I had clients over at my place to look at some finished work and place a few orders.
I had a cherry coffee table out for show, it was my first coffee table I'd built. Its a really lovely piece, clean, simple. But it was my first ad it was riddled with mistakes which are near impossible to see.
So, they asked me if was for sale. I said "no, that one had too many mistakes. I can't believe I kept it and didn't cut it up to reuse the parts." They just looked at me like I was crazy.
"Where are the mistakes?" "You can't see them?" "No, really, we can't see them." So I pointed them out and they still couldn't see them.
We are the makers. We are intimately aware of every inch of every piece we make. Our clients understand that our attention to detail is what separates us from what can be bought in stores an there is a bit leniency granted to us for a few small, tiny things. They don't even see a lot of what we agonize over.
We have to separate ourselves to some degree and know when something is "done". For me, I step away and ask "could I live with it". If the answer is "yes" then the piece is as good as it will be and my client will be happy.