The Tree of Life

Tree of Life, Azerbaijan, 17th century

I've always been drawn to the symbol of the Tree of Life.  It seems to have been around forever in one form or another, in every culture.  It's an archetypal image, a constantly recurring motif in literature, painting, and mythology, symbolizing (among other things) the union and balance of the upper and lower worlds and all they represent.

It's taken countless forms, of course, as each culture in each period of time has expressed it based on whatever beliefs they had, in whatever mediums they had to use.  It's timeless--perhaps even eternal.  The Norse called it "The World Tree," and given its ubiquity and its many faces, it really is.

Tree of Life, Aberdeen (Scotland) Bestiary, early 12th Century

By the 12th century, in the West the Tree of Life was most often depicted in Christian iconography of the time as The Tree of Jesse, illustrating the lineage of Jesus.

Tree of Jesse, late 12th century.  The head of the House of Jesse was considered the royal forebear of Jesus and in these depictions was most often shown lying down beneath the tree itself, with Jesus and Mary in the center and other relations on the spreading branches.

Celtic Tree of Life (one of so many!)

Tree of Life, Spain, modern day

These are just a tiny sample of the endless ways the Tree of Life has been interpreted over the centuries.  I would never claim to have created anything iconic in my earring offering today; instead I created a very simple and colorful tribute to the Tree of Life, less than 2 inches long.  

  

Kristi Bowman-Gruel made the beautiful Tree of Life charms, and sky-blue lampwork rondelles, small green Czech glass rondelles, and tiny Swarovski crystals echo their colors. 

The earrings can be found here.  

I loved spending this time with you all--for one thing I got to share some seldom-used knowledge about Medieval iconography--yay!  I hope to see you again in two weeks.  :)

 

xoxo

Meridy

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Earth Rebirth

In my last post here at Earrings Everyday, I wrote about how much I was yearning for spring to arrive.  Well, it's finally here, officially at least, and for some of us the weather is even getting warmer and sunnier!  So I thought I'd make earrings that would reflect the beginning of spring, that period of rebirth and renewal, when the birds are building nests for their families-to-be, the flowers are starting to bloom, and the trees are leafing out.

I looked through my cache of earring components and opened my box of treasures by Helena Benkoczka of ARETObeadsjewellry, who (as I'm sure you know) makes uniquely beautiful earring charms.  I found just what I wanted:  a lovely pair of tribal teardrop charms in soft turquoise and purple that reminded me of the Easter celebrations of my childhood.

To go with the charms, I picked lovely streaky transparent purple lampwork rondelles by Beth Mellor of Beeboo and pretty turquoise discs made for me by my friend Barbara Steffen of Fire Spirit Beads.

I added tiny purple seed beads and turquoise jump rings, and wrapped and knotted everything together with turquoise waxed linen cording.  These pretty, softly colored earrings are the result.

Thanks so much for reading--I'll see you in two weeks!

xoxo
Meridy

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How I Learned to 💗 Holiday Jewelry

I have a confession to make:  I have never been a fan of holiday-themed jewelry.  In fact, the thought of making anything even vaguely "holidayish" always filled me with dread...and if that sounds a little hyperbolic, let's just say I was always less than enthusiastic about the idea.   Maybe it's just that I'd never seen much holiday jewelry that I liked over the years, but I have always avoided making anything for Hallowe'en, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentine's...well, you get the picture.

But this past Christmas season, I saw a few pieces by other designers that truly knocked me out.  Monica Pryor made an exquisite wintry bracelet that was so ethereal and beautiful it could have been worn by the Queen of Winter Herself, and our own Lindsay Philipson made several pairs of Christmas-y earrings that were just plain stunning.  I began to rethink.  Could I have been wrong all these years?

So when I saw these rustic red hammered copper hearts by Shannon German when I was browsing Miss Fickle Media one day a while back...

...a strange, unfamiliar thought came to mind:  "Hmm, I could make some Valentine's Day earrings..."  I know--shocking!

But once I had the hearts in my hot little hands, I wasted no time.  I got out some red linen cording and knotted tiny copper spacers and little Czech glass rondelles (in the most luscious red!) into the cutout spaces in the hearts and then added rustic copper hearts by TierraCast. 

Happy Hearts.

I hung the earrings from my hand-formed copper ear wires and--boom--they were done!  My first holiday earrings--simple but (I hope you'll agree) kinda pretty.  :)

Now I think I might make a Valentine's Day bracelet.  (And I think I'd better hurry!)   

Thanks for reading, everyone!  See you in two weeks.  

xo  Meridy

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Tonal-Color Blingy Fun!

Hi! I have had the privilege of introducing Meridy Migchelbrink, designer/creator and owner of TwoTreesStudio, to you previously as a guest contributor. I am so very happy to be introducing her now as one of our new regular contributors to Earrings Everyday! You likely already know that Meridy's style is beautifully unique. I am very happy she has joined us.

norbel

Hi, everyone, Meridy Migchelbrink of Two Trees Studio here--Happy New Year to you all!  This is my first time here as a regular poster on Earrings Everyday, and I'm happy and honored (if a little nervous!) to be a part of the talented designers and lovely people here and to share my newest 2017 earrings.

"Mermaids"

Because this is my maiden voyage, I thought with these earrings I'd try something I never do. I set myself a specific challenge, rather than what I usually do: fall in love with a component or bead (or what I like to call the "lightning bolt" school of inspiration, ha!). I decided my criteria would be:

1. Tonal-color elements, that is, all elements in tones of the same color (copper accents excepted).
2. Bling!
3. Grace.
4. A touch of whimsy.

These 25 x 10mm blue hammered brass oval links from the fabulous Shannon German of MissFickleMedia were my starting point:

Their lines are graceful, clean, and simple…perfect to build upon. 

So I gathered up the rest of my turquoisey/teal elements. 

I found these 2-mm Celsian Czech glass beads at www.FusionBeads.com (and also added a few non-Celsian beads from my stash in different shades of blue for contrast):

Then I gathered up from my own bead hoard blue Czech glass bell flowers, tiny teal glass tulip flowers, blue rhinestone rondelles, scalloped copper bead caps, and teal-blue Irish waxed linen:

For those of you who are unfamiliar with my work, I make a lot of my earrings with fiber rather than wire, and generally the technique doesn’t take a whole lot longer than wirework construction does.  As you can see in the photos of the earrings, the beads are strung on the thread/cord, and in these earrings the wrapped section ends just at the top of the first 2-mm bead.  These earrings took longer to make only because it was unusually tricky to get the cord wrapped and secured exactly the way I wanted it to.  I was literally sweating it, but it came together in the end--whew!  Wipes brow.  ;)

I was especially pleased with the wave-pattern repetition of scallops in the sets of flower beads, the rhinestone rondelles, and the copper bead caps.  I hadn’t consciously chosen those beads for that reason, but something must have been at work subconsciously!  Consciously, I just liked how they looked together, and that's good enough for me too.  :)  

Thanks so much for looking! My wish for you all is a peaceful, happy, and creative 2017. I'd love to hear what you think about my whimsical Mermaids or about anything Earrings-ish. I'm grateful to be a member of this group...and I'll be back in a couple of weeks with something new! xo Meridy

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