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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Spiffy Spirals and Other Words Starting With SP

Last week I mentioned having had an opportunity to make some earrings at the Fall Bead Fest earlier this month.  The earrings I'm sharing today were made that weekend also.

The pretty spiral lampwork beads were made by my friend and fellow Bead Fest vendor, Lara Lutrick.  They were a perfect with my ceramic spiral discs.  I also added wire spirals to continue spiral theme.  
When I was thinking of naming these earrings, I was looking for a word that starts with "sp" to pair with the word "spiral".  All I could think of was Spectacular Spirals. That seemed like overstating the case a bit.  On the other hand, Special Spirals seemed really lame.  So I Goggled "words that start with sp".

That Googled list made my husband and I laugh, as we started combining the "sp" words with "spirals".   How about these pairings:
Spineless Spirals, Spittle Spirals, Spelunking Spirals, Splattered Spirals or Spaetzle Spirals.  Now, while I love spaetzle (a type of German dumpling), its really an ugly name for earrings.  Just picture it as earrings!!!

Spaetzle

Then there's Sperm Spirals - um...nope!  
While we were going through this list, my husband all of a sudden came up with Spiffy Spirals.  Perfect.  Lighthearted, fun, not icky!  Ta-da!  
If you'd like to see more of the Spiffy Spiral Earrings and many other earrings, you should join the Facebook group, The Earring Show.  The group is not associated with Earrings Everyday, but our interests are definitely aligned.  Its a marketplace on Facebook for both finished earrings and earring components.  I'll be having a finished earring show on Friday from 1:00 pm PST (4:00 pm EST, 9:00 pm. BST) to Saturday at 1:00 pm PST (4:00 pm EST, 9:00 pm. BST).  The group showcases fabulous earrings and components for sale from a diverse array of artists.  Very inspiring...and tempting!

Hope to see you there!

Linda Landig Jewelry