Simplicity.......

Who knew making simple earrings or anything for that matter would turn out to be such a stressful affair. 
I suffer from tunnel vision when it comes to making jewellery.  I cannot seem to make a variety of things (earrings, bracelets, necklaces) in the same sitting.  If it's earrings, it has to be just earrings and nothing else.  So last week I was making bracelets and naturally I could not think beyond that. I decided I'd make some simple earrings for a change and give my brain a rest.  I dug through old designs for inspiration and found these. I decided to recreate these in a new fashion.

I swapped the brass sticks for brass tubes and added some Swarovski rondelles for a little bling.  I made these.

Ceramic feathers by Claire Lockwood

Ceramic drops by Petra Carpreau

I was happy with the bottom 2 pairs but something was missing from the top pair.  They looked bland.  I needed to dress up the brass tubes so I painted them and tried to achieve a distressed look by taking off some of the patina.  Here's the revamped pair. 

Did I mention I suffer from tunnel vision when it comes to making jewellery?!  Well here's the result.

Enamelled stars by Bea Stoertz

Ceramic flowers by Petra Carpreau

So much for making simple earrings! But I'm happy with the end result and I have a feeling I'll be painting more brass tubes (a bit addicted now) 😂

I hope you like my offerings for today.  I'll be listing these in my Etsy shop soon.  See you again in a couple of weeks time <3

Suhana 💖💖💖

My Etsy shop: Buttoned Up Beads

The Tree of Life

Tree of Life, Azerbaijan, 17th century

I've always been drawn to the symbol of the Tree of Life.  It seems to have been around forever in one form or another, in every culture.  It's an archetypal image, a constantly recurring motif in literature, painting, and mythology, symbolizing (among other things) the union and balance of the upper and lower worlds and all they represent.

It's taken countless forms, of course, as each culture in each period of time has expressed it based on whatever beliefs they had, in whatever mediums they had to use.  It's timeless--perhaps even eternal.  The Norse called it "The World Tree," and given its ubiquity and its many faces, it really is.

Tree of Life, Aberdeen (Scotland) Bestiary, early 12th Century

By the 12th century, in the West the Tree of Life was most often depicted in Christian iconography of the time as The Tree of Jesse, illustrating the lineage of Jesus.

Tree of Jesse, late 12th century.  The head of the House of Jesse was considered the royal forebear of Jesus and in these depictions was most often shown lying down beneath the tree itself, with Jesus and Mary in the center and other relations on the spreading branches.

Celtic Tree of Life (one of so many!)

Tree of Life, Spain, modern day

These are just a tiny sample of the endless ways the Tree of Life has been interpreted over the centuries.  I would never claim to have created anything iconic in my earring offering today; instead I created a very simple and colorful tribute to the Tree of Life, less than 2 inches long.  

  

Kristi Bowman-Gruel made the beautiful Tree of Life charms, and sky-blue lampwork rondelles, small green Czech glass rondelles, and tiny Swarovski crystals echo their colors. 

The earrings can be found here.  

I loved spending this time with you all--for one thing I got to share some seldom-used knowledge about Medieval iconography--yay!  I hope to see you again in two weeks.  :)

 

xoxo

Meridy

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Honestly, Honesty!

How is it going in your corner of the world? After a couple of fabulous weekends when we were out in the sun it's decided to throw a strop here today and we've had hail, rain and even a bit of snow on the higher ground. You never know what's coming!

Nevertheless, I've managed to get out and try to begin putting our garden in some sort of order after winter. We lost a very long fence to a storm in November so there's been a mess to sort out after it was replaced. Fencing blokes have big feet!

I have flowers and gardens on the brain at the moment, with an on line show 'English Country Garden' coming up over the weekend and a real life show in the middle of May at a very beautiful garden fairly local to me, a tiny hamlet on the edge of the Forest of Bowland called Cow Ark.

'Art in the Garden' will have 35 artists of every discipline showing their work around a huge woodland garden, all in small marquees. Hoping for good weather of course but at least we will be under cover if it decides to turn inclement. And being England, there is always tea and cake!

Some of the leaves that my friend Helen Backhouse uses for her polymer clay moulds come from this garden so it's quite personal. I asked Helen for something new and special for the shows coming up and she made these stunning pieces with leaves from an honesty plant. A proper old fashioned country garden plant if ever there was one (and it comes in purple).

