Symmetry

As I've stated before on this blog, I'm in LOVE with Boro.  I love the dimension it has, the depth I see in a bead and the infusion of color that this glass creates.  I literally DROOL over Boro every day.  I pour over other people's beads, look for fantastic color combinations and styles and dream of the day I can purchase more frit, rods and colors.

But it's not an easy task for me - to make a Boro bead.  For you glassies out there, I have one concentrator and a basic torch.  It's not a fancy set up and I don't get the heat that Boro truly needs to flow.  But I manage.  And I still love it. 

I can't, for the life of me, make more than two beads of the same size.  I don't know what it is.  I know how, I just can't get it done.  They look really cool, they sparkle and shine and look loverly.....

.....but they never "match."

So. For those of you that make jewelry and/or make beads, does it TRULY matter to have matchy-matchy beads?  Or does variety work well in a piece.  I tend to lean towards symmetry in my work, which I TRY to move away from, but it makes it really hard for me to "think outside the box" when it comes to mismatched beads - size, shape and color. 

Can I get some feedback?  Please?  I've seen some awesome sets on Etsy and Artfire and they haven't all matched in shape and size.  Do they sell?  Would you buy them if you are one that buys artisan lampwork beads?  Lemme know......please?