It's the Great Pumpkin!

Pumpkin Orange Ceramic Earrings

It's the time of year for harvest colors and images, cornucopias, dried flowers and cornstalks. You get my drift? My favorite one is Charlie Brown and the Great Pumpkin, so these brought to mind that image.

There are four pieces of heavy wire, two forming the loops and two that will eventually form the ear wires. After attaching the wire to the ceramic focals (from Outwest on Etsy), I hammered the wire loops and the tails to the desired hardness. Czech glass dangles hang playfully from the primitive copper loops.

Linus, Charlie and I haven't lost faith. The Great Pumpkin will come, but maybe not this year.









Gloria Ewing

Chrysalis Tribal Jewelry
Chrysalis Too on Etsy

Spellbinder Earrings

Spellbinder Earrings

Today's earring design combines ancient looking raku lampwork glass from Bead Fairy and primitive stonewear clay discs made by At Home in Taos, with Gothic style pewter charms from Inviciti. Each element has it's own charm and casts its own spell. Together they are captivating, irresistible and spellbinding!

I really love working with components that have an old sun washed or worn look to them, and I think these earrings include all of those qualities. Their scale is a little on the large side, but they are intended to make a statement.














Gloria Ewing

Chrysalis Tribal Jewelry
Chrysalis Too on Etsy

Taos Bronze

Taos Bronze Earrings

My earring design has a mix of southwestern style rugged looking clay stone wear discs and rounds, from At Home in Taos on Etsy, with bronze and turquoise. My original plan was to make coordinating earrings to go with a statement necklace I had just finished that has oodles of turquoise rondelles. But I wanted a less traditional approach to the turquoise.

So to add a little "Area 51" element, I cut some bronze discs, hammered them to a pleasing texture, and gave them a coating of wax sealer and then some light buffing to bring back their wonderful sheen. Arranging them with the stone wear beads and turquoise drops, I wrapped them with Vintaj bronze wire. The four ball bronze ear wires go perfectly with the character and scale of the other components.

The result is an interesting "New Mexico meets alien space vehicle" combination, but somehow it works. I wish I could say that all my strange ideas were successful, but that is how I learn. It doesn't always work the first time, but I can usually find a way to use that new idea in another piece later on.



















Gloria Ewing

Chrysalis Tribal Jewelry
Chrysalis Too on Etsy

Madras Mosaic

Madras Mosaic Earrings

Let me take you to a marketplace in Madras, an Indian seaport city on the Bay of Bengal. Picture the street crowded with people, sellers of fruit and vegetables, fabrics and colorful adornments. Spicy curries are being prepared, each one with a distinctive flavor, and the aroma is everywhere.

My earring design reflects the mood of the Indian street market, with a rich mix of ethnic flavored textures and colors. The amazing drops are handmade by Natalie McKenna of Grubbi Ceramics on Etsy, and the accompanying beads are old chevron trade beads from the 1800s, Cheyenne pink seed beads, and recycled vinyl beads in a bright sea green. Stacked and wrapped in oxidized copper wire in keeping with the old ethnic look.

Gloria Ewing

Chrysalis Tribal Jewelry
ChrysalisToo on Etsy

Emerald Isle Rustic

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone!!! Lively greens with rustic copper drops are a color combination that can't miss, and what could be more appropriate for St. Paddy's Day? I'm sure you all recognize the gorgeous copper components made by our own Kristi Bowman. In this design, I use faceted ovals of chalk turquoise that have been dyed a luscious shamrock green, along with tiny dangles of green onyx in a deeper shade of green that blends well and adds more dimension to the design.

You can almost smell the lush green fields and the musty earth after a rain shower. Ireland looks so alive!!! This country is on my list of places I would love to visit. If I were there now, I would put on my mud boots and take a long walk in the country soaking up all the freshness of spring. After the long walk, I might be thirsty and stop off for a pint in honor of the day?

Gloria Ewing

Chrysalis Too on Etsy
Chrysalis Tribal Jewelry

Northern Lights

Northern Lights Earrings

As a person who has lived in the northern tier of the country for most of my life, you would think that at one time or another I would have seen the northern lights. Charged particles from the sun that dance and shimmer in the night sky in awe inspiring displays, named after the Roman goddess of dawn, Aurora. But I am still a northern lights virgin, and have to imagine what they might look like based on the eye witness accounts of others.

Gorgeous Basha beads have the look of ancient primitive glass, with colors that dance in the light like the Aurora Borealis. So, what to do with these ethereal and slightly intimidating lampwork beads? I fashioned rustic copper arches, hammered them with a rugged texture, and darkened them. The idea was to provide a primitive looking hoop earring base for the Basha beads to hang from, surrounded by messy wrapped copper wire.




Gloria Ewing

Chrysalis Tribal Jewelry
Chrysalis Too on Etsy

Take a Risk

In a departure from the usual format of focusing on the inspiration for my idea, I would like to probe into the selection process for blogging about my earrings. I'm sure each of the participating artists on Earrings Everyday has her own method for building a post around their earring creations. Maybe you are curious about mine?

Detailed advance planning doesn't work as well for me as spontaneity. Please don't interpret that to mean I'm just being lazy! The truth is I cannot decide which direction to go until the last moment. So I usually have three newly made earring pairs from which to choose, one being a variation of a signature design of mine, in other words "in my comfort zone". The pietersite earrings below fall into that category. The other two pairs are the risky ones. This time, I have one pair of very rustic hammered and hinged copper earrings with a red patina (pictured below). I also have the pair I chose to feature above that are the most risky of the three, out on the edge in a primitive style. For the body of these earrings, I used my own bone shaped polymer clay connectors. The roughly wrapped oxidized copper wire emphasizes the primitive character, as do my handmade copper ear wires. The dangling beads are Czech glass with an aged Picasso finish.

"Comfort zone" wire wrapped matched pietersite stones with leather.

Medium risk, relentlessly hammered copper earrings in a 2-part hinged design with less than precise stamping and a red patina.









Gloria Ewing

Chrysalis Tribal Jewelry
Chrysalis Too on Etsy

Boho Navajo

You may have noticed that I have an attraction to southwestern and native American themes. The Navajo stand out among the native tribes for their skills in weaving, pottery, basketry and maybe most of all for their luscious turquoise and silver jewelry. I have always admired Navajo art, and purchased my first piece of authentic Navajo silver jewelry in 1984. You can probably see native American influence in much of my work.

For this design, I decided to keep the focus on the verdigris brass conchos from Dime Store Emporium on Etsy. The weight of these brass components is perfect and I absolutely love the rustic look of the verdigris patina. The conchos are stamped but not flimsy. Their weight is substantial but not overly heavy for use in earrings. I arranged tribal looking Czech seed beads in colorful columns to coordinate with the verdigris patina, and added copper and bronze accents.

Gloria Ewing




Chrysalis Too on Etsy
Chrysalis Jewelry on Artfire

Chieftess

Rustic Copper Shield Earrings

Sometimes we need a little boost to feel great about ourselves. You know that outfit in your closet that effortlessly works and always makes you feel like you're at the top of your game? I think we all have one of those. So you don't have to actually be the "Chieftess" or the "Alpha", just feel like one every now and then. That is what these earrings say to me, "Look out, here I come!". Maybe I should call these my attitude lifting earrings?

To the wonderfully rustic copper shield components from Kristi Bowman, I added hammered copper wire arches and wire wrapped loops, and niobium ear wires. Sherbet orange Czech glass drops and tiny turquoise rounds add color and positive energy to the design.


Gloria Ewing
Chrysalis Too on Etsy
Chrysalis Jewelry on Artfire