Roman Shields

Hello! Looking for inspiration for today's blogpost, I came across these etched copper discs. I've had them for ages, and I can't remember who made them ... But I love the texture of them; they remind me of little shields.

I knew I wanted to add some little Roman glass rondelles (going with the ancient theme), but also wanted an additional focal point.

 Step forward these delicious lampwork headpins by French artist Carol Pons of  Brume de terre. Now Carol makes some fabulous enameled pieces, which are very popular at the moment. But I also love her lampwork glass and copper components -always beautiful.

I tried to match up the colours of the headpins with the Roman glass in my stash.

So there we are...Roman shields... they are listed here

See you in a few weeks  

Sue x

Forever Amber

I clearly recall reading 'Forever Amber' by Kathleen Winsor in my teens; it became an international bestseller, spawning a whole new generation of girls called Amber!

Abandoned on the streets of London, pregnant and penniless, 16 year old Amber St Clare manages by her wits, beauty, and courage to climb to the highest position a woman can achieve in Restoration England - that of mistress to Charles II.

                    Thank goodness that isn't the height of ambition for women these days!

Seriously though, this week's earrings all feature amber. Amber is fossilized tree resin, appreciated for its colour and natural beauty since Neolithic times. It comes in a range of shades from sunny yellow to dark and treacly. I love them all. The first pair is rustic - in mid shade, with rhyolith discs and copper shell segments by Helen Backhouse.

Next we have the sunny yellow with shimmery lampwork wing headpins by Juliette Mullet and faceted citrine. The rose gold findings add to the warmth of this pair - downright pretty.

And last, my favourites, looking ancient with roman glass and polymer clay vessels by Jon Burgess.

The amber nuggets and the citrine I used here are from Sylvia Stungo's shop Fizzy Elements; a real treasure trove of colour and texture.

 Hope you like them. I've also used them as three of my Instagram posts for the #100DayProject - #100DaysofArt which has just begun - are you joining in?
The top pair are gone but the other two will find their way into my Etsy shop over the next couple of days; and I'll see you again in two weeks time.

                                                                       Lindsay x

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All things Inviciti

Hello!

So I am busy busy busy, making lots of new things for a Facebook showcase over on The Jewellery Show on the 26th of this month. This will be my first showcase since November and I always get a little nervous, especially if I've had a gap. Will people like my new creations? Will anyone show up?! And if i take a break from making things, I always feel so rusty! Sometimes the creative spirit gets a bit....stuck...

So what's needed is some inspiration via post. And the wonderful Vincent & Nooma of Inviciti kindly obliged. They make the most beautiful pewter and painted charms, and a little package from them popped onto my doormat on Saturday and suddenly I was on a roll! Funny how that happens sometimes? How it can be so hard to create and at other times, it just flows?

So here's a group shot of everything together

Look at that gleaming pewter! So here's the first pair with some delicious lampwork by our very own super talented Kimberly of  Numinosity (by the way -have you seen her instagram feed? It's a visual feast! She has quite the eye for all things interesting, grungy and beautiful). Teamed these with some twisted silver plated rings and spacers and the Inviciti charms, of course.

The next couple of pairs have gorgeous lampwork nuggets by Maryse Fritz-Thillens. The first pair, a striking pinky purple colour, with silver plated spacers, co-ordinating czech glass and some silver-plated leaves too, just poking through the charms

Love these star charms. Just a few little twisted jumprings and spacers in this pair (possibly my favourites?)

And finally, keeping it simple with a little stack of Roman glass rondelles. Just love that these are ancient. Amazing to be able to wear a little bit of history in your lobes :-)

So that's me done for this month. All of these will be available over on The Jewellery Show on the 26th. Pop on over and say hello if you can. If they don't find a home there, they will be off to Utterly Lovely Stuff

See you next month

Sue x

A new design.......

was born last week. 

I wanted to include a cluster of flowers and this is what I came up with.

Lampwork, druzy discs and Marc Chagall drops.

Vintage beads and Frida drops.

Lamwork, Roman glass discs and Goyo drops

Lampwork and Shimura drops.

Lamwork and Klimt Tears drops. 

All the decal drops are by the lovely Petra Carpreau

Sorry about the picture only post :D (I actually held back...there's more ;)).  The Klimt Tears pair is now available in my Etsy shop.  Hope you like them and have a fab weekend.

Suhana <3

My Etsy shop: Buttoned Up Beads

Geometry of the Ears

It is with joy that I get to introduce you to our newest full-time contributor to Earrings Everyday. Actually, there are two! Today I am introducing you to Ms. Lindsay Philipson, designer/creator and owner of PreciousViolet. Lindsay has a wonderful style all her own, which you will soon come to recognize. We are very happy to have her with us.
norbel

I experienced mixed emotions at being invited to join the Earrings Everyday Team. It's an inspirational blog, with fabulous work by a group of women I admire very much, many of whom have become good friends over time.

