Empty Nest

For whatever reason (I’ve yet to discover a definitive one), I don’t tend to design earrings with my own enamels. But being a brand new year in the midst of a very strange season, I decided it was time to mix things up a bit and change all that…at least for today!

I recently designed a flurry of bird enamels (or maybe that should be a flock?) for a themed show and tried my hand at some enamels that were more like portraits than my typical outlined “cartoon” style pieces. Much to my surprise, the process of making small translucent strokes, firing, adding another layer of strokes, firing (repeat ad infinitum), was somehow mesmerizing. However, having no painting background, my poor birds, although changing appearance with each layer, were not looking at all like what I had intended after even after a half dozen firings! Perhaps they were better kept for my own designs, where I could take my time figuring out how to bring them to life. Which brings me (finally!) to today’s earrings…

Here’s how my birds started their journey after cutting copper sheet and laying down the first base coats (the poor things would have a quite a journey of color ahead of them before they left the nest):

 

If you are familiar with my earrings, you know that I don’t tend to do anything simple – I guess it’s just not how I am wired. But I wanted beads that would complement the birds without distracting from them (after all, they had already been forced through quite a metamorphosis). I think I found the perfect match in a beautiful etched pair from Regis Teixera, and added some leather flowers (how cool is that?) to keep in line with a more rustic vibe, rich amber-hued Czech glass flowers and rings, and an assortment of brass caps. I really like how these turned out, but I also am aware of just how much I have to learn (I would greatly appreciate any painting tips you might have)! It’s difficult to know just when to stop...

Who knows? Maybe I’ll have a few more pairs of bird earrings to add to the flock by next time. But for now, these will be available in my etsy shop, TwinklingOfAnEye later today

You can regularly find other new earrings in my fb group.

Thanks for spending a part of your day with me. See you in a few weeks! :-)

Dulce et Decorum Est

It's been a busy week - the weekend past was our Very Nice Group charity auction in aid of The British Legion, for Remembrance Sunday. I made two pairs of earrings to offer, very different from each other.
The first pair are more traditional 'Poppy Day' earrings - glossy lampwork poppies by Jacky Alty, paired with lilac enamel drops by Kaz Baildon - you can just see those tiny poppies at the bottom.

The second, darker and more brutal, 'The Wasteland' - to depict the twisted metal of the battlefield.

 

Here, proprietory black metal connectors are matched with blackened copper leaves by Bernie Ryman, fab chain that just happens to be half copper and half black, and tiny Picasso glass drops.

 

Happy to say both pairs sold, and together we raised over £300 for the veterans.

 

  I'll be back in two weeks, with new work I hope!

 

Lindsay xx

 

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Teal Tassels

I have a small hoard collection of enameled cones from Sue Beads and thought I'd use a pair for today's earrings.

The cones are enameled in teal, with hints of green and maybe even a little golden yellow. I paired them with mint green and light turquoise crystals. They turned out quite elegantly, with their sparkling crystals and silver lined teal seed beads.

The Teal Tassel earrings are available at Linda Landig Jewelry.

See you in two weeks. 

La Serenissima

La Serenissima - the 'most serene republic' of Venice. Unbelievably, it was only two weeks ago I was there with my sister (her 65th birthday treat), my brother in law and him indoors. It's the time of the Bienniale, and the city is full of art installations.

Do you find the same - once you get home, back to the routines of work, child care or whatever takes up your busy day, holidays seem to fade quickly? Thank heavens photographs enable you to relive the highlights.

I'd intended to write this week's blog about my visit and spent the days searching for inspiration for the earrings.

The first thing that strikes you in Venice is the colours.  The lagoon and canals - the blues and greens of the water, the black and gold of the gondolas lined up at sunset ready for the evening; and the buildings lining the Grand Canal - many of them old palazzos, some still family homes, some hotels.  Terracotta, sepia, peach, cream, white. The green of the algae where building meets water. Every one majestic.

              The colours are alive in my head. And in my photos. Still, no idea for earrings!

We arrive home to a pile of mail, among which were packages from Linda Younkman and Patricia Ritchie. Have a brew, open the packages. Never mind unpacking - that can wait!   And there they were, waiting to be put together. In Linda's enamels were all the colours I had been looking at for the last four days - and the black waves - they were the gondolas, lined up at sunset, the moon rising over the grand Canal. Echoed perfectly by Patricia's lampwork.

 

I'll be back in  three days, as I'm covering a spare day - and I'll be looking at another important and very old tradition in Venice - masks. Hope to see you then.

 

Lindsay 

 

 

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Simplicity.......

