Pleasantly Pink

 When I bought these pretty, floral copper dangles, I knew I wanted to pair them with something pink, because I think that is such a natural color combination. However, I have a love/hate relationship with pink. I'm not fond of baby girl pink and hot pink is not much better.  I do like mauve and I like bright pink with green (think peonies with their green leaves).

Digging around in my drawer of pink beads, I found these pink leopard skin jasper beads. Perfect! I framed them with antiqued copper bead caps, some strawberry quartz and some copper colored glass spacers. I was pleasantly pleased with the outcome.
I will be adding the Pleasantly Pink Earrings to my shop later this afternoon.

Linda Landig Jewelry

Summer colour!

So we have had a taste of summer over here in the UK. And it has inspired me to create some earrings with bright summer colours.

My starting point was Petra Carpreau's ceramic sticks. Love the vibrant reds yellows and oranges in these two pairs. They scream hot summer sun. 

In this first pair they are accompanied by some large juicy cherry red agate barrels. Just luscious...

The second pair have some delicious carnelian and pyrite rondelles. Love the sunset colours in these. And of course, both pairs have oxidised brass hoops to frame the ceramic sticks, for that extra bit of drama :-)

All of the semi-precious gems are from Sylvia Stungo's shop -a treasure trove of pretty things. These earrings will be available in my show this week over in Facebook Land -look for The Earrings Show.

See you in a couple of weeks

Sue

Sugar Skulls

Who doesn't like them?! Well I never did, but they've grown on me now. For today's post I used a pair of my painted resin skulls. I kept them simple as there is so much going on already...(the honest truth is I had no idea what to do with these 😅).  Hope you like my matchmaking. 

Ceramic beads are from Perlayo on Etsy.

It's a short and sweet one from me today.  I'm listing the earrings on Etsy shortly.  See you soon <3

Suhana xx

My Etsy shop: Suhana Hart Jewellery

Chain, Chain, Chain...

My newest earrings started with these tiny (under 2 cm long) rustic black clay hearts with their pretty metallic bronze glaze... 

Made by Sarah Kandell-Gritzmaker of Slate Studios Supply, these little hearts are one-of-a-kind pieces that beautifully carry off both rustic and delicate.  I wanted that balance to be the focus of what I brought to the rest of the elements of the earrings I would create with the them. 

Since the ceramic hearts are so small, everything else needed to be equally petite, including these little bits of sparkle, 7 x 5 mm Czech glass rondelles, opal with mercury style and AB finish...

Maybe the most interesting thing, though, are the bits of chain that became crucial parts of the earrings.  I cut two "crescents" from a strand of antiqued copper crescent moon chain (below) from Beadshop.com.  (They also carry this chain in bright silver tone, antiqued silver, antiqued brass, and gold.) 

In the finished earrings, the copper crescents from the chain remind me of armor, a contrast to the pearly Czech rondelles and the delicate open-wire petals of the copper bead caps.  

When I finished the earrings, I wrapped some 15/0 silver-lined pearl seed beads to each copper ear wire to continue the quiet sparkle.   

These little earrings (less than 2 inches long) remind me of the famous quotation from "A Midsummer Night's Dream" about the petite yet very strong-minded Hermia:  "Though she be but little, she is fierce." 💗

 

Thanks so much for reading!  I'll be back again on June 13.

xo
Meridy

My Shop

A Game of Thrones

Well, it's finally ended. After 8 series, countless battles, deaths and political wranglings galore. Much anticipated, much discussed. A Game of Thrones - inspiring so much debate, it even has a TV programme (Thronecast) dedicated to dissecting every detail of plot and character.

Up to 8 weeks ago, I hadn't watched a single episode, falling into the 'what's all the fuss about, silly dragons etc' camp. Then my friend Lucy Haslam finally persuaded me, after two years of pestering, to base our latest jewellery show around it. So I thought I'd just watch a couple of episodes, get the feel of it, the type of jewellery I could conjure up from the themes, costumes etc.
                                                               
                                                                       Hooked.

