Sometimes I get so excited about a new piece that I just have to show it off. Here's the chronology for those of you who think I sit down and sketch each piece before I make it (ha!)... Yesterday I got a set of end caps in the mail, an elusive pair that I've seen once in a while in finished jewelry but could never source. They are twice as cool being both hammered and domed, and now that I have some I want to keep them in my pocket to play with just because they're lovely and hard to come by. I had started a new Viking weave piece in class a couple weeks ago. It's the kind of thing I start with no end in sight, weaving around and around the mandrel until I can't stand it any more and either put it down for later or take it off the mandrel and draw it down. I had to have some outlet to use my new caps, so I finished off after a few more inches of weave. Only then did I start thinking of what to do with it. It was a little long for a bracelet and I didn't really want to trim down all that hard work (and expensive silver). 
Plus, my first Viking-front necklace sold recently and I figured that was a good design: weave in the front, chain in the back for comfort and cost efficiency. But what to put on the weave? I dug through my "top-drawer" lampwork focals and found one I had totally forgotten about. It really does look like a mini paperweight because of the thickness of the clear layer acting like a magnifying glass for the three-dimensional swirls of dichroic glass beneath. It looks like something straight out of The Little Mermaid, but in CGI.