Who knew making simple earrings or anything for that matter would turn out to be such a stressful affair. 
I suffer from tunnel vision when it comes to making jewellery.  I cannot seem to make a variety of things (earrings, bracelets, necklaces) in the same sitting.  If it's earrings, it has to be just earrings and nothing else.  So last week I was making bracelets and naturally I could not think beyond that. I decided I'd make some simple earrings for a change and give my brain a rest.  I dug through old designs for inspiration and found these. I decided to recreate these in a new fashion.

I swapped the brass sticks for brass tubes and added some Swarovski rondelles for a little bling.  I made these.

Ceramic feathers by Claire Lockwood

Ceramic drops by Petra Carpreau

I was happy with the bottom 2 pairs but something was missing from the top pair.  They looked bland.  I needed to dress up the brass tubes so I painted them and tried to achieve a distressed look by taking off some of the patina.  Here's the revamped pair. 

Did I mention I suffer from tunnel vision when it comes to making jewellery?!  Well here's the result.

Enamelled stars by Bea Stoertz

Ceramic flowers by Petra Carpreau

So much for making simple earrings! But I'm happy with the end result and I have a feeling I'll be painting more brass tubes (a bit addicted now) 😂

I hope you like my offerings for today.  I'll be listing these in my Etsy shop soon.  See you again in a couple of weeks time <3

Suhana 💖💖💖

My Etsy shop: Buttoned Up Beads

Blossoming.

Spring is beginning to make itself felt even up here in the north of England and we've had two or three days of lovely blue skies and sunshine. It was Mother's Day here on Sunday and my house is awash with plants and flowers of all colours and scents. Close your eyes and smell hyacinths - it's just the best!

Today's pretty pink blossom earrings are made with beautifully detailed enamels from  Linda Younkman . I've had quite a few pairs of Linda's enamels and been really pleased with the quality and unusual shapes of every one. Vintaj black arte chain and jump rings hold a bouquet of small Czech glass flowers and the swirly pink lampwork is from another northern English lass, Joanne Joyce. My mate Lucy Haslam made the beaten copper circular earwires for me at her home in Wales.

                                          
                                           Just like having a bunch of flowers in your ears.

                                                      Enjoy the weather, wherever you are!

                                                                  See you next time

                                                                        Lindsay x

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Randomness

Hi everyone, I'd completely forgotten about today *eek*! Luckily I had an online show a few days
ago which means I have new earrings to show you.

First up are these featuring enamelled shields by Candan Imrak.

Pewter peace charms by Invicit.

Pewter charms by Invicit, polymer connectors by Areto Beads and lampwork by GlassBeadArt.

Ceramic connectors by Areto beads

These are a bit too cute 😀, featuring polymer owls by Areto Beads. 💖💖💖

And these, again with ceramic connectors by Areto Beads.

Some of these have sold and the rest will be available in my next online show in this group before they are listed on Etsy. 

See you again in 2 weeks time.

Suhana 💜💜💜

My Etsy shop: Buttoned Up Beads

How long?

This week I set myself a challenge to make my longest pair of earrings yet .  These enamelled seahorse charms I'd received from Kaz Baildon a few days ago were small and thin enough for me to start building upon. 

I wire wrapped some hoops matching the seed colours to those on the charms w/o making them 'too matchy matchy' and attached the seahorse charms.

Next I added the oval brass blanks on top of the wrapped hoops followed by the filigree tubes on top.  But it didn't look right so I added the big brass rings behind the wrapped hoops and oval blanks.  The length at this point was just over 4 1/2" which is not long enough in my opinion as I've made longer earrings in the past.  Maybe I should have taken photos of each step?  Something for the next post perhaps.
I spent a long time trying to figure out ways in which I could make these longer - to no avail 😓.  I gave up however they still didn't look right.  I showed them to my husband and he also said there was something missing - there was too much brass between the wrapped hoops and filigree tubes.  I added the little red flower drops which did the trick.

So here they are, long earrings for most people I think but I failed in creating my longest pair - again something I can work on for a future post so all is not lost 😄.















These earrings are now listed on Etsy.  See you again in a couple of weeks time. 

Suhana 💜💜💖

My etsy shop: Buttoned Up Beads

Holiday Sparkle

This is my last post this year so I thought I'd jazz it up a bit with some bling 💖💖💖. 

First up I have these featuring enamelled charms by Kaz Baildon.  I wanted to attach these rather large rhinestones to the charms but wasn't quite sure it would work because of the size and fear of damaging the enamel with the more robust wire wrapping needed in this case.  As you can see from the picture (below) it worked 😄. 

