Hello. We are very happy to introduce you to a new guest contributor today. Her work is fresh and alive, and shows her passion for color & texture. She designs beautiful earrings, and I'll just let you see for yourself her wonderful style. Many of you likely know her and her work. Introducing the lovely, talented, delightful Meridy Migchelbrink, of Two Trees Studio.
It’s kind of amazing what you can do with simple glass,
copper, and fiber, isn’t it? But it
isn’t always easy to know what to DO with those simple but beautiful
elements.
Don’t get me wrong—I’ve had many “It almost designed
itself!” moments, when a design comes together so easily that it feels like
magic. But I’m sure I’m not alone in
admitting that I often buy jewelry components because I fall in love with them,
even when I’m not sure exactly what
to design with them once I have them in my hands.
Case in point: I’d
had these gorgeous rustic verdigris copper daggers by
Shannon German of
MissFickleMedia for months before I finally figured out what to do with them. I mulled over ideas from time to time, trying out different beads and different concepts, but nothing sparked my imagination, at least not to my satisfaction, and I kept putting the daggers away for “later,” always later.
When I was asked to write a guest post here at Earrings
Everyday, I was happy to do it even though I’ve been going through a rough time
personally for the last couple of weeks.
I knew it would be a good chance to explore the experience of pushing
through the “rough spots” we all run into from time to time…and give me extra incentive to finally
make the earrings I’d only been flirting with!
J
So finally I knew I just had to sit down, focus, and
brainstorm. I took out the verdigris
daggers, my trusty fountain pen, and my journal and started writing down words
that came to mind as I studied the daggers: teal, green, forest, tribal, lush, textured,
organic, stately, hammered, rustic, fiber, beads...and then: guardian
and sentinel. I wasn’t sure where the words “sentinel” and
“guardian” came from, exactly, but it was those words that got me to the heart
of the design, the place that goes beyond form and color and medium.
I went straight to my little stash of
Helen Chalmers', HelenJewellry, lampwork discs and pulled out the deep forest green ones, found a set of
small streaky petroleum green rondelles in my store of lampie spacers, and then
added a set of hammered copper spacers to my work mat, and I was off.
Fortunately I had plenty of rustic Czech glass seed beads in the right sizes and colors and a good hoard of Irish waxed linen cord to make these earrings in the style I most love to play with.Three wraps of beads and square-knotted forest green cording later, and the earrings were finished, with only the handmade-paper backings to apply.
It really IS amazing what you can do with simple glass, copper, and fiber (insert your favorite media here), in so many different and beautiful ways. And it’s an endless amount of fun too. Thanks so much for letting me share your very welcoming space here at EE, everyone!
Meridy Migchelbrink
