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Tuesday, July 19, 2016

"NeoTribal"

Hello! I do hope you are all enjoying the summer.

A friend I met through Etsy, Susan Delphine Delaney, sent a pin to me the other day with the title being NeoTribal, saying she liked the word as a descriptor. To my chagrin a few moments later, I said I don't really know what that means. She responded, oh, I just took it to mean New Tribal. duh. . . . right? Of course it's New Tribal! So that sparked the idea to make tribal-like earrings for today's post. As I was working I started to think about what really was traditional tribal jewelry, specifically traditional tribal earrings. I did not have a real vision of what it was. I did some searching (I admit, not a lot) for tribal jewelry. I expected it to be an easy search with a plethora of images. Not so.
Fulani 
Maasai

The two photos are of African earrings. Two very different styles. The colorful beaded earrings are 9 1/2 inches long, and were made in Africa by the Maasai people. The gold and cotton earrings, also from Africa, made by the Fulani people. These two photos are from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. They are early 20th century. 

I searched then for Native American Jewelry. This photo came from the website http://www.beyondbuckskin.com in a section called Ancient Southwest Jewelry. The dates of these earrings are, starting from the top, 1100-1200 CE, (common era), the 1800s, and 1978. Beautiful mosaic inlay of Turquoise. So a lot of Turquoise and Silver was mostly what I found, again, on a cursory search. 

So I now have some real curiosity to dig deeper when I have the time to see what I can find.



1.

2.
Just briefly then, my earrings today: 1. "Bone" ceramic sticks, as well as ceramic beads from the same strand, paired with Red Creek Jasper, various metal beads, copper wire and Niobium ear wires. Ceramics by Andrea Salkowe of Josephine Beads. I love this pair. . but I ended up not listing it. There was more I would have liked to do with them, a basic jumping off point, but they were getting too heavy. I will likely take them apart and start again. 

2.  I think these are my favorites. :) The ceramic focals are by Petra Carpreau of ScorchedEarthOnEtsy. Paired with Ceramics from the same strand as No. 1. Natural Sig-Id Vine beads are wrapped to the black dagger-shaped Sgraffito focals with waxed Irish linen. I didn't use any wire in this design, just the linen. There are natural, rustic Turquoise bi-cone beads, topped with a red glass bead. The linen was knotted to a Tierra Cast copper-plated spacer bead. The dangles at the bottom contain green turquoise glass beads, tea-stained bone beads, and vintage Kuchi/Kochi tribal clapperless bells.

3. The last pair, both ceramic elements were made by Georgia Neumann of AtHomeInTaos. I used various copper beads, ball-tip headpins I made from copper, Czech glass beads, more copper wire, Niobium ear wires, and a tiny brass teardrop.

3. 
If you ever have any questions at all about techniques and/or processes, please just message me through my Etsy shop. It's great fun to look at other people's work for inspiration, or when looking to purchase. But if there is anything I can help you with that you see in these earrings, please just let me know.

As always, I appreciate your taking the time to stop by. All feedback/comments are welcome. In fact, we'd appreciate it! 

Thank you! I'll be back the first Tuesday in August. I do hope the rest of July is joyful! 

Norbel
She Flies Again on Etsy
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10 comments:

  1. Oh wow, I love the ancient earrings!! What fun!! All the earrings you made from this inspiration are fabulous! I think the pair #2 are my favorite of them all but tough to choose!!

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  2. Thanks, Kristi. I like the second pair as well. Thank you for taking the time to comment, and for your wonderful feedback. :)

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  3. Your posts are always an inspiration Norbel, as are your earrings. I love the ancient tribal earrings. And the Native American ones, oh my, so much lovely turquoise.
    The earrings your made are so you. They are beautiful as always, especially the second pair, with your signature little seedbeads. Thank you Norbel for this wonderful post.

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    1. Janine, you are so kind. I appreciate your feedback very much. I'm always joyful when someone expresses their appreciation of what I do, and the "are so you" makes me smile. It is just the way things come out, ya know? lol You'll tell me if it gets boring, won't you? Promise! I mean that! :) Thank you, Janine.

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  4. I LOVE what you did with these earrings! I am in love with #2 also, with your signature small side interest. In fact, I am going to wear a pair of your earrings today with their signature side interest. Great job, Norbel. You have really found your voice!

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    1. Susan! You were the inspiration for the idea for this post, from the Pin you sent to me. :) #2 is also my favorite. The first pair have been taken apart. They really just didn't work. Too heavy.
      I never thought about the "side interest." But now that you bring it to my attention, I can see where I use that quite a bit. It almost always means, I think, that it needs just a bit of something to make it sing, or to create an "imbalance" of sorts. lol Or a color needs to be tied in. You are so generous with your praise, Susan, and it means a great deal to me. Thank you for taking the time out of your very busy days to visit here and leave feedback. You truly do inspire me in many ways. Thank you, Susan.

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  5. That is the perfect descriptor for what you do! I like the way shapes that are ancient can feel modern and fresh. Beautiful! I especially like the contrast in pair #2 and the leaf shape. Enjoy the day! Erin

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    1. Erin, please forgive my delay in responding. First of all, thank you so much for taking the time in your very busy world, and for your kind words. It's really great to hear you think it works, the descriptor! Thank you!!

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  6. Norbel, you went overboard.............LOVE!!!!

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    1. lol Well, the earrings were being made anyway. . . . just figured I might as well use them. :) Thank you!

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