A Real HUM-DINGER!

For today’s earrings, I decided to keep my promise to myself and continue to design at least a few earring pairs with my own enamels. Just like the last pair of earrings I shared, these enamels were designed for a recent bird-themed show. Although I typically go for matchy-matchy designs, I do like to mix things up every so often, and these similar-but-different hummingbirds were just begging to be paired together. I was instantly attracted to the soft print and pastel colors, and the copper blanks somehow reminded me of the gilded bird cages I saw hanging all over the souks in the Marrakech medina a few years back on a family vacation.

Knowing I wanted to give the finished earrings a romantic but subtle vibe, I embossed the copper before adding the powdered glass enamel base coats and kept the oxidation intact after applying the iron oxides. Now that the charms were done, the design of the earrings remained.

I remembered coming across some fancy copper connectors from Joan Langmo recently while rummaging through my boxes of treasured components and hoped I could remember where I saw them (if you only saw my “organization”, you would understand why I said I hoped)! I hit the jackpot when I found not only the connectors I was looking for, but also some lovely flat copper flower stampings that I had completely forgotten about. It took just a bit of finagling to get all the pieces to play nicely together (do you ever feel that engineering is the most challenging part of designing? I know I do quite often!) by adding dainty Czech glass flowers on top of the copper stampings. Next, I added the hollow lampwork from Alisha White, sandwiched between pretty copper caps, at the top – just the thing to add a bit of color without distracting from the hummingbird enamels. The last step was to add the dangling Czech flowers on each side of the connectors to balance the earrings and tie everything together.

I just LOVE this subtle mix of colors:

Below you can see how the pair looks when hanging:

I’m still debating whether I “love” these or not – perhaps I’ll feel the urge to change them up a bit. But for now, they will appear this way later today in my etsy shop, TwinklingOfAnEye.

You can find other earrings in my fb group.

Thanks for spending a part of your day with me - see you in a few weeks! :-) 

Spring Blossoms

It's been a lovely sunny few days up here in the north of England  (if still a trifle chilly) and that's reflected in my choice of colours for this weeks post. I have a bowl of double red tulips just coming out - so sunshine and tulips!

The enamel rings with flower burst murrini are by Kaz Baildon; the enamelled red beadcaps by Anne Gardanne. Rustic yellow Czech glass forms the inner bud and also the drops on the end of the chain. 

Something to cheer up your days!

                    Hope you are all keeping well and enjoying the spring sunshine - if you have some!

                                                                 See you in two weeks.

                                                                           Lindsay x

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Finally Spring

Hello. I do hope this finds all of you well. 

With sunny days and temps reaching aaaaaallllll the way to 55F -- yeah, I know, but it's all we have!! -- Spring has finally come to Southeastern Lower Michigan. Spring is such a rejuvenating time of year. Truth be told, Fall is my favorite, but I'd never turn my back on a lovely Spring day. It seems to be all about renewal. That's a good feeling.

I have two pairs of earrings to show you today, both made when Spring was still an abstract thought, with snow on the ground in April. 🙂 All just a memory now. 

Flower Bobble Earrings

The first started with Petra Carpreau's Bobble Flower Drops in an "Oriential Princess" glaze. I paired them with columns cut from rusted tin tiles and given a bit of a "whitewash" with hints of pink. Green translucent glass beads and oxidized brass accents are strung on waxed Irish linen and hang from soldered brass metal rings. The backs of the tin are felted to give them a bit more substance and a nice finish. 

The second pair includes ceramics by Andrea Salkowe of JosephineBeads. Floral decals with a retro feel are paired with Natural Stones of Peach Moonstone, Rustic Blue Watermelon Tourmaline and rondelles of "Nephrite Jade." Small blue glass beads accompany the semi-precious stones, all wrapped with handmade oxidized copper ball-tip headpins. Simple but not. . . . they're really beautiful. 

As an aside, I think ball-tip headpins were one of the things I learned to make that really changed things when I first started making jewelry. Very easy, cost effective, and great design elements. 😉

Flowers & Stones

Thank you all so much for popping in today to give us a read. I hope you are all enjoying the best Spring ever, and that your Summer will be much of the same, filled with Creativity and Joy!

Thank you!
Norbel Marolla
She Flies Again

My Precious, My Own...

Hello! Happy Monday to you all. This is Norbel speaking (writing :) ). I'm sure many of you have noticed the number of changes there have been in our Artisan Contributors over the last several months. One thing I know for sure about life is that nothing stays the same. Things change; lives change. And that is simply how it is. Our wonderful, talented friends that have moved on are really missed. . . . by us and I'm sure by our readers. . . but there is always a silver lining. 😁 And of course, that is that we are able to welcome in wonderfully talented, new-to-Earrings Everyday artisan jewelry designers. You will be meeting three! We are very happy to welcome today Rejetta Sellers, who sells from her shop on Etsy, Jettabug Jewelry. We call her Jetta. We are sure you will enjoy both Jetta herself and her earrings. Here she is! Welcome, Jetta!

