With a Cherry on Top :)

Happy Tuesday! I hope your week is off to a roaring start. 

The earrings I made for today slowly morphed from the original idea I had in mind to what you see here, and the two images -- one is only in my mind -- bear very little resemblance to each other. And THAT is one of the things I love most about creating elements. For me, that would be limited to wire, sheet metal, as you see here, and maybe a little bit of altered tin. I can only imagine the fun and excitement involved in creating elements from glass and fire, or clay and a kiln. The thing is, other than dealing with the properties of the medium, there are NO RULES! That's just as true in jewelry and one of the things I love most about designing and creating, and also something I remind myself anytime I catch myself thinking too much while I'm creating, rather than feeling. If you've ever had the experience of making something and not really remembering much of the time you spent doing it, that is the ultimate for me. It generally turns out to be one of my best designs, and it's just such a cool feeling to get into that space for a short time where the rest of the world doesn't exist. 

Well, let me get back to it. 

"With a Cherry on Top"

The vague idea I started with was kind of a figure 8 design. That didn't happen; this shape did instead. I used a dremel to do the majority of the shaping, with a bit of fine tuning with hand files. They were textured with a hammer, oxidized with liver of sulfur, and then I spent a couple of sessions with three different colors of Gilders Paste: Damson, which is a very deep black cherry like color; Verdigris, which is a dark green; and Patina, which is a rather bright aqua I guess I'd call it. 

I paired them with rustic, natural Turquoise stone disks, handmade copper accent beads, handcrafted Lampwork glass beads by Terry Turner of Silver Fish Designs, and the pieces I love so much, the tiny, deep cherry red faceted glass beads. They are just so cool! And they pull out the bits of red in the Lampwork glass. It's all wrapped with 22 gauge oxidized copper wire. I generally prefer 20 gauge wire. It just feels more sturdy to me, but the Turquoise stones wouldn't take it. I made a couple of ball-tipped headpins and hung the gorgeous cherry red beads in the empty space that was created by the unusual shape. :)  It was also necessary to balance the weight. Without hanging a bead there, it tilted to the opposite side.

Listed in my Etsy Shop, She Flies Again

Thank you so much for taking the time to stop in. The ever awesome Ms. Nikki Zehler, creator of all things Love Root, will be here with you tomorrow. Hope you'll stop in again on the 7th of June. Til then, I do hope your days are filled with sunshine, peace of mind, and joy! 

Norbel Marolla

She Flies Again on Etsy