In 8 weeks him indoors and I binge watched the whole 7 previous series to get up to date for the new, and final one. And the ideas are flowing. 

This pair of earrings are one of the first I completed. Helen Backhouse had been working on some new polymer pieces using moulds from teasel heads in her garden - in my deluded state they looked to me like dragon wings, so I sourced some black brass dragon claws; the black brass crescent moons curve nicely around the top of the 'wings' and Lucy's black copper bobble earwires fit perfectly.

 This pair is for Viserion, the middle dragon. And of course, there are three, all differently coloured…..so let's see what transpires! Our show is in  The Very Nice Group over the Bank holiday weekend 31st May to 2nd June. It's a must for all you GoT fans!

 

 

Hop to see you there.

 

Lindsay x 

 

My Etsy shop

 

My facebook page

 

 

        

We're All Ears :: Encapsulated Potential

I hope you found something intriguing about the graceful curving forms of Ruth Asawa's beautiful wire work. For me the challenge was trying to miniaturize these forms and to get the sense of the shape within the shape that her wire sculptures depicted.

I found this short video about the experience of seeing one of these forms on display and how we are meant to interact with these sculptures in a way that was different than what most had known about sculpture up to the mid-century when she was creating them. The brief video only shows one piece, but she intended for them to be shown together, like the picture above, where the shapes play off one another and the shadows they create are part of a sort of living exhibit. The biomorphic designs were built with very common materials - copper, brass, steel wire - that she elevated to something staggeringly beautiful. Asawa also believed that art should be accessible, which is why the permanent exhibition of her work is in a space that does not charge people to see them, and also that art is something that you do every single day. I love this sensibility and try to bring that to my own art projects.

So I started with the wire. I was using 16 gauge steel wire for the base and made a couple of contenders to replicate her shapes. I also pulled out some metal beads that I thought would work for the enveloped orbs that are common to her work. I think that I would go back and try to do this with other metal colors, as that is the only color in her work.

Now I don't know how to crochet with wire, but that would be something. Ruth learned these techniques in Mexico when she worked with local craftspeople who made baskets like this, but she came back and transformed the craft into art. Can you imagine some crochet orb earrings like this? I think that would be incredibly dramatic! What I decided to do was cage a bead with simple wire wrapping. I found these fluted beads that worked well because the grooves could be used to trap the bead in the wiring, giving it a sense of floating inside the shape. I like a little bit of movement, and just a hint of bling to catch the light, so I added some smalller fluted beads and just a little Swarovski crystal that helped to reinforce the cascading, morphing shapes.

There is a lot of mystery with Ruth Asawa's art. I can't fathom how she did all of these, especially getting those bubbles suspended within. So I called these "Mystery Within" as her art hints at seed pods and all the encapsulated potential.

I am curious to see how this art influenced your design.

Beaded

Hello friends,

Hope you are all doing well. A short and sweet post from me today.

I made these beaded beads a while back and stacked them with pretty Czech glass beads. 

Thank you so much for looking and your support for Earrings Everyday :)
And you know I love to read your comments, so don't be shy and leave some words. 

See you next month.Wishing you all a wonderful day, full of joy, laughter and butterflies.

Janine
Esfera Jewelry

Silver Strike

⌾

Clean & Contemporary  

Touched By The Past

With A Color Pop 

And Striking Lines.

⭗

Ceramic bells in black, silver & peach by Candan Imrak.

Vintage metal tubes.

Blackened annealed steel wire.

Thank you for stopping by!

Loralee Kolton xo

https://www.etsy.com/shop/loraleekolton/

https://www.instagram.com/loraleekolton/

Lava, Raku and Hawaii

My husband and I just got back from the island of Hawaii. We spent the week there with our daughter, son in law and their adorable 6 month old daughter, who I'm completely smitten with! We were in the Kona area of Hawaii. If you've ever been to Kona, then you know that many (but not all) of the beaches and hills in the area are covered with lava.

