Glorious Geometrics

Hi, everyone!  The first thing I'd like to say about these earrings is that I really loved making them...even if they were time-consuming.  😉

As a chainmailler, obviously I like working with metal, but as a woman who for years transcribed the (sometimes unintelligible) dictation of doctors, I now find myself with arthritic thumbs that aren't up to heavy-duty metal work anymore.  These days, the idea of making chainmaille in stainless steel--famously hard to work with--is a little scary at best.

But I really enjoy working with wire that's easily manipulable, and with chainmaille rings in softer metals.  So every now and then, rather than pair beads with beautiful components like these (made by Marlene Kazor Quigley of MarKazo Art), I create something out of wire instead.

 

In this case, I made circles out of several wraps of copper wire, antiqued and tumbled them, and wired onto them tiny beads in colors that bring out the vivid hues of Marlene's enameled copper triangles.  I even wrapped some little beads to the ear wires.

I always did like geometry.  💗

Thanks so much for reading!
xoxo
Meridy

My Shop
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Springtime, at the Edge of Winter...

It's nearly Winter Solstice, but I'm still loving florals, especially 

when they're as pretty as the flowers created by

Beth Mellor and Raida Disbrow, here and below.  

These earrings can be found and purchased here.

Such gentle beauty and color from Beth's glass tulip beads (with their blue petals laid over

 underlying green) and Raida's lovely floral enameled copper charms!  I complemented them

 with small blue Czech glass tulip beads, 4-mm olivine Czech glass discs, tiny rosy bicone 

Swarovski crystals, and small leafy copper bead caps.   

Thank you so much for reading!  I'll be back soon. 💗 The happiest of holidays to you all!

xoxo
Meridy
Two Trees Studio

Sister Earrings

Hi, everyone!  It's good to be back.

First, let me thank Norbel, who covered my last blog date at the last minute.  I really appreciate it, my friend! 💓

I've always loved the idea of "sister" jewelry:  pieces that resemble each other but aren't the same.  I hadn't made any sister anythings in a while...but then, about a month ago, I bought these exquisite rainbow leaf earring components from Kristi Bowman Gruel:

From a strand of four beads (by one of my favorite glass artists, Beth Mellor of Beeboo) I picked two that would be perfect with the leaves:  beautiful little round-edge cubes with colorful swirls and teal blooms. They would make a gorgeous pair of earrings.  So I made them, adding some copper beads, Czech glass rondelles, and Swarovski crystals:

These sold quickly (thank you, dear lady!), but I didn't forget that I still had two more of those wonderful floral beads.  Two or three weeks later, Kristi had another show, and I found leaf components that resembled the original leaves. 

 
I used different copper accents for these new earrings, making them more airy, and they're also a bit longer and more slender than their sisters.

These "sisters" are clearly separate designs, but they're definitely family!

  


Thanks for reading!  xoxo
Meridy

My shop
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Bon Apatite!

Over the past six months or so I've been feeling creatively restless--not necessarily dissatisfaction with what I'm doing, but more the feeling that there are new things coming to add to it.   Lately I've been attracted to jewelry techniques and styles that have never really "called to me" before, and I've been learning new techniques and trying new ideas.    

Anyway, that kind of brings me to these earrings...  :)

I don't often use gemstones in my work, even though I love them, and I don't do a lot of wire-wrapping these days either, though I also enjoy doing that as well.  So these earrings use techniques I haven't made use of in a while.

My starting point was Cathleen Zaring's beautiful white-and-blue enameled copper crescents, a shape I love.  To suspend components like these, I often knot tiny beads into thread instead of wrapping beads on metal.  But a week or so ago I'd been digging around in my little trove of gemstones looking for some garnets and found a small bag of tiny, GORGEOUS blue neon apatite beads--and they looked great with the crescents.  I also had a feeling that these rustic-cut little beads would look best wire-wrapped onto metal.

So I made four copper connectors, darkened them with liver of sulfur, and then tumbled them for hours to give them a gorgeous gleaming chestnut brown color.  Before I put all the parts together, I wrapped the apatite beads to the connectors with raw 26-gauge copper, and then attached the crescents to the connectors and to copper jump rings (which had also received the liver of sulfur and tumbling treatment).  The teal blue niobium ear wires were the perfect final touch.

"Bon Apatite" can be found in my shop, Two Trees Studio.

I really enjoyed making these blue beauties and sharing them with you.  I also wonder how many of us might be feeling that pull of restlessness that I identify as the urge to grow and expand on a creative path.  My love and best wishes go out to you all as we share our paths together!

xoxo
Meridy

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