Earrings Everyday: cube beads

Thursday, May 29, 2014

Birdies Squared

Or maybe even Birdies Cubed! I've been hoarding these beguiling little ceramic cubes from Stinky Dog Beads--I love just about miniature anything and these really tickled my aesthetic funny bone. It took me a while to come up with a design where they'd be really visible. They have large holes, making them perfect for so many of the current design trends (you could thread them right onto a heavy gauge bangle, or slip them easily onto 2mm Greek leather), and also for that reason lend themselves well to this kind of metal link. I hammered some 18-gauge copper wire and made tight loops at each end, that hold the beads in place nicely. I paired them with these sweet little Czech glass birds (also from Stinky Dog), and popped some teal glass beads (I'm in love with these beads!) from AfroBeadia onto the earwires.

You might have noticed I've been doing this extra wrapping lately across the front of larger beads--I love the way it looks but it has the added benefit of keeping those flat beads from turning around on the headpin. That drives me CRAZY. I want those beads to face forward but they don't usually cooperate. Sometimes I can get it wrapped down tight enough to keep them from moving much, but you risk breaking the bead when you do that. This works great!

These got me thinking about exotic birds. Here are some fabulous birds to inspire you!