They're a really unusual shape and she has some wonderful greens, deep berry blues and wine colours in them.

I added old bronze chain and wire wrapped some sparkly goldstone beads for the berries. The wine coloured streak down the centre of the leaves is perfectly echoed by the deep pink of the niobium earwires.

I promise to take plenty of pics over the weekend for you plant lovers out there!

 

See you in two weeks. If you're interested in the earrings, they'll be on sale with plenty more in the Facebook group LBA Galleria Showcase this Sunday. Maybe I'll see you x 

 

Lindsay xx

 

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Sun Spots

As I haven't had chance to photograph any of the growing collection of new earrings that I've been making, I thought I'd share a pair I made a while ago.

I just adore those sumptuous bronze and burnt orange lampwork beads (from Grace Lampwork, at Lima Beads). 

The ceramic drops are some that I made: I really love the slight puckering in the old gold glaze. They're listed here in my Etsy shop.

Bye for now, Claire

www.somethingtodo.etsy.com
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Hoarders challenge continues

Hello lovelies,

How are you all doing? I hope you are all enjoying wonderful spring weather. Here in Greece, the sun is shining and it is 24 degrees Celsius. Birds are singing, flowers are blooming, just wonderful. 
And I am continuing my self-imposed challenge of using long hoarded beads for the earrings made for this blog.

I never would have picked the color combo pink and blue until one of my wonderful customers requested a bracelet in pink and white, with a dot of mint blue for some contrast. That color combo turned out great. My hoarders pick for today's earrings were sort of mint blue... so why not combining it with beautiful pastel pink? 


Ceramic disc beads by Bo Hulley Beads, one of my favorite ceramic bead makers. I have used many of her beads in the past and have hoarded even more. At the moment she is taking a break, but she will be back. Combined with some brass rings in which I managed to fit tiny Czech glass beads; vintage lucite bead caps, pearls in a wonderful soft pastel pink and more Czech glass (o-ring and firepolished bead).

These will be available this week in my shop. 
Thank you so much for looking and I hope to see you in a couple of weeks. 
Here on Earrings Everyday we appreciate and love to read your comments. So don't be shy and let us know your thoughts.  Wishing you a wonderful day, full of joy, flowers and singing birds.

Janine
Esfera Jewelry

We're All Ears :: April Reveal :: Eggs

Remember a few weeks ago when I said that I wondered if I would get the kids to color eggs with me? Well, they didn't need much prodding! But they were very wary of the camera (so shhhhh....don't tell the boy that I snapped this pic! teehee!)

We had a good time dunking the eggs in all different colors that my daughter mixed up: lemon, raspberry, grass, peacock, grape. I decided to do sort of a madras-plaid style by dipping the eggs in partway and then turning them and dipping in another color and another. They didn't end up very vibrant this year, and I am not sure where all those speckles came from as they dried (but I do like them!), but I would count this as an all-around success. Especially that I got to keep making that memory with my kids for one more year!

I thought about all different egg options that I had.... speckled blue robin's eggs from Humblebeads.... creating my own painted egg charms.... but I ultimately went back to my original inspiration: the pysanky eggs.

Those brightly colored eggs gave me the color palette. All of them! And I was playing around with how to translate a painting technique I have been doing for a few months called fluid painting or pour paintings into polymer clay. I think I may have cracked the shell on this one! (pun intended!)

So as I was making some other beads for my Art Bead Scene inspired challenge for my Simple Truths Sampler in a densely rich color palette, I noticed I had these ends with swirls leftover. I decided to make a couple of egg beads of my own.

Since they are really brightly hued and highly patterned with whorls and bends and swirls of color swishing all the way through, I decided that I should keep the rest of it simple. Some rustic headpins and a little bit of bling with the AB crystal rondelle beads was all it needed.

Now it is your turn! Show off what you made with the theme of EGGS!

Love in the heart and in the air

As we were just wrapping up a beautiful Easter weekend spent with our loved ones, I felt a lot of love and kindness in the air. Family, Friends and strangers are smiling more, the hint of warm sunshine and the light scent of fresh new flowers blooming creates a palpable positive shift in the energy around here.

Do you feel it too where you live? How about at home? With your family and friends?

This loving vibe and this sentiment is what inspired me this week:

I've designed a romantic 'vine' inspired design, because we're all intertwined by our feelings, our own vibrations and energy, as well as those of others around us. As my eyes were admiring the beautiful flowers blooming around town, my heart was also more open to see the beauty in others, even in total strangers I interacted with...

