Anyway, that kind of brings me to these earrings... :)
I don't often use gemstones in my work, even though I love them, and I don't do a lot of wire-wrapping these days either, though I also enjoy doing that as well. So these earrings use techniques I haven't made use of in a while.
My starting point was Cathleen Zaring's beautiful white-and-blue enameled copper crescents, a shape I love. To suspend components like these, I often knot tiny beads into thread instead of wrapping beads on metal. But a week or so ago I'd been digging around in my little trove of gemstones looking for some garnets and found a small bag of tiny, GORGEOUS blue neon apatite beads--and they looked great with the crescents. I also had a feeling that these rustic-cut little beads would look best wire-wrapped onto metal.
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So I made four copper connectors, darkened them with liver of sulfur, and then tumbled them for hours to give them a gorgeous gleaming chestnut brown color. Before I put all the parts together, I wrapped the apatite beads to the connectors with raw 26-gauge copper, and then attached the crescents to the connectors and to copper jump rings (which had also received the liver of sulfur and tumbling treatment). The teal blue niobium ear wires were the perfect final touch.
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| "Bon Apatite" can be found in my shop, Two Trees Studio. |
I really enjoyed making these blue beauties and sharing them with you. I also wonder how many of us might be feeling that pull of restlessness that I identify as the urge to grow and expand on a creative path. My love and best wishes go out to you all as we share our paths together!
xoxo
Meridy
And they are absolute perfection. We should revisit our older work more often x
ReplyDeleteThank you, Lindsay--I always appreciate your comments. :)
DeleteAlways important to honor our intuition and heed the inspiration as she passes through! It's the nature of spring to grow... no different for us. Love what you have discovered and wrought!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much, Kare. You're so right about honoring our intuition. It's funny how often we tend to fight against that, isn't it? xoxo
DeletePerfection indeed. The apatite beads are a wonderful match, especially wire wrapped.
ReplyDeleteThank you kindly, Janine! I'm really glad I found those beads, as they led me down a path I might not have taken otherwise. :) xoxo
DeleteThey're beautiful Meridy :) I often revisit old design when I cant think of new ones :D
ReplyDeleteThanks so much, Suhana! I know what you mean--I do too...and then sometimes they inspire a new design! Funny how the process works sometimes. :) xoxo
DeleteBeautiful design, Meridy. I have found that revisiting old designs often leads to new designs. <3
ReplyDeleteThanks, Cathleen--I loved working with your blue-apatite-colored components too. And I'm also finding that revisiting older designs is inspiring me to new things...so cool how things work, eh? xoxo
DeleteYes I too am restless.... so I have taken the plunge and purchased some enamelling tools and items to use along with some copper metal clay as well. I hope to combine all of my skills when I've had lots of practice.
ReplyDeleteJust gotta be brave now and get to it!!
Beautiful earrings it is good to revisit old designs and bring then up to date with new components etc.
Thank you, Elaine! I'm starting to quiet some of my restlessness by working with some new media too, which has been a lot of fun. I've often thought that I'd love to try metal clay! I wish you all the best with your new endeavors--I can't wait to see what you come up with! xoxo
DeleteSuch pretty earrings! The perfect Summer pair. I love Apatite too. Wonderful choice! I too, feel that way.
ReplyDeleteThanks so very much, Nathalie! <3 :)
ReplyDeleteMeridy, these are lovely! And I think you absolutely had it right to use metal rather than fabric. The stones are so beautiful and a perfect complement to the crescents. A great way to work with the shape. And yes. . . . . I am feeling very restless. . . . . spending time thinking in which direction I'd like to go. There are many things I've wanted to learn for years now. Enamel was always at the top of the list but it has become so sophisticated that it wouldn't feel right to me. So metal work, I think, is what I'd like to do. More complex metal work. I don't know. . . time will tell. But in the meantime, this pair of earrings is fresh and Meridy Beautiful!
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