Day Of The Dead Calaveras

As some of you may know, about 6 years ago, my husband and I spent a month on Oaxaca, Mexico; from mid-October till mid-November. This put us right in the middle of one of Mexico's most exuberant celebrations of The Day Of The Dead. Handmade altars, decorated with food, flowers and sugar skulls, were constructed all over the city. Huge skeleton puppets were paraded in the streets and placed in business storefronts.

Near Llano Park in Oaxaca, Mexico

The puppets as well as the sugar skulls, were often crowned with colorful flowers, especially marigolds. Orange marigolds are said to guide the spirits of the departed, back to their homes on the Day Of The Dead.

In keeping with these customs, I dangled bright orange flowers beneath these wonderful pewter skull (Calavera in Spanish) charms by Inviciti.

The flowers have a golden luster finish that looks especially pretty in the light. I made my own Sterling silver ear wires to go along with the skull earrings.

The skull motif is popular year round, but these would be especially fun to wear this month! You can find these earrings in my shop now.

Linda Landig Jewelry

Classic Tribal Ceramics: New Design

I can't think of too many who do rustic tribal components and beads better than the wonderful Jana Bližňáková, and I'm fortunate to have been able to create with her distinctive art components for years. I'm happy to share these earrings, featuring beautiful classic rustic matte ceramic pieces by her, constructed with not much more than lovely red glass beads and 3-ply black waxed linen thread.

I love the "perfect imperfection" of these rustic pieces, and the shapes of the pieces themselves make them conducive to fiber wrapping.  Before I start working, I make sure my hands are clean, because dirt, oil, crumbs, cat hair (💗), etc., are not your friends when you're working with waxed thread.  (I can't tell you how many times I've had to waste time touching up photos because a fiber or a dog/cat hair showed up on my photos.)  I stretch the thread to straighten it and make sure it's not too waxy.  I thread the waxed linen through their various spaces, in and out, over and back, pulling it tight enough to make a stable earring but not enough to break anything (yikes!).  When I'm through, I tie the ends and then snip off the excess and go on to the next section.  There are four wrapped sections in this design.

When everything's finished, I glue the little thread ends to the back of the components and cover them with paper, which I glue and glaze after the glue dries.  I covered these earrings with red handmade paper:

The earrings are little (about 2 inches) and lightweight.  😊

Thank you kindly for reading!  I'll see you in the second week in August. 
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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Chainmaille: Variations

For today's post, I thought I'd share two very different pairs of chainmaille earrings:  one pair that looks like they might have been worn during the Renaissance--or earlier--and one pair that's much more modern.

The cool thing is that both pairs of earrings are made with the same chainmaille weave, called European 4-in-1 (below),  a simple and familiar weave.  Woven tightly of small metal rings into large flat pieces, it was

the armor worn by medieval European fighters (you may have noticed it in just about every sword and sorcery film or TV show).  (In ancient Asia, chain mail armor was made of a totally different and beautiful weave, which is a story for another day.)

Because I specifically wanted these earrings (below) to look like they could have been worn centuries ago, I needed the triangular chainmaille pieces to hang like banners, so I made the spiraled "hanger" pieces

and hung the chainmaille triangles from their widest section, the seven woven rings.  I made 4-mm mother-of-pearl dangles and attached them to the outer edges of the chainmaille, and then fashioned wire-and-bead links to connect my decorated "Renaissance Banners" to matching ear wires. 

My second pair of earrings are completely different:  small and sleek and simple, sterling silver and midnight blue. The chainmaille part of these earrings was made using the same weave as the first pair, but with one fewer row of rings, stopping at six, naturally making the earrings smaller and slimmer.   

Ingredients:  Sterling silver rings, sterling silver wire, sterling silver ear wires, and deep blue polymer clay spikes by Jon Burgess. 

Thanks so much for reading!  I'll see you in about two weeks. 💗 

Meridy (Two Trees Studio)
xo

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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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Belt It Out!

I am participating in a upcycled art show in February.  A friend gave me an old belt of her husband's, that I might use as a base for a bracelet, for the show.  But in the meantime, I decided to do a little warm-up practice and make a pair of earrings with a section of the belt.

On the left, you can see that the belt was in really bad shape.  The woven pieces were so worn out, that they were useless.  So I decided to see what would happen if I removed them.  To my surprise, there was the underlying structure you see on the right, above.  All those holes!  Oooo!  I knew I could use those.  Each of my earrings today, consist of a strip of belt, containing two small holes and one larger hole.

I attached my ceramic ovals to the upper small hole.  The glaze I used on the ovals turns green and blue in random places during firing, so each piece is always unique. Then, I created dark green tassels to dangle from the lower hole. I finished them off with handmade brass ear wires.