The lava fascinated me. In some areas it was all broken up, sharp and rocky, as in the photo above. But in other places it was smoother and you could see how it had flowed and piled up. It reminded me of pouring just cooked caramel or pudding out of spoon and watching it mound and puddle up.

The raku beads in today's earrings remind me of those mounds of cooled lava.  Very organic and mounded up a bit. Perhaps I've got Hawaii on the mind and so I'm seeing Hawaii in totally unrelated things.  I've always had an active imagination! 😉

The lava, erm, raku beads were made by Xaz beads. The tops and bottoms of the beads have a definite metallic purple sheen to them. I emphasized that purple sheen by topping the raku beads with amethysts. The leaf shaped head pins and fancy, wire wrapped ear wires are from Handmade by JGL.

Linda Landig Jewelry

On Safari

I have two new pairs of earrings to show you today on a wild animal theme. Firstly these Zebras with detailed resin components by Susan Linda Stokes, lampwork hoops by Julie Burgard, black and white horn beads and small jasper beads with peanut seed beads.

Next I have created these elephant earrings with pewter components by Kelly Luttrell, hoops again by Julie Burgard, horn beads and lampwork by Jasminka Milovanovic.

If you are interested in purchasing either pair they will be posted on my group page later today, Nicola Morse Jewellery & Components.

Which colourway?

I painted the brass frames and leaves separately with no idea what would become of them. Hope you like how I've put them together.  Let me know in comments which pair speaks to you (if any does at all :D)

First pair in ruby pink, jade, red, purple and blue

Second pair in metallic colours 

and the third pair in ruby pink, yellow, turquoise, silver, rose gold.

These will be available in my upcoming show in The Earrings Show FB group on Monday.  Hope you can stop by.  

Have a lovely weekend and I will see you in a couple of weeks time.

Suhana <3

Etsy shop: Suhana Hart Jewellery

Vivid!

Hi, everyone!  This past month has been a tough one, with a major household upheaval and the death of a beloved family pet.  💔   So I'll keep this short, but I'd love to show you all some recent earrings.  

The focus of the first pair (below) is a classic polymer clay design by Helena Benkoczka, pretty stylized feathers in violet, fuchsia, purple, and gold.  I paired the feathers with deep-blue lampwork glass rondelles, fuchsia Czech glass rondelles and Swarovski bicones, and gold accent beads, and tied the earrings together with fuchsia linen thread.

Kristi Bowman-Gruel's vividly colorful dotted-and-swirled painted copper charms (below) are so colorful all by themselves that I couldn't resist adding even more color and texture.  Even the little green Czech discs are dusted with gold, and Beth Mellor's rosy rondelles have subtle little dots.  A little over the top?  Well, maybe...  😉💗

Thank you so much for reading!  I'll be back in a couple of weeks.  💗

xoxo
Meridy

My Shop
My FB Page

Birds of a Feather

Sitting in my studio this morning all I could hear was silence...….and birds! The house next door to us is a tall 3 storey affair with a chimney where starlings nest every year. Some years I've counted over 30 baby birds lined up along the rooftop as they have several broods. They're very noisy and very greedy and can go through a couple of fat slabs in our feeder in a day, squabbling all the way. By contrast, the blackbirds that nest in our hedge are quiet and gentle. I saw one this morning picking our viola flowers to line her nest - soft and fragrant. Clever lady.
 

Todays earrings are birdy. Polymer clay birds (mum and baby) by Jana Bliznakova, textured ceramic discs by Nitta of  Corvus Ceramics, czech glass feathers, peanut beads and dark copper metalwork by Lucy Haslam all add to the rustic feel.

So off I go to fill up the bird feeders yet again - see you in a couple of weeks time.

