Renaissance Windows

Hello, lovelies!  It's good to be back--it feels like it's been a while!  💗

The idea for the earrings I'm writing about today started quietly, when I found these beads at Arte Bella Surplus, one of my long-time favorite supply shops:      

I didn't buy them for any particular project, but rather because I like window beads and because their cross-like shape reminds me of certain Renaissance (or Renaissance-style) earrings I've seen in photos and in museums.  

Below are examples of variations of the same cross motif.  The first pair (left to right) is a simple quatrefoil shape, not unlike the window beads pictured above.  The second pair below also reflects the cross motif, in two ways:  with the petals and the pearls. And the third pair is obviously a cross. Each of these three examples also have a central focus where the arms of the "cross" would meet: the first pair has a tiny quatrefoil flower at its center, and white pearls sit at the centers of the other two pairs.     

                                                         

I had a beautiful pair of small rainbow Goddess charms by KristiBowmanDesign, and just for fun I laid them on my work table next to two of the blue-green window beads, and I had a feeling I might have something special.  💗

I added a pair of beautiful three-sided iris-colored Czech glass window beads, and small gleaming lights of glass and crystal.  

Thanks so much for reading!
I'll be back again on September 12.

xoxo
Meridy 💗
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😊

Discs and Circles...

...and DOTS!  Happy New Year, everyone!

I hope your 2019 is going well!  💗

These colorful, happy, and whimsical earrings were so much fun to make!  I've just listed them, and their sunniness is welcome after the rain and windstorms we've had here in Sacramento the last few days!  It's been glooooomy!

I bought the wonderful ombre dotted charms by Nicola Morse quite a while ago, and found their dotty match (the glorious golden hollow beads by Beth Mellor) by chance a number of months ago.  I had commissioned Beth to make me some beads to go with other components I had, and she made those beads as well as many more...including the wonderful dotted beauties that ended up in these earrings.  I love how these earrings came together by serendipity.  💗

To finish the earrings, I added a pair of small orchid glass discs (also by Beth), golden Swarovski rondelles nestling in little gold leafy bead caps, and beautiful 4-mm faceted purple garnet coins.  I wrapped everything together with gold-filled wire and hung them on my Two Trees gold-filled ear wires.

These earrings can be found at Two Trees Studio, here.

Wishing you all sunny days--or at least sunny days of the heart.  💗

Thanks for reading.  I'll be back in two weeks with some new things!

xoxo
Meridy

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Springtime, at the Edge of Winter...

It's nearly Winter Solstice, but I'm still loving florals, especially 

when they're as pretty as the flowers created by

Beth Mellor and Raida Disbrow, here and below.  

These earrings can be found and purchased here.

Such gentle beauty and color from Beth's glass tulip beads (with their blue petals laid over

 underlying green) and Raida's lovely floral enameled copper charms!  I complemented them

 with small blue Czech glass tulip beads, 4-mm olivine Czech glass discs, tiny rosy bicone 

Swarovski crystals, and small leafy copper bead caps.   

Thank you so much for reading!  I'll be back soon. 💗 The happiest of holidays to you all!

xoxo
Meridy
Two Trees Studio

Wired Butterflies

Hi, everyone!

I tried something a little different with these new earrings, which feature a pair of Cathleen Zaring's beautiful butterfly enameled-copper earring components: 

FYI, my usual go-to technique to use with components with top holes like these would be something like these earrings I made three years ago...

...and, believe me, I love these earrings and adore working with fiber and knotting this way.  But lately I've been having fun going back to playing with wire too.  

I'd made antiqued copper wire connector components before for necklaces (below is a detail) but had never tried to use them for earrings, and had never added beads to them. 

I thought it might be fun to see how the round connectors would work with this type of earring component, with just a few small beads in coordinating colors wrapped to them (and with a bead wrapped to each matching ear wire too!).  I didn't know what to expect, but they have a sleekness, a simplicity, and a modernity that I like--and I don't always end up liking my experiments.  😏  

They were also really fun to make.  I hadn't gotten my hands really messy in liver of sulfur in a while!  

