Dreamy ceramics

Hello earring people! I've been having a bit of a break from jewellery of late. I made so many new pieces for a showcase a couple of weeks ago, I was spent! I was happy to take out my tools and look through some recent purchases of components for today's blog.

Now, these ceramics are by Spanish artist Mari Carmen Rodrigez Martinez of Majoyoal. If you haven't seen her work before -go take a look. Her glazes are just beautiful. The pair I made for this blog are a beautiful pale green with lemon tones. 

I added some rustic African brass beads to accentuate the ethnic feel to these, and finished with some brass jump rings and spacers to highlight the pretty details on the ceramic charms. I like using jump rings for decoration, rather than just as a way of connecting things together                              

 Below is a pair I made for my last show with gorgeous pieces also by Mari Carmen -this time with beautiful blues and indigo. I used some aqua recycled glass chunks with these, pretty twisted jump rings and silver leaves.

Both pairs are in my shop.

Thanks for popping in! See you in a couple of weeks 

Sue x

Ancient Egypt

Hello, and I hope this finds all of you healthy and well.

Ancient cultures have always intrigued me. The Ancient Egyptians in particular as they seem to have accomplished so much, at a time we think of as rather primitive compared with all that our species has accomplished over the last couple of hundred years. But in their time they were amazing! And yet, those amazing civilizations fell several times over a period of 2500 years. They were finally conquered by Alexander the Great around 330 BC. One of his generals a decade or two later created a Greek-speaking dynasty. Then in 30 BC, when Cleopatra died, Egypt was annexed by the Roman Empire and their very long and prosperous run as a "super power" of their time ended. It makes me wonder how one reaches such heights, only to let it slip away somehow, into the history books and through the sands of time. I'm sure there are lessons there for us somewhere. 

So that has absolutely nothing to do with earrings! But before I made these earrings I did some reading about cats, and Bastet, in Ancient Egypt. Along the way, I also read through some of the history and the timeline of Ancient Egypt, so that's where all that came from. :) As to Bastet, she was an Ancient Egyptian Goddess, often depicted as half female/half feline. Because of her, cats in general were held in very high esteem. The penalties for injuring or killing a cat were severe. Bastet was revered for different things in different parts of Egypt at different times, from warfare to fertility and childbirth :)

The Ancient Egyptian Cats are made from Yellow Bronze by Robert Gilmore of RobertWGilmore. Such wonderful detail in a thin and light component allows a lot of room to "add to." Ancient Egyptian jewelry often included red, blue and turquoise. And I have seen some including green as well but not as frequently. 

I used really lovely slices of Lapis Lazuli that I purchased from FunkyPrettyBeads. As an aside, I believe that shop is still having a Spring sale; might be just another day or two. 

Using brass-plated tiny-link chain I hung the cats from longer pieces, and the two shorter side pieces hold blue, red and green/turquoise Czech glass beads. The center jump ring is soldered and the three lengths of chain are attached to it. I used oxidized copper wire to wrap the top, along with brass rings, red glass and tiny brass beads. They are lightweight at 0.14 oz and just over 2.5" long. Lots of movement, too. :)

I wanted to mention that I am really enjoying our two newest contributors and their jewelry. Both Lindsay and Meridy create such beautiful pieces, and I always look forward to their posts. I hope you do as well.

Enjoy the day, and the next couple of weeks. I'll see you then. Thank you!

Much Love & Joy to each of you today & every single day!

Norbel

SheFliesAgain

The Ancient Tlingit People

Hello. I hope this day finds you healthy and well. 

I have always been and still am interested in all things ancient, indigenous American peoples, and other cultures around the world. And I love making jewelry that connects in any way to an expression of any of those things.

A shop I recently discovered, and love, makes, among other things, white and yellow bronze elements that depict images inspired by ancient Egypt, Africa, the Mimbres, and the Tlingit. The pieces are cast in the U.S. from their original masters and molds. The shop's name is that of its owner, RobertWGilmore. And once again, I am hooked! ☻

My earrings today are made with Robert's "Tlingit Whales." The Tlingit are indigenous people living, past and present, in the Pacific Northwest, Canada and U.S., including Alaska. Their art is unique, as are Robert's elements. They are extremely detailed, beautifully made, thin and lightweight.

earrings available here

I had a specific color in mind I wanted to use with these and thinking through my beads, paddling through some of them, there wasn't a single pair that fit what my mind was stuck on. 
So I pulled out the old polymer clay and made a handful of beads. 

