What's your Favorite _________?

Hello, and Happy September to all of you. I do hope this finds you and yours healthy and well. 

Someone really asked me this recently: "What is your favorite element to work with, just one?" Really? Really. That's like asking me what's your favorite Beatles song? Impossible! What is your favorite element? I can't answer that. Is it just me?

Ceramics were my first love, and the collection I continue to build is filled with little pieces of art. I love taking them out and holding them, staring at them, simply enjoying them, as you would any piece of art. But ceramics don't stand alone. I need copper and maybe glass, and whatever else I might choose to use. So I could never simply answer "ceramics." 

And lately I am being drawn more often to Lampwork glass. I've always used it and enjoyed it, but I am developing a much bigger appreciation for it and the many amazing ways the very talented Lampwork artists create with it. 

These earrings started with the Lampwork glass disks in a soft, weathered light olive green by Leese Mahoney of GlassByLeese, with an orange-like amber edge. I had my eye on the tan and orange stone-like Lampwork beads by Terry Turner of SilverFishDesigns to work into the design. Before actually working out a design, I thought I might want a pair of beadcaps. I couldn't find anything in my stash that looked quite right so I pounded out two small, rustic, flat pieces of copper sheet metal, distressed them, curled them under here and there. They're rough and rustic, and I liked them. 

"Vintage Ferris Wheel"

Here's the rest of the design process. I strung 20-gauge copper wire through the disk, brought the wire together at the top and put several glass beads and a blackened brass rice bead on the wire on both sides of the disks. I joined the wires together at the top of the disk, leaving just a bit of room above the disk, and used a Nephrite Jade stone with a large enough hole to fit both wires. I separated the wires a bit and put blackened brass rice beads side by side. Brought the wires together again and put on the Lampwork glass bead, topped it with a bead cap, and wrapped the remainder of the wire in a double loop. 

"Vintage Ferris Wheel"

That's that! i re-made these earrings a couple of times each. They didn't come together easily. Eventually I worked it out, and I liked them! 

As always, I thank you all for stopping by and visiting with us today. Comments and questions are greatly appreciated!

Thank you!

Norbel 
She Flies Again - Etsy Shop
You can find me on Facebook
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The Weight. . .

of the world earrings on your shoulders ears ;)

A while back Kim of Numinosity and Numinosity Beads, mentioned some of her more senior customers have difficulty with heavier earrings. Me too. But I wasn't able to wear heavier earrings when I was younger. They're just not comfortable for me. 

I noticed my friend, Chris Kaitlyn of ChrisKaitlynJewelry, was showing the weight of earrings in listings. I talked to her about it, she shared info, and I decided it was a good idea. At some point I realized that, okay, the weights are there but they're in a vacuum. What do they mean? I know what they mean to me but there isn't a "chart" to help customers decipher what they mean. Honestly, it's not possible. Weight is relative, and involves too many factors. I do, however, have customers ask me from time to time, "are these heavy?" There will never be a hard and fast rule, but I'm going to share with you the guidelines I use for myself.

 My earrings today are designed with beautiful, slim and lightweight ceramic leaves by Petra Carpreau of ScorchedEarthOnEtsy. These pieces are fired with leaves embedded, given this gorgeous glazing and fired again. I paired each with three 6mm, Natural Apatite stones. Apatite has become my favorite stone. The color is a rich, muted teal. Purchased from TheFickleBead. There are copper and copper-plated beads up top, along with handcrafted ceramic beads by Barbara Hanselman of BHClaysmith, another unique and talented ceramic artist. I used 22 gauge wire, not my first choice, but I knew it would help to keep them lighter and I'd be able to wrap it the way I wanted to. 

