My New Finds

Hello everyone! Jetta here, filling in for the lovely Norbel :)

I recently found these adorable tin charms by Star Spirit Studios. I am always on the look out for new and unique beads to go crazy over. I loved the way they looked and ordered 4 pairs.

I immediately fell in love with how they felt in my hands when they arrived. They are light weight and so easy to work with in lovely color palettes.

These have got to be my favorite pair of the four. The tin charms have a cherry flower pattern that made me think of Japan. I stacked red and grey lampwork beads from Jodie Marshall with black patina wire dangles from Miss Fickle Media.

The next pair have some beautiful powder blue flower tins. The dark blue lampwork beads are again from Jodie Marshall and the mint blue lampwork beads from Glass by Leese. I just wanted to finish them off simply so decided on some dainty Vintaj chain loops. And since the tins were a bit bigger than the others I chose tiny ear wires.

Another red pair I just saw circles when I looked at them! Va-voom red flowers on these tins I coupled with yummy red African recycled glass rings. But the red glass rings seemed lonely so I found these black twisted rings from Fallen Angel Brass. I am thinking the black is too dark. I haven't decided yet whether I will play with my patinas to lighten them or not

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The last pair are these cuties. I fell in love with these first, they have all the colors I am crazy about.
This was the last pair I turned into earrings so I went simple with orange enamel bead caps from Gardanne Beads and bright pink hand painted acrylic flowers from Vintage Meadows Artworks.

I love finding new artisan beads. But just as exciting, I got to use my older artisan beads, too!!

I hope you have a great week and it is jam packed with creativity and beads,

Jetta

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

The joy of copper washers!

So, I decided to order some copper washers and have a go at using them in some earring designs. These versatile little copper hoops aren't just great for plumbing -oh no! The joy of bashing them with a hammer to give them texture, and oxidising them to give them added depth of colour, sanding them back to get just the shade of warm coppery goodness i want, and then waxing them to seal all of that prettiness in. Well, actually it was fairly laborious, but worth it! I wanted to show you a couple of slightly different designs using them.

Both of these pairs of earrings feature gorgeous enamelled discs by the fabulous Kimberley Rogers of Numinosity Beads and earwires by Lucy Haslam (a professional copper basher) of  Faerystone. This first pair echo the warm coppery tones of the copper washers, and I just added a jump ring wrapped with teeny tiny coppery seed beads.

This second pair have such a pretty lilac colour on the discs. I thought I'd pick this up in the lilac seed beads. Finished these off with some semi-wrapped handmade copper hoops from a design by Cindy Wimmer of  The Missing Link (a great wire-wrapping book)

Hope you like them! They'll be available over on The Jewellery Show on Facebook on the 25th Sept. See you in a couple of weeks

We're All Ears :: September :: Here Comes the Sun{flower}

Sunflowers never fail to cheer.

Today, I stopped at the local farmer's market downtown on the Square and picked up a humongous bouquet of fresh flowers. I was attracted by the bright colors, the gorgeous purple cabbage roses and the mini sunflowers. I had enough flowers to make three smaller bouquets that I shared with office-mates and the financial firm next door (I won the Packer pool last week, so I felt that I should share the love!), and one large one that graced my desk all day. All for $6. It makes me smile to see it.

In making the sunflower earrings for this challenge I wanted to focus on the iconic yellow and black tones of the blooms. That was kind of hard to do since I don't often buy yellow....anything!

I found these little neglected ceramic drops in the dark recesses of my printer's cabinet drawers, white with black polka dots, from Jennifer Heynen of Jangles. She isn't even making beads anymore (she is a brilliant fabric designer and quilter), and she hasn't been to the Bead & Button Show in many years, so these are practically vintage and totally one of a kind! I paired them with some frosted faux sea glass in a sunny honey color, wrapped up in blackened steel.

Next up I pulled out some new charms that I just made as part of my Papilio line, inspired by butterfly wings in macro photography for the challenge over on the Art Bead Scene Studio (come see our new website and you can read about my behind the scenes inspirations!). Yellow is a hard color for me and I don't have a lot of beads in that color, so this was serendipity that I had just made these. I like making a stack or grouping of spacers. Of course, they work well as a bumper between beads, adding texture, but together they pack a punch. Finishing it off with a golden Swarovski gives this just enough bling that ties in with the flecks of glitter in the wing charms.

Finally, I pulled out some enameled drops and mixed up some yellows and oranges, attaching them to an oval ring that recalls the shape of sunflower seeds. Up close the rings remind me of the black sunflower seeds in the center of the head. I like the movement they have even though they are very simple. I think I might have to wear these today for a pop of sunshine as I move about!