I've used the long 18 gauge copper wire with which I've created a pair of my Mokume Gane polymer clay headpins to not only set the beads on the earrings, but also to wrap around everything like a vine would do, coming on the way back down. It lovingly gently hugs the beads and rests on the drops, waiting for more places to go.

For these earrings, I've actually used one part of some pretty TierraCast lead-free pewter clasps. I'm not a huge fan of the bar-toggle type of clasps, but I liked the design of these with the 3 vine leaves, and I thought they could be a cool part of this design.

On my copper headpins, I've wrapped some sparkling yellow glass seed beads, as a repeat of the flecks of gold metal leaf found in my polymer clay drops. I've also added in some rustic TierraCast copper tone flat spacers, and a pair of Cosmic 12mm Indicolite Swarovski Crystals. The ear wires are non-allergenic Niobium ear wires (copper color with a copper bead accent), also from TierraCast.

I'm not feeling well enough to make elaborate time-consuming designs at the moment, but, as my dear friend Monica of TG Bears (her handmade bears are absolutely LOVELY) reminded me, I've come a long way since almost a year ago when I became very ill.

I'm feeling impatient at times with myself as there's so much more I'd like to do, but I'm thankful for my friends who love me and remind me to look at myself with more loving eyes, and to be thankful to do what I can at the moment. I'm definitely able to do far more than a year ago (and than most of last year). It's progress!

Thank you all for being here, as well as on FB/IG, and for all your lovely comments. It really helps me keep my chin up, and try to do a bit more despite having been so ill this past year.

More tests are coming with a neurologist (to confirm what we're 99.9% sure of what I have). It hasn't been easy, but creating art is healing, even if I'm not feeling well most days.

May you be showered with love and romance this Spring season xoxo

Cheers,
Nathalie Lesage
Visit my Etsy shop for Jewelry & Supplies: My Garden Of Love
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A Wise Woman Once Said...

...treat yo'self. 

Putting aside the trendiness of the phrase, there really is a lesson to be learned about knowing when to gift yourself a little something special. And I don't mean in a spoiled millennial consumer-happy "I deserve it" spending spree kind of way. You know, just a little something every now and then---maybe once a year, maybe more, maybe less. 

--- A "me-day" where you only do what you want to do, even if that means doing NOTHING. 

--- A nice bar of that fair-trade dark chocolate from Askinosie that you love. 

--- A new shift dress to show off those humble legs you've been working on shaping up.

It can be anything, and it doesn't have to have dollar signs attached to it. Sometimes the smallest, cheapest gifts can be the most meaningful.

For several years now, I've had a little box of stones that I have set aside for "me" pieces. Things that I knew I wanted to make for myself, given the time. Occasionally I'll come across a new cabochon that speaks to me and I'll gently place it in this little box. Promising that I'll get around to making myself something "some day". 

The other week I was noticing that this little box was close to overflowing---both with stones and with the best of intentions. Realizing it had been a while since I deliberately treated myself, I vowed to focus. 

These two sagenite spray agates were destined to be paired together in earrings. Mismatched but complementary, I love the movement of the spray in each. They remind me of tufts of black fox fur---primitive, animalistic, and in the dark neutral color palette that I've been loving lately. I set them both simply in sterling silver and hung them from hand-cast sterling silver studs so they can be worn as post earrings. 

When they were finished I squealed, thanked myself, and all was well in the world <3 

Happy Wednesday!
Nikki
LoveRoot on Etsy

Ancient Egypt

Hello, and I hope this finds all of you healthy and well.

Ancient cultures have always intrigued me. The Ancient Egyptians in particular as they seem to have accomplished so much, at a time we think of as rather primitive compared with all that our species has accomplished over the last couple of hundred years. But in their time they were amazing! And yet, those amazing civilizations fell several times over a period of 2500 years. They were finally conquered by Alexander the Great around 330 BC. One of his generals a decade or two later created a Greek-speaking dynasty. Then in 30 BC, when Cleopatra died, Egypt was annexed by the Roman Empire and their very long and prosperous run as a "super power" of their time ended. It makes me wonder how one reaches such heights, only to let it slip away somehow, into the history books and through the sands of time. I'm sure there are lessons there for us somewhere. 