Very few components are "too heavy" to use. It depends what you do with them. It's wonderful to create without thought! It's art! It's what I love to do! But then I often end up with a wall hanging, not an earring. (I think I heard that saying here before) I'll keep going and going and going until they weigh an ounce! Well, what's an ounce you say? Here we get to what the weights mean. One of today's earrings weighs 0.23 oz, 6.68 grams. Less than a quarter of an ounce. A good weight for most women, I think, but it is not featherweight. Lightweight for most, in my opinion, but it won't be long until it creeps up into an area that will be too heavy for me. If I want to wear something all day and not think about it, I won't go much higher than this, around a quarter of an ounce. When I let something get to 0.30 oz. . . . that is getting out of the comfortable range for me, certainly not all-day wearable, and maybe not wearable at all. For Me!

My MIL split her lobe all the way down in her 60s with a gold hoop, so it does happen, even though she'd worn those for decades. 

You are not going to find weights in most shops and websites; It's not a necessary thing for a large part of the population. My customers run the gamut from very young adults to women in their 60s and beyond. It was the questions about the weight that encouraged me to try to find a way to give them a meaningful answer. For designers, if women in the AARP age group (that's 55 and up ;) are in your target market, you might want to think about weight with them in mind.

I see many listings that give the earrings a featherweight, lightweight, or medium weight. If you aren't offered a weight, and IF this is an issue for you, ask the seller for their opinion. On a weight scale of one to ten, where would they put the earrings. Remember, though, that it's an opinion, likely based on what is light, medium or heavy to them. 

If you would like to have a little more detail regarding weights and what they mean to me, please just let me know. I will always address a comment/question left here, and you can always message me through She Flies Again, my Etsy shop, or Facebook.

Thank you for stopping in today! We appreciate it!
Norbel

What's in a Face?

Hello! And Happy June.

I don't have a lot of clear early childhood memories, but there are a handful that I have always remembered, for whatever bizarre reason as they don't seem to connect to anything major at all, and one of them has to do with faces. I was a very young girl, obviously working on expanding my mind, which it certainly needed based on the thoughts I was having. :) I remember clearly pondering and being perplexed by the fact that every person on the planet looked so different, when we all have two eyes, a nose and a mouth. Remember, I was really, really young. :) But that was the beginning of my fascination with faces, their expressions, and my emotional reactions to them. Not just human faces; I'm fascinated by canines, felines, other primates. Faces in photographs, paintings, sketches, I love them all.

So it was no surprise to me when I found myself gravitating to faces in jewelry components as well. And there is so much to choose from. 

Today's earrings are "Serene Faces" made by Andrea Salkowe of Josephine Beads. They are, indeed, serene, and this pair is graced with a beautiful, high-gloss, golden brown glaze with shadows and shadings of deep brown. Simply beautiful. The glaze seems to almost sparkle.

"What's in a Face"

Initially these earrings were a fiesta of color, and they were fun, but they had lost some of their serenity, and I wanted them to stay serene. So a two-color palette is where I landed. I used varying shades of brown aged glass beads, natural Turquoise disk stones and matte finish, opaque turquoise glass beads, with one rogue red glass bead on each, all wound on ball-tip headpins I made with 20 gauge copper wire, and 22 gauge copper wire was used to wrap above the faces. 

As an aside, I generally don't like working with 22 gauge copper wire. Even though the wire I use is "half hard," 22 gauge is "wimpy," even when work hardened. But many things, like these Turquoise disks, won't fit on 20 gauge. They just require a little extra TLC.  And Black Lip Shell heishi beads sit atop the Turquoise disks.

What's in a Face?

Thought I'd also share with you my current little stash of Face Beads. All of them are ceramic. The artisans who made them are Jana Bliznakova of Happy Fish Things; Petra Carpreau of Scorched Earth on Etsy; Andrea Salkowe of Josephine Beads; Nadia Karepencheva of Nadia Terra. I have a whole lot of fun to look forward to! :)

Fun Fun Fun!

Thank you so much for taking the time to take a look. We appreciate it! I'll be back on the 21st of June. 'Til then, I wish you all days filled with sunshine, peace & joy. 

Norbel Marolla
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