This pair was easier with much smaller rhinestones.  Ceramic drops by Petra Carpreau

These last 2 pairs are simplified versions of one of my signature designs.  Ceramic drops by Petra Carpreau.

That is it for this year.  Hope you all have a lovely Christmas and a Happy New Year. I shall see you next year armed with lots more designs no doubt 💖💖💖

Suhana <3

My shop: Buttoned Up Beads

Stars!

It's all about stars this time. 

I made the wire wrapped hoops for my components show but decided to keep them for me to use in my own jewellery (as you do sometimes).  I added cubic zirconia crown caps (absolutely love this stuff!) and a couple of clear glass flowers on top. I don't think they needed anything else. 

I loved making the first pair so much I went ahead and made a couple more.

This time in my favourite red and turquoise with raw brass crown caps

And a third pair in everyone's favourite colour purple.

I finished off by making this statementastic pair with enamel stars by Bea Stoertz, daisy flowers by Elise Canning and my wrapped rings.

Another short and sweet post for you.  Hope you like them.  The 4th pair has sold but the rest are available in the Earrings Show group. 

See you again in a few weeks time.

Suhana xxx

My Etsy shop: Buttoned Up Beads

Bold Colours

Hello, today's earrings feature a number of artisan goodies.  I got carried away as the colours matched so well. 

Ceramic caps by Claire Lockwood

Enamel connectors by Cathleen Zaring

and polymer charms by Elsie Smith

I have also added a pair of my own wrapped connectors.  Short and sweet for today.  Hope you like them. See you again soon <3

Suhana

Mt Etsy shop: Buttoned Up Beads

Artistic style

According to a lot of experts a visual artist should have his/her own signature style. I found an interesting blog (Artzbizblog.com) by Alyson Stanfield about this subject while browsing the internet. She states: “In order to project a professional image as an artist, you must be able to define yourself and your art in a sea of untold numbers of artists. To do this, you must first find your style”.

But what is style? According to wikipedia: “In the visual arts, style is a "...distinctive manner which permits the grouping of works into related categories." or "...any distinctive, and therefore recognizable, way in which an act is performed or an artefact made or ought to be performed and made. "It refers to the visual appearance of a work of art that relates it to other works by the same artist or one from the same period, training, location, "school", art movement or archaeological culture”. 

In other words, an artist has its own artistic style when he/she creates work that others can identify with him or her. Others can recognize the work of that artist. It has to do with consistency. I believe a signature style is important for an artist.

When I look at my designs I’m not sure I have found my artistic style yet. Not much consistency there. I design my jewellery depending on my mood. As a result I’m generally all over the place, style wise. There are so many styles, materials, colour schemes and techniques to explore that I am still learning, I am still trying out new ideas. And for me, that is ok for now.

As for these earrings. In my personal life there are a lot of issues right now with which my family and I have to deal with. To battle depression I designed my bohemian chic collection. To balance my "black" mood I need color, lots of color. To balance my frustration of not being able to chance things for the good I need movement in my jewelry.

So in my bohemian chic collection you will find lots of pastel colours, lots of charms and flowers. These earrings are an example. Cathleen Zaring just makes the perfect, perfect charms for this bohemian style. I made the tassels myself. In the past years I have amassed quite an amount of embroidery thread in lots of fun colors (my friendship bracelet period LOL). Czech glass, Swarovski crystal, brass and copper completed the design.

These will be available from August 21. If you are interested in my new collection just head over to my facebook page where you will find info how to buy these pieces. 

 

I like to know your thoughts about artistic style.
Do you think it is important for an artist?
If you are an  artist, do you have a signature style?

Thanks for looking. I will be back with new designs in two weeks. And they probably will be in a totally different style compared to these LOL.






I wish you a wonderful day with lots of joy, sunshine, happiness and flowers.

Janine

Esfera Jewelry

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Wire Wrapping

Hello!!! It's my first post as a regular contributor to the Earrings Everyday blog.  I'm super excited to be here :).  So I'll just get on with showing you what I've made.

I chose to work with these enamel charms by Darlene Fortier-House.  I have been wire wrapping a LOT these last few months and naturally these would feature a lot of wrapping.

I decided to wrap 6 brass rings matching the colours of those dots above - as closely as possible and arranged them as per the next picture. 

I've also added teeny brass seeds on to the jump rings. 

These earrings are pretty long at nearly 4 3/4" from top of the ear wire to the bottom of the charms so I decided to leave them as they are.  I was tempted to add more......

Thank you for reading. See you again soon.

Suhana :) <3

These earrings are now listed in my etsy shop Buttoned Up Beads