Tackle that stash - Who was first, the hen or the egg?

Of course this post is not really about hens or eggs. It's about in what different ways a project can develop over time and which thought comes first.
I mentioned often enough how my designs like to change during the process. An earring becomes a pendant because I often don't have the patience for making the same thing twice. A simple wire crochet bezel turns into a multi-layer bezel of knitted and crocheted wire, never again to repeated because I wouldn't know why. A piece screams for one dangle ... and another dangle ... and how about one here and a little something on the top? These are just a few examples.

And then there are those pieces I don't even have a vague idea of when I start. They don't always work out. Sometimes I end up with something that calls for something I don't know (yet). They are usually experimental pieces that will be lying around for a long time until my brain suddenly comes up with just the right thing - although it may deny having anything to do with the result a few months later and instead blame it on my inability to listen - or they will have to wait forever serving as reminders how very, very wrong things can go. Sometimes they have to be eliminated because I can't bear looking at them anymore without being able to finish them. Oh yes, and more than I care to think of are probably hidden away in my infamous drawers.

There are also good moments when I start making something that I like, so I go hunting for the perfect component, and then I'm lucky and find it!
In this case I vaguely had a snail's shell on my mind when I began weaving a spiral. After a while a cab under the spiral to bring it out more sounded like a good idea. I was thinking of a stone cab, but unfortunately I didn't have anything in the right size that was round or oval.
Without much hope I looked in my lampwork drawer and found this lovely cab, a meltie by Deronda Designs. This must have been in my stash for a long, long time because I wrote about Deronda's melties in 2010 which I almost can't believe.
I like how the soft pink and green - and a bit of black, those are no bits of fluff - peek through the copper which will stay unoxidized this time!

Now I need just a little more light for a picture on my manikin. I love rain, but it's not that helpful with pictures.