Now it is your turn to show off your sunny accessories! Add your links to blog posts or even Facebook or other sharing site below. Looking forward to seeing where this sunny inspiration takes you!

Gift of the Mermaid

I recently came upon these gorgeous enameled components in Raida Disbrow's Etsy shop, Havana Beads...

...and a dialogue started between my head and my heart.

Heart:  Oh, my gosh, those are GORGEOUS.  Look at those colors!
Head:  Ohhh, but those can be such a pain to work with. They're handmade--those things are never even, you have to fight to get them to hang straight--
Heart:  But I've got beads the same color as those little violet-pink dots!!  And lots of pink rondelles--
Head:  --hey, come to think of it, there's that stash of rhodolite garnets that haven't been used in about seven years!




That argument didn't last long.


Since I did have a goodly stash of little Czech glass rondelles in various shades of pink, the garnets, and sterling silver beads, jump rings, and headpins, I gave in to the lure of the Boho chandelier earring--and I loved it. Now that my heart has helped my head get over its jitters, I aim to make more. 💗

And, funny thing--they do hang straight after all.  😉

Gift of the Mermaid

Thanks so much for reading!  I'll be back in two weeks.
 
xoxo
Meridy
My Etsy Shop
My Facebook Page

 

Boo!

Hallowe'en - one of my favourite times of the year.

'Straddling the line between fall and winter, plenty and paucity, life and death, Hallowe'en is a time of celebration and superstition.'

Thought to have originated with the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, it was a time when people would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off ghosts, believing that at the end of summer the barrier between our world and that of the spirits became much thinner.

With Christianity, it became All Hallow's Eve - the day before All Saints Day on 1st November. Hallowe'en was made popular in the USA by Irish immigrants in the 19th Century and it is there it has really taken off, with trick or treating and pumpkin carving. And those films....I recall watching 'Halloween' when it was first released in 1978 and being scared absolutely witless. But on the other hand, we have had some really fun parties for Hallowe'en over the years and I still decorate the house for the seemingly hundreds of local children that come around.

A couple of weeks ago a customer of mine asked me to reprise some earrings I made this time last year. They were great fun to make and had 'ingredients' from some of our lovely team here on EE.

The spooky copper faces are, of course, from Kristi; the squashy pumpkins from  Jetta ; the
sari silk (mummified?) connectors from Anna Pierson; they have vintaj copper leaves and earwires by Lucy.

 The second pair have great wine and orange colours. They're little devils to photograph as they don't lie flat, and really need to be seen hanging!

  The darker pair are reserved, but the first available in my Etsy shop. Do you like Hallowe'en? And have any family traditions? Do tell us about them.

See you next time - stay safe!

Lindsay x

My Etsy shop

My Facebook page

Jhumka

First of all I hope all of you who or whose family or friends have been caught in the cross hairs of either Hurricane Harvey or Hurricane Irma, please know you are in my thoughts. My heart goes out to you and I hope you are all safe.
And I am not sure this is the right place to say this but for all of us who are safe and haven’t been affected by these terrible disasters, I hope we can unite and give help or donate to one of the many charities. As well as for help to the many many displaced people across the World.

As some of you might know my husband and I were fortunate to be able to live in Nepal and India for almost 1 year (10 years ago). I love both countries: the people, the colours, the food, the culture, the nature and of course the jewellery. One day I hope to travel these countries again.

One of the wonderful earring styles I came across is Jhumka/Jhumki: earrings in a shape of a bell from which dangles drop. Every region has its own distinct design. Gold, silver, with or without enamel, with or without (semi) precious stones.

Credit

What I have been able to find on the Internet is that Jhumka started their journey as part of the southern Indian traditional temple jewellery – earrings made to adorn the deities in the temples.
They were originally made in pure gold and studded with rubies, diamonds and emeralds, their shapes mimicking the domes of the palaces and temples that hosted these deities.

I also found a similar style used during the Qajar dynasty (Persia) and I found pictures of similar style earrings in Yemen.

And apparently the word Jhumki exists in Arabic and means earring. 
 

This is my take on Jhumka earrings. I used filigree bead caps and made dangles with seed and Czech glass beads as well as Swarovsky crystal. I so enjoyed making these, so I couldn't stop and made four pairs. Next time I am going to paint the bead caps to mimic the enamel in some designs.

I hope you like these.

Thank you so much for visiting and I hope to see you again next month. As you know we at Earrings Everyday love to read your comments so please, don’t be shy and leave one. It doesn’t have to be in English :)

Thanks for looking!

 Janine

Esfera Jewelry

My etsy shop

My website/blog

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