.  #$%#$^.)

thoughts?