Squares, rectangles, rounds, some textured, some not, and in the end the plain old round beads worked best for me. I used several colors of acrylic paints to get the color I wanted, a vibrant, vivid, turquoise blue. That was to be the only high-contrast in the earrings. As an aside, if the beads appear to be too large for the design, they don't look that way in person; it must be the way they are angled in the photos???? I used Mykonos patina spacers and square brass-plated spacers on both sides of the polymer bead, something I don't often do, the same thing on either side of the bead, but it was the right look. 

earrings available here

The dangles below are 3mm Czech glass beads, and the intent with those was to elongate the design, and not to create a high-contrast to the whales. They are so perfect in and of themselves that I really did not want to take away from them at all. However, the beads behind the whale are a bit more colorful to create interest when viewed from the side when the full face of the whale is not visible.

The next two photos are of earrings I made previously with Robert's elements. Both of those have sold so they're not available, but I wanted to show them to you. Robert's bronze pieces were inspired by the Mimbres. Mimbres first referred to beautiful and distinctive pottery found in southwestern New Mexico, and eventually became the name used to describe the people who had created the pottery.

 















That concludes our history lesson for today. 
Class Dismissed! ☻

As always, I sincerely appreciate the time you take to view our posts. I hope your day continues, unfolds, and ends with peace of mind, no matter what occurs. ☮
Norbel Marolla
SheFliesAgain
You can find me on Facebook and Instagram

Madras Mosaic

Madras Mosaic Earrings

Let me take you to a marketplace in Madras, an Indian seaport city on the Bay of Bengal. Picture the street crowded with people, sellers of fruit and vegetables, fabrics and colorful adornments. Spicy curries are being prepared, each one with a distinctive flavor, and the aroma is everywhere.

My earring design reflects the mood of the Indian street market, with a rich mix of ethnic flavored textures and colors. The amazing drops are handmade by Natalie McKenna of Grubbi Ceramics on Etsy, and the accompanying beads are old chevron trade beads from the 1800s, Cheyenne pink seed beads, and recycled vinyl beads in a bright sea green. Stacked and wrapped in oxidized copper wire in keeping with the old ethnic look.

Gloria Ewing

Chrysalis Tribal Jewelry
ChrysalisToo on Etsy

Take a Risk

In a departure from the usual format of focusing on the inspiration for my idea, I would like to probe into the selection process for blogging about my earrings. I'm sure each of the participating artists on Earrings Everyday has her own method for building a post around their earring creations. Maybe you are curious about mine?

Detailed advance planning doesn't work as well for me as spontaneity. Please don't interpret that to mean I'm just being lazy! The truth is I cannot decide which direction to go until the last moment. So I usually have three newly made earring pairs from which to choose, one being a variation of a signature design of mine, in other words "in my comfort zone". The pietersite earrings below fall into that category. The other two pairs are the risky ones. This time, I have one pair of very rustic hammered and hinged copper earrings with a red patina (pictured below). I also have the pair I chose to feature above that are the most risky of the three, out on the edge in a primitive style. For the body of these earrings, I used my own bone shaped polymer clay connectors. The roughly wrapped oxidized copper wire emphasizes the primitive character, as do my handmade copper ear wires. The dangling beads are Czech glass with an aged Picasso finish.

"Comfort zone" wire wrapped matched pietersite stones with leather.

Medium risk, relentlessly hammered copper earrings in a 2-part hinged design with less than precise stamping and a red patina.









Gloria Ewing

Chrysalis Tribal Jewelry
Chrysalis Too on Etsy

Cavorting in the Casbah

Casbah Earrings on Etsy

The image in my mind was one of belly dancers, richly colored woven tapestries and mysterious looking men smoking hookah pipes. Welcome to my dream world! Every night is a new adventure in epic form. If only I could transcribe these and publish them as a series of novels with slightly twisted story lines, I might be rich and famous instead of just tired. So play along with me and picture in your mind a politically incorrect version of fun (equal amounts of fun for both men and women) in North Africa.

These exotic looking earrings began with brass crescents that I hammered, stamped and darkened with patina. The beads are arranged in three tiers of hanging strands, each with a complementing ethnic accent bead in its center.

Gloria Ewing
Chrysalis Too on Etsy
Chrysalis Jewelry on Artfire

Cross Culture Arches

Cross Culture Arches

A blend of cultural influences in these new earrings with their beaded arches and tribal copper crescent focals. I have strung yellow orange Indonesian beads and teal Czech farfalles on nylon thread to form the contrasting colored arches. The copper clay focal components are from Kristi Bowman; I think of her as my co conspirator. From the copper crescents, I have hung carved bone discs in black and white to complete the tribal theme. I see these earrings as ethnic, but I'm not sure which one (ethnicity), thus the name.

Bias Scarves by Elizabeth Brassard (left)

Aboriginal Women's Ceremony by Debra Young (right)








Gloria Ewing
Chrysalis Jewelry on Artfire
Chrysalis Too on Etsy