On a different note - Washington and Oregon were blessed with rain today after several dry months and terrible wildfires.  The fires are not only devastatingly destructive, but the smoke has caused lung and eye problems as well.  My heart goes out to everyone who has experienced the opposite problem, with torrential rains and tornadoes.  Stay safe friends.

Linda Landig Jewelry

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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Spring in my ears

These earrings are to celebrate spring and everything lovely that is going on in nature at this time. 

Ingredients:

Handmade red lace flowers on ceramic - DonnaPerlinplim

Oxidized sterling silver handmade earring hooks

Wood twig beads

Vinyl disks

Messy wrapped oxidized copper wire

All my best,

Malin de Koning

www.beadingbymalindekoning.blogspot.se

Tuesday Afternoon

Making these earrings on a Tuesday afternoon brought the song by the same name, to mind.  Totally dating myself here, but I still enjoy a number of the songs by the Moody Blues, including Tuesday Afternoon.

Tuesday Afternoon Earrings

The diamond shaped ceramic charms were made by Marsha Neal Studio.  I placed small glass rings (Indian Creek Art Glass) above the ceramic and topped them with Greek ceramic spacers and tiny druk beads.

Tuesday Afternoon Earrings

 I  really love the subtle color shifts in these earring.  Brown, ochre, forest green, even the slighted hint of deep purple.

Tuesday Afternoon Earrings

Linda Landig Jewelry

Ubiquitous Retro Minty Green

Isn't it odd how some colors go through trendy ups and downs? Some colors are classic and are always in style - denim blue, bold red, chic black. And then there are other more ubiquitous colors, like burnt orange, pastel pink, and neons (of any kind). Who is it that actually decides what color is going to be "hot" this year, anyways? 

I've noticed the past year or two that pale mint green---you know, the color of your grandma's refrigerator, telephone, and/or toilet back in the day---has been experiencing a real resurgence. I can't say I'm completely nuts about it. I'm just not really a pastel kind of gal to begin with. 

BUT...

It is spring, and we just had Easter, and the tender leaves are all budding on the trees, so that got me in a bit of a softer mood. So I decided to finally use these wee raw chrysocolla drusy drops that I've been holding on to forever. I gave them some messy primitive beads caps with globby solder and hung them beneath stacks of precious bits: antique wood beads, crusty metal spacers, and powdery shimmery ancient glass beads. They make a perfectly light sweet dangley slim set for these springy months - or any month, really.

Hope you're all enjoying spring this year...even if it is a little late :)

Happy Wednesday!

Nikki
LoveRoot on Etsy

Old World Style!

 One of my favourite things to work with is Verdigris pieces. I love the old world charm that it brings to any piece. One of my favourite things to mix it with however is red and Black Brass! So rich and romantic!

These are the two pairs available in my Etsy Shop right now. I will be adding more this week. So much to do and so little time! I am looking to some of my Pinterest Boards for inspiration on designing more of these in unique combinations!

Have fun shopping and wear Earrings Everyday!!

Marie

Pale Tropics

I have been holding on to these pretty floral porcelain charms created by LeAnn Weih of Summers Studio for a while!  I love the pale green glaze with just a hint of blue in the depths.  They are so sweet ...to me they didn't really need anything else...I could just put them on earwires and call it a day.  I didn't do that, though...I added some pale green fluorite beads that are carved into flower shapes, the wrapped sterling wire around them in a "herringbone" weave for a little extra somethin' somethin'.

I can envision wearing them at the beach or boardwalk with an outfit similar to this I put together on Polyvore.

Summer Knockabout by melismatic featuring short sleeve t shirts

These earrings and more of my eclectic jewelry can be found at Melismatic Art Jewelry!

Had enough of Bead Soup yet?

I was one of the lucky participants to this last Bead Soup Blog Party hosted by the amazing Lori Anderson. What fun we all had! I am still having fun, since I am still hopping! Not quite done going through all 200 blogs!

 These are the three pairs of earrings that went with everything else I made for the hop. What better place to post them than on Earring Everyday! They will all be available in my ETSY Shop if you are so inclined.

 Our lovely Heather is back from the bead cruise, so I imagine she will have cooked up some amazing earrings while she was away! So look for her next post soon!

Please stop by my blog for the full Bead Soup post, and for more inspiration!

Marie

Embossed Treasures!

When you are on a roll, just go with it! I was so inspired by my little metal blanks the other day, that I just went with it and created a whole series of these Embossed Treasures! I love making things change from what they originally were, so the inspiration was not lacking!

 You just never know where imagination will take you! I was making these awhile ago and had stopped. Not sure why, but it was nice to revisit and start again! I will be able to fill my shop with these beauties and hopefully send them away to their new homes soon.

Have a look in my Etsy shop for the whole series! I hope to finish all the different ones I started soon and so keep coming back to take a look! You never know what you will find!!


Thanks so much for stopping by!


Marie
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