                                                                  Lindsay xx

                                                              My Etsy shop

                                                            My Facebook page

seafoam

Hello everyone how are you all, ? The weather here in Wales has been up and down recently ranging from gales and winds lashing rain to glorious sunny days that make you think summer has come early Some time ago the lovely Juliette Mullet came for a stay with her daughter Cassie, we had been friends on FB for a while but getting to know her in person was really lovely. She had asked me to make her a set of jewellery using her own wonderful lampwork beads and getting to know her in real life helped me put together a set that I must admit although hard to do ( I wanted them perfect) I am rather proud of.

I knew Juliette didn’t want long dangly earrings as she is a petite and feminine person and long dangles would be too much for her.

While she was here we had looked through a lot of my gemstones and beads and Juliette had fallen in love with these beautiful sea green Tyvec beads by Carolyn Saxby .

They were an absolutely perfect match to her glowing blue/green glowing lampwork and the mix of textures between the glowing lampwork beads and the fabulous tyvec was brilliant. I wanted to use my silver crinklies as I had used them in the bracelet and necklace they were a perfect foil for the blues and added yet another layer of texture. 

Juliette is like me we love our silver shiny and glamorous lol, so I added hand made silver headpins and pretty hand made silver earwires to finish them. 

I love Juliette s wonderful glowing beads and I work with them a lot, but these beautiful sea themed set really appealed to me and I’m glad to say she loved the set .
Hope you like them too
Lucy from Faerystone

Broken

Hello Earring Lovers!

No new makes from me today I'm afraid, but I made these recently for a showcase, and they were probably my favourite pair. They feature beautiful rustic ceramic drops by Nitta of Corvus Ceramics. If you haven't checked out Nitta's work -go take a look at her beautiful work on Facebook. So clever the way she's stapled the pieces together, don't you think? Adds to their rustic, delicate appeal.

There was a slight sepia look about Nitta's drops, which I wanted to complement. I chose delicious citrine -probably my all time favourite semi-precious stone. Apparently, it improves self esteem, and energises and stimulates creativity. What's not to love, right? I added a brass connector at the back of the ceramic drops, and finished these pretties off with a little co-ordinating czech glass briolette.

They'll be in my shop soon. 

See you next month!

Sue

We're All Ears :: May Inspiration :: Wire Forms

I love the Google Doodle. 

I find out the most intriguing things through it. 

The Google Doodle on May 1, 2019 was all about artist Ruth Asawa. She was a prolific Japanese-American artist of the mid-20th century after World War II. She was known for her commitment to art in all forms and especially art education in the San Francisco Bay area. I was most intrigued by her large wire form sculptures.

By Angel2u4now - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=63428437

Ruth was sent to an internment camp during WWII. But instead of cursing that experience she actually credited that experience for pushing her down the path of art when she met three Disney animators also detained there who taught her how to draw. After that time she attended university in Milwaukee to become an art teacher, until she learned that no school district in Wisconsin would offer her a teaching position. Eventually she ended up at the Black Mountain College near Asheville, NC to study with great artists like Joseph Albers. But a trip to Mexico in 1947 really set her down the path of working with wire using an ancient technique for weaving baskets.

I quite love the forms that she created. The undulating shapes are at once solid and airy. They are also quite sinuous and organic, like giant alien pods or some sort of unknown sea creature. The hidden-in-plain-sight internal forms that are suspended within recall mothers and children and hint at protection and love. The shadows that they cast are mesmerizing. And the fact that she used common materials like copper, brass and steel wire - letting those metal colors shine - transforming them into something spectacular with just her hands and a pair of pliers is incredible.

Although Ruth did a lot of different art forms, I thought that we could use these specific pieces of art for our inspiration. Consider this quote from Ruth Asawa:

“I was interested in it because of the economy of a line, making something in space, enclosing it without blocking it out. It’s still transparent. I realized that if I was going to make these forms, which interlock and interweave, it can only be done with a line because a line can go anywhere.”

 So go forth and find these undulating shapes in your bead stash, play with the shapes evoked, break out your wire and make some statement earrings that honor the life and work of the incomparable Ruth Asawa.

See you on May 17th for the reveal!