So that has absolutely nothing to do with earrings! But before I made these earrings I did some reading about cats, and Bastet, in Ancient Egypt. Along the way, I also read through some of the history and the timeline of Ancient Egypt, so that's where all that came from. :) As to Bastet, she was an Ancient Egyptian Goddess, often depicted as half female/half feline. Because of her, cats in general were held in very high esteem. The penalties for injuring or killing a cat were severe. Bastet was revered for different things in different parts of Egypt at different times, from warfare to fertility and childbirth :)

The Ancient Egyptian Cats are made from Yellow Bronze by Robert Gilmore of RobertWGilmore. Such wonderful detail in a thin and light component allows a lot of room to "add to." Ancient Egyptian jewelry often included red, blue and turquoise. And I have seen some including green as well but not as frequently. 

I used really lovely slices of Lapis Lazuli that I purchased from FunkyPrettyBeads. As an aside, I believe that shop is still having a Spring sale; might be just another day or two. 

Using brass-plated tiny-link chain I hung the cats from longer pieces, and the two shorter side pieces hold blue, red and green/turquoise Czech glass beads. The center jump ring is soldered and the three lengths of chain are attached to it. I used oxidized copper wire to wrap the top, along with brass rings, red glass and tiny brass beads. They are lightweight at 0.14 oz and just over 2.5" long. Lots of movement, too. :)

I wanted to mention that I am really enjoying our two newest contributors and their jewelry. Both Lindsay and Meridy create such beautiful pieces, and I always look forward to their posts. I hope you do as well.

Enjoy the day, and the next couple of weeks. I'll see you then. Thank you!

Much Love & Joy to each of you today & every single day!

Norbel

SheFliesAgain

Easter, Twigs and Fringes

Easter time. School holiday. We've had a busy and nice week with excursions and meetings with friends and family. I made these earrings just last night. Twigs and Fringes.

Art beads:
Ceramic twigs - Donna Perlinplim

Other components:
Different coloured waxed linen cord
Messy wrapped oxidized copper wire
6/0 seed beads
Handmade oxidized copper earrings hooks



Now, as I sit here and write this blog post and watch the images I took earlier this morning, I realize I must have been subliminally inspired by the season of the year and the typically traditional Swedish Easter decorations of coloured feathers on twigs or tree branches. It wasn't at all what I thought about as I made them last night. Isn't that just fascinating how the mind works in lovely mysterious ways :-).

All my best,

Malin de Koning

www.beadingbymalindekoning.blogspot.com

Butterflies 🦋🦋

Purple butterfly earrings

Enamelled butterfly charms: Angelika Kaufmann

Sparkling lampwork rocks: Maryse Fritzsch-Thillens

Wire wrapped hoops: Me

plus rhinestones, Swarovski rondelles, brass chain, brass ear wires and copper wire

Red rose and butterfly earrings

Enamelled butterfly charms: Angelika Kaufmann

Polymer roses: Leah Curtis

Wire wrapped ovals: Me

plus brass chain, brass ear wires and copper wire

Anyone would think I liked butterflies 😁.  Hope you liked today's offerings.  The purple pair is already listed in my shop.  See you again soon.

Suhana <3

My Etsy shop: Buttoned Up Beads

Have Pliers, Will Weave Silver!

I learned my first chainmaille weave about seven or eight years ago and have been hooked ever since.  I read tutorials, experimented with different weaves, and then discovered the fabulous "Spider," a chainmaille teacher well-known and beloved in the chainmaille community.  I got her DVDs and discovered that she was a young woman with a soothing voice and a way of clearly explaining how to get those pesky rings to slide into place and weave together to make intricately patterned jewelry.  I also watched how she held her pliers and how she opened and--even more important--closed her rings (there is a very particular way to do it).  And I learned.

I love it when I get into a rhythm weaving a pattern from the rings, watching my project take shape.  It is surprisingly meditative.   I've made necklaces, lanyards, earrings (these below are antiqued copper in European 4-in-1, with spikes by Karen Totten)...

...and bracelets (this one is copper woven in half-Persian 4-in 1, with a pretty dotted heart by Kristi Bowman-Gruel):

I once even weaved a flat piece of chainmaille to use as a mesh backing on which to connect a LOT of little jasper gem dangles for the focal of a necklace.  This is the back of the focal, showing the mailled mesh:  

And the front of the necklace...