These earrings can be purchased at Two Trees Studio.

Recipe for Wired Butterflies 

Enameled "handbag-shaped" copper earring beads by Cathleen Zaring

22 ga. round antique copper wire wrapped connectors

3 mm Czech glass rounds in amethyst and wine

15/0 Miyuki Delica yellow seed beads

Thanks for reading--I'll be back in a couple of weeks!

xoxo

Meridy 

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Bead Soup Celebration 💗

Spring comes early to Sacramento, here by the beautiful blue American River.  Things start to bloom in February--sometimes even earlier--and I've been getting the urge to make something colorful.  And bright.  And Boho.  And swingy.  And long.

Really long.   Shoulder-sweeper long.  😊  

So I pulled out some small, brightly colored beads and searched through my box of chain and came up with the perfect bead soup ingredients:  turquoise rice beads, dyed jade rondelles, faceted purple agate rounds, ocean blue jasper, multicolored faceted agate rounds, bright fuchsia Czech glass rounds, tiny brass hexagons, Japanese seed beads, and Swarovski crystals.  

I especially liked this soldered brass chain, with its large and small twisted links, because of its airiness and the way the shape of the large links mirrors the shape of the turquoise beads:

I've been busy lately with several custom orders, but these  earrings wouldn't let me rest.  They insisted that I finish them--and who was I to argue?  

The Celebration Earrings can be found
 at Two Trees Studio.

Cheers, my friends!  Happy creating, and thanks for reading!  I'll see you again in a couple of weeks.  💗

xoxo

Meridy

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How I Learned to 💗 Holiday Jewelry

I have a confession to make:  I have never been a fan of holiday-themed jewelry.  In fact, the thought of making anything even vaguely "holidayish" always filled me with dread...and if that sounds a little hyperbolic, let's just say I was always less than enthusiastic about the idea.   Maybe it's just that I'd never seen much holiday jewelry that I liked over the years, but I have always avoided making anything for Hallowe'en, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentine's...well, you get the picture.

But this past Christmas season, I saw a few pieces by other designers that truly knocked me out.  Monica Pryor made an exquisite wintry bracelet that was so ethereal and beautiful it could have been worn by the Queen of Winter Herself, and our own Lindsay Philipson made several pairs of Christmas-y earrings that were just plain stunning.  I began to rethink.  Could I have been wrong all these years?

So when I saw these rustic red hammered copper hearts by Shannon German when I was browsing Miss Fickle Media one day a while back...

...a strange, unfamiliar thought came to mind:  "Hmm, I could make some Valentine's Day earrings..."  I know--shocking!

But once I had the hearts in my hot little hands, I wasted no time.  I got out some red linen cording and knotted tiny copper spacers and little Czech glass rondelles (in the most luscious red!) into the cutout spaces in the hearts and then added rustic copper hearts by TierraCast. 

Happy Hearts.

I hung the earrings from my hand-formed copper ear wires and--boom--they were done!  My first holiday earrings--simple but (I hope you'll agree) kinda pretty.  :)

Now I think I might make a Valentine's Day bracelet.  (And I think I'd better hurry!)   

Thanks for reading, everyone!  See you in two weeks.  

xo  Meridy

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Tonal-Color Blingy Fun!

Hi! I have had the privilege of introducing Meridy Migchelbrink, designer/creator and owner of TwoTreesStudio, to you previously as a guest contributor. I am so very happy to be introducing her now as one of our new regular contributors to Earrings Everyday! You likely already know that Meridy's style is beautifully unique. I am very happy she has joined us.

norbel

Hi, everyone, Meridy Migchelbrink of Two Trees Studio here--Happy New Year to you all!  This is my first time here as a regular poster on Earrings Everyday, and I'm happy and honored (if a little nervous!) to be a part of the talented designers and lovely people here and to share my newest 2017 earrings.

"Mermaids"

Because this is my maiden voyage, I thought with these earrings I'd try something I never do. I set myself a specific challenge, rather than what I usually do: fall in love with a component or bead (or what I like to call the "lightning bolt" school of inspiration, ha!). I decided my criteria would be:

1. Tonal-color elements, that is, all elements in tones of the same color (copper accents excepted).
2. Bling!
3. Grace.
4. A touch of whimsy.