***

I love using artisan beads in my jewelry. I don't seem to have a favorite material: lampwork, ceramic polymer clay, enamel, patina, leather, painted wood. You name it and I will probably have some of it!

One thing I find myself doing is hoarding pieces from a favorite artist and only letting some go if I am able to buy more of their beads. Umm....I wonder if I am the only person to do this?

You see, for me, those little works of art are like collecting paintings for some people. Or having a favorite vase maker that you spend hours tracking down online. Going to an artisan bead makers shop is like going to a gallery for me. Being able to buy their work is thrilling and I display my pieces in clear boxes. My most prized pieces I display on my work desk to see them every time I create.

I made these earrings to sell in my shop, photographed them, and even wrote up my description. Then I found out Elaine Ray was retiring from making her unique ceramic pieces like these denim blue flowers.

A week or two later Teresa Hulley of Bo Hulley Beads announced she was taking a hiatus from bead making to pursue another dream. These amazing ceramic cream heart headpins had been in my collection for a while and look so perfect with Elaine Ray's flowers.

So these earrings never became available in my shop. They hang with my other favorite earrings and I wear them often. I love showing off my wearable art.

More artists have retired from bead making since the day these two ladies retired. And my bead hording has hit a new level of will-never-let-it-go. Do you have beads you can't let go of for one reason or another? I would love to hear about them. I might have some in my collection, too!

Jetta
JettabugJewelry

Scraps. . . continued

I didn't think Nathalie would mind if I picked up on her "scraps" idea. Her recent post really gave me pause. It was a good challenge for me, to pay attention to what I'm throwing away or simply tossing aside, without giving thought to what it might become rather than trash. I recycle many things in different areas of life, but I am quick to pitch loose odds and ends without thinking about it. The opportunity came up very soon.

The first pair is made from a small piece of tin I still have left from a vintage container. So in a way they're scraps. . . . but they're not really the pair that in my mind were made from scraps. :) The scraps are the second pair.

Earrings Available Here! 😊

These were made from what was left after cutting out the teardrop shapes in the first pair of earrings. It took some Dremel work to get the shapes nicely edged, inside and out. They were not joined at the top; that was where I made the first cut to begin the teardrop shape. I used a brass metal coating on the backs. They are too narrow for me to try to apply the backing I regularly use. 

I punched holes at the top of both ends. I used an aqua/green dye-oxide on vintage steel wavy disks. ***For whatever reason, those appear much deeper and brighter a color than they actually are. Strange. . . . as everything else is quite accurate. I tried lightening the photos at one point trying to soften the color. But the disks are simply not that bright.*** 

Using waxed Irish linen, I strung a single coral Czech glass bead and put both ends of the linen through the center hole in the disk, then one end through each hole in the tin, then knotting it. Pulling the strands tight caused the tin to bow ever so slightly and it looks great that way. Gives it a little bit of depth.

 I considered leaving the entire empty space empty after having tried at least two dozen different things to hang. Nothing worked. It was an odd feeling. I had all this empty space and couldn't fill it. It was baffling, actually. Frustrating too. I am not opposed to leaving empty space. Often it is what I would rather do, but in this situation I felt they really needed something.

I hung them up after finishing and left them as is. Later in the day I was looking for something for another project and stumbled on these Vintage very thin brass-plated findings. They worked, so I left them on. They are attached with waxed linen also, wrapped around the backs of the disk.

So my thanks to Nathalie for her post the other day, for making me stop to think about what I was throwing away, and giving me a new way to look at bits and pieces.

 Thank you for stopping in! I'll be back the 1st of August. Hope you are all enjoying the summer.

norbel

SheFliesAgain Etsy Shop

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Blossoming.

Spring is beginning to make itself felt even up here in the north of England and we've had two or three days of lovely blue skies and sunshine. It was Mother's Day here on Sunday and my house is awash with plants and flowers of all colours and scents. Close your eyes and smell hyacinths - it's just the best!

Today's pretty pink blossom earrings are made with beautifully detailed enamels from  Linda Younkman . I've had quite a few pairs of Linda's enamels and been really pleased with the quality and unusual shapes of every one. Vintaj black arte chain and jump rings hold a bouquet of small Czech glass flowers and the swirly pink lampwork is from another northern English lass, Joanne Joyce. My mate Lucy Haslam made the beaten copper circular earwires for me at her home in Wales.

                                          
                                           Just like having a bunch of flowers in your ears.

                                                      Enjoy the weather, wherever you are!

                                                                  See you next time

                                                                        Lindsay x

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