Honoured?  Of course.

Excited? Yes.

Scared to death of not making the grade? YES!!!

Aside from anything else, I'm not particularly techy and have steered clear of writing a blog before. Not that I can't write, but........about myself? Not so much.

But I can make earrings. And I can take a half decent photo. So how hard can it be?  And it's good for all of us to venture out of our comfort zone. So here goes. 
 

Here's me, on the left. I don't do selfies as a rule - too old! But I gave in to Kimberly Rogers on her recent European trip to celebrate her 60th birthday. She and Dave slept over with us and we had  a great time feeding them such Lancashire delicacies as Eccles cakes and Butter Pie.  Not only is Kim a good friend but as well as her own lampwork, polymer clay and enamel work, she always has some very interesting and unusual finds in her Etsy supply shop Numinosity .  

Which brings me nicely to the point. The earrings. I've had a bit of a thing lately for geometric shapes and these raku finish ceramic chunky squares I got from Kim just fit the bill. So rustic you can still see the fingerprints in the clay. I love the juxtaposition of grungy with sparkly and in the first pair the swarowski faceted octagons echo the shape nicely. A sprinkle of ruby crystals, faceted labradorite (who doesn't love labradorite?)  and dark lever back earwires to hold them close to the ear.

The second pair I placed with chunky roman glass on dark rustic studs. Lucky to have the perfectly shaped and sized pieces in my roman glass stash. Isn't that why we need large stashes?

So there you have my first post. If I haven't been sacked, I'll see you in two weeks time!

Lindsay

Precious Violet

www.etsy.com/shop/PreciousViolet  

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Minnehaha Falls

The frigid wonders of winter were my inspiration for these icy cold water colored chandelier earrings with Sterling silver. I chose aqua Roman glass, apatite nuggets, rondelles of green prase, apatite and more Roman glass to echo the watery hues of the frozen falls. Combined with exquisite Sterling silver chandelier components, the wire linked glass and stones are intended to capture the feeling of rushing water, stopped suddenly forming the ice crystals.


"With what deep murmurs through time’s silent stealth

Doth thy transparent, cool, and wat’ry wealth

Here flowing fall,

And chide, and call,

As if his liquid, loose retinue stay’d

Ling’ring, and were of this steep place afraid;

The common pass

Where, clear as glass,

All must descend

Not to an end,

But quicken’d by this deep and rocky grave,

Rise to a longer course more bright and brave. " . . . The Waterfall by Henry Vaughn


The beauty and wonder of a spectacular waterfall will draw people any time of year, but Minnehaha Falls in Minneapolis may attract even more people in winter than it does through the rest of the year.

If you live in Minnesota, you learn to appreciate outdoor activities as much in winter as you do in summer. Creative people in Minnesota think up all kinds of events to get you out of the house in winter no matter how cold it gets.






Gloria Ewing

Chrysalis Tribal Jewelry
Chrysalis Too on Etsy

Roman Glass Mania

Roman Glass Stacked Earrings

The aged look of Roman glass, with its scaling and irregular shapes, is attractive to me and I have used it often the past year in my earring designs. The aqua and yellow green you see in these earrings are among the most common colors, but every once in awhile I get ahold of some cobalt blue that is more unusual. Much of the Roman glass available for jewelry making is found in excavations along the "Silk Road" trading route through Afghanistan and Pakistan. Another major source of Roman glass is Israel, along the Mediterranean shore and in the Judean desert.

My earring design is a simple stack and wrap with tubes of Roman Glass in aqua and yellow green, separated by copper spacers and rusty orange Czech glass accents. I thought they would be more interesting with the colors reversed from one another, so that part was intentional and not a result of my lack of sleep. The wonderful ancient looking ribbed copper metal clay drops that I have wrapped at the bottom are from Kristi Bowman. My handmade oxidized copper ear wires finish off the design.

Images of Roman women always looked so serene. Hard to imagine their survival often depended on their ability to manipulate the people around them. Politics behind the scenes, probably not so different then than it is now?




Gloria Ewing

Chrysalis Too on Etsy
Chrysalis Jewelry on Artfire

Rustic Roman Glass

Roman Glass Earrings

I love the delicate look of these thin slivers of Roman glass! It was somewhat of a challenge to me to figure out how to use this fragile glass, because I generally lean toward chunkier beads that are not as likely to break as I handle them. So I decided on a "Nikki"esque wire wrap with 26 gauge oxidized copper wire. I added some primitively stamped copper charms and tiny yellow Picasso Czech drops, also wrapped with darkened wire. Thank you, Nikki Zehler, for the inspiration.


Gloria Ewing
Chrysalis Too on Etsy
Chrysalis Jewelry on Artfire