Hotel Candle Holder

So I took a break from my ocarinas to try my hand at making a candle holder/tea light for my sister-in-law, for the hotel she works at. The owner of the hotel has three large candle holders she got from a potter who is now deceased, and she's interested in getting smallers versions to sell to her customers.

The design on the previous votive was a simple depiction of the hotel, with a few windows carved into the wall, and a water coloring effect of the hotel and trees.

So here is my leather-hard version so far:

It's not perfectly even, but I think once it's colored it will look a lot nicer. Hopefully she likes it and I can earn a little extra this way.

I then went back to my belly ocarinas, and the first five tooke me 4 hours to cut and tune. The next five, a day later, only 2 hours for the same. Then today I went back to more pendants, and made five and threw out 2.

I'm getting very frustrated that I'm still trashing as many as I am. I want each one to work out perfectly, and they're not. When will I learn well enough to make then each sing beautifully???