So. I finished a whole bunch of koi barrettes. 
I made a few changes from my first design. The new fish are about a third smaller and the dangles are much shorter (the longest one is about six inches). The barrette backs are 50 mm instead of 70mm, which makes a huge difference. The fish are shorter & narrower & actually look great as side clips.
I also changed how I did the dangles. I beaded the whole wire which was very time consuming, but I'm happier with the way it looks. I chose various glass beads in shades of blue & aqua, which is all sparkly & watery-looking. I added a few accent pearls on some...on others I used Czech glass beads with a mirror finish (they looked like bubbles to me).
Anyway, I had fun doing them. Many thanks to
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smillaraaq, who provided a link for a really simple giude to all the koi varieties...it made things a LOT easier for me because it was quick & easy to print out. I still have a ton of varieties I want to make.
Next project; some new Medusa masks. I want to make a couple in "real" snake colors. Usually I do them in fantasy metallic colors over black, but I'm intrigued by the idea of a Medusa that's colored like a diamondback rattlesnake in brown & sand tones (& maybe turquoise eyes! My favorite color combination!). Anyway I cut out two of them last night. It's going to be my big project for the next few days.
EDIT: I just made myself an ETSY account! It was SO easy...easier by far than clunky old e-bay to be sure. You can see my shop here. I only put a few pieces up, just to try it out. Thinking of putting the koi barrettes in there as well. Hmm!
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Cool! :-) I love my new Etsy shop. It's shiny in there.