These 25 x 10mm blue hammered brass oval links from the fabulous Shannon German of MissFickleMedia were my starting point:

Their lines are graceful, clean, and simple…perfect to build upon. 

So I gathered up the rest of my turquoisey/teal elements. 

I found these 2-mm Celsian Czech glass beads at www.FusionBeads.com (and also added a few non-Celsian beads from my stash in different shades of blue for contrast):

Then I gathered up from my own bead hoard blue Czech glass bell flowers, tiny teal glass tulip flowers, blue rhinestone rondelles, scalloped copper bead caps, and teal-blue Irish waxed linen:

For those of you who are unfamiliar with my work, I make a lot of my earrings with fiber rather than wire, and generally the technique doesn’t take a whole lot longer than wirework construction does.  As you can see in the photos of the earrings, the beads are strung on the thread/cord, and in these earrings the wrapped section ends just at the top of the first 2-mm bead.  These earrings took longer to make only because it was unusually tricky to get the cord wrapped and secured exactly the way I wanted it to.  I was literally sweating it, but it came together in the end--whew!  Wipes brow.  ;)

I was especially pleased with the wave-pattern repetition of scallops in the sets of flower beads, the rhinestone rondelles, and the copper bead caps.  I hadn’t consciously chosen those beads for that reason, but something must have been at work subconsciously!  Consciously, I just liked how they looked together, and that's good enough for me too.  :)  

Thanks so much for looking! My wish for you all is a peaceful, happy, and creative 2017. I'd love to hear what you think about my whimsical Mermaids or about anything Earrings-ish. I'm grateful to be a member of this group...and I'll be back in a couple of weeks with something new! xo Meridy

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Mono Wheelers

Art beads:
Pale grey polymer clay rondelles with  black dots - Barbara Bechtel of SecondSurf/Floridity

Other beads and components (from bottom to top):
Rust red greek ceramic cog rondelles
Copper spacers
Copper rings
Thin copper bands
Oxidized copper wire (G26)
Seed beads
Copper jump rings
Handmade oxidized copper earrings hooks

All my best,

Malin de Koning

www.beadingbymalindekoning.blogspot.com

www.etsy.com/shop/MalindeKoning

Please contact me if you are interested in any pair of earrings that aren't yet listed in my Etsy Shop (sometimes my listings procedure is a little delayed).

With A Friend In Mind

 

Art beads and handmade components:

Verdigris patinated brass oval and shard charms - MissFickleMedia

Sterling silver (oxidized) handmade earrings hooks - JNicLoft 

Other ingredients:

Vintage patinated chain with coin shaped links

All my best,

Malin

www.beadingbymalindekoning.blogspot.com

Swedish Druzy

Check out those wonderful druzy beads i got just the other day. I wanted to showcase them with all their glitter and exciting shapes. Hang them just simply from a great looking thin chain with some messy wrapping, and have them dangling a lot when being worn. 

Ingredients:

Blue and yellow/gold druzy crystal nuggets with electroplated coating

Messy wrapped oxidezed copper wire

Verdigris patinated copper chain by MissFickleMedia

Handmade oxidized copper earring hooks

And some extra info:
My earrings are extra suitable to wear on a day like this. As today, the 6th of June, is the Swedish National Day. And the Swedish flag is blue and yellow. Below a very typical view from the countryside of Sweden on a beautiful summer's day. We do love our flag.

All my best,

Malin
www.beadingbymalindekoning.blogspot.com

SparaSparaSparaSpara

Creeping Vines

I have been inspired to make longer earrings lately. The demand is there for them, I never seem to have any left after a show. These are the newest ones, I am totally in love with the Etched pieces, they remind me of...

Creeping vines...

from Pintrest

Also from Pintrest

 There is just something so soothing about vines, something that just makes me smile :)

You can find these earrings and others in my Skye Jewels Etsy shop

Thanks for stopping by!

Marie