That said, I haven't been making much chainmaille recently.  There just seems to be too many other things competing for my time, creatively and otherwise.  But a few days ago, out of the blue, I got the urge to spend some time "weaving silver" (as Spider would say), so I decided to make some new earrings especially for Earrings Everyday.   They're made in one of my favorite weaves, Japanese 12-in-2, and are sterling silver from top to bottom.  I love their graceful, sinuous shape.  

These earrings can be found here.

As always, thanks so much for reading--I'll see you all again in two weeks!  

Meridy

xoxo

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Mamounia.

Hello, and welcome!

Today I thought I'd introduce you to my favourite fibre bead artist, Carolyn Saxby.

Last weekend we went to stay in Foel,Wales, with our good friends Lucy (of Faerystone fame) and Harry Haslam. A year ago they bought a dilapidated but beautiful, very old (at least 1680's) house in a  tiny Welsh village and have proceeded to rebuild it as their dream home. It's already looking pretty amazing and I can't wait to see it finished.

Lucy and I were rooting in her bead stash on Saturday planning our next show and I was bemoaning the fact that I had run out of Carolyn Saxby's Tyvek beads........lo and behold, out came a bag full and I could choose the ones I wanted! What it is to have beading friends....

Carolyn is a textile artist and photographer based in  the beautiful coastal town of St. Ives in Cornwall. Whilst beads are a side line to her main art work, when she does make some they go like wildfire.  And you can see why....fantastic jewel tones and wonderful textures, all in one light as a feather bead.

Those jewel tones of sapphire, red ochre and mustard reminded me of the souks of Marrakech so I named these Mamounia. It's one of the world's greatest old hotels (1923) and patronised by the rich and famous - so needless to say, we didn't stay there, but the Riads in the old town are just as atmospheric. Do go if you get a chance. The rusty Moroccan lantern in the pic below - another of my favourite photo props - was picked up at the market along with a traditional clay tagine that I often cook with (well, ok, occasionally cook - not a great one for wasting time in the kitchen).

 

 

Nothing picks up jewel tones quite like swarowski crystals and bright copper (Lucy made those fab earwires for me).

                                                              And that's all they need.

                                                               See you in two weeks

                                                                      Lindsay x

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Retro Sping Vibes

Hi there! I hope you're having a fabulous day today!

I have a spring in my step (no pun intended). I get happy when I think of all the pretty blooms to come. One of my middle names translates to "Daisy" in English, and maybe that's why I'm fond of all flowers that remotely resemble them? I don't know, but I really do love them!

Flower from my garden, taken a couple years ago

This particular type of flowers really caught my eye because of the beautiful shades of mauve, purple, pink, yellow, white and orange. I spent a lot of time admiring these in my front yard. I totally forget their name (I'm terrible with plant names), it's not a fancy flower, but they made my heart sing.... and that's what matters to me :)

Another thing that speaks to me is retro vibes - I'm a bit of a hippie, I won't hide it lol so I went a bit retro, and bit wild, with my new Ebb & Flow Polymer Clay Components Collection, and these earrings feature a pair of the drops I made:

Ebb & Flow retro vibe Collection earrings by Nathalie Lesage

There's a multitude of little details, starting on my handmade square Polymer Clay drops, where I have used some Silver Metal Leaf to add dimension, as well as a trio of square silver tone metal studs.

I wanted to bring out the pink in these very lightweight Polymer Clay drops, so I used some Swarovski Crystals (clear & Padparadscha AB), along with a trio of sparkling Silver Glass saucers, and some little TierraCast Silver faceted spacers (on the bottom jumpring) to add even more eye-catching sparkles. Titanium hooks complete the look:

Visit MyGardenOfLove.Etsy.com to view the Ebb & Flow Jewelry Components and more!

I will be uploading a number of these new Spring inspired Polymer Clay Jewelry Making Components with a touch of retro vibe in my Etsy Shop this week. You can also find these new earrings there! I have so much to list, with a few different collections/colors, I need more hours in the day.

Do you have a favorite flower? How about a favorite color combo on your favorite type of flower?

Do you like retro vibes? It makes me feel lighthearted, and I feel like dancing to the rhythm of some  B-52 tunes lol How about you?

Thank you for stopping by! I hope Spring is finally finding its way to your neck of the woods...

I wish you all a wonderful Easter!

Cheers,

Nathalie-The-Wild-Child-Of-The-60s

My Etsy Jewerly & Components Shop: http://www.MyGardenOfLove.Etsy.com

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