Hyacinth Blue

Sitting at my table today with the scent of hyacinths cheering up a grey day. Somehow the blue variety seem to have the most powerful scent.  Another harbinger of spring; and January is already approaching its close. So what could be better than some pretty, delicate earrings in the very same shade of blue?

 

 

The beautifully detailed, organically shaped fine porcelain pieces are by ceramic artist Emma Wilson who lives not too far from me in  northern England,  near the wonderful Lake District National Park. I have more of her work than I'd care to admit!

 

 

Not wanting to overegg the pudding, I've simply hung them with goldfill jumprings from glossy, ridged ceramic connectors by Robyn Cove and added goldfill earwires. The fine detail in Emma's work has to be seen to be believed. 

 

 

Available in my Etsy shop if you'd like a touch of Spring. 

I'll be back next week in my regular slot - so keep well until then!

 

Lindsay xx

 

 

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Oh the possibilities - Sari Silk

I hope this finds all of you healthy and well this flu season! 

Both pairs of earrings I'm showing today were made using handcrafted Sari Silk components by Anna Pierson of SagaHus. 

I have lots of silk to work with. . . . large amounts of it so generously gifted to me by a friend. . . .and prior to that I had a few ribbons of my own here and there. Never have I been able to pull it together, not for lack of trying. I have tried and used and used and used a fair amount of silk trying. I have managed small areas of an earring design, and have also used different kinds of ribbon over the years successfully. So although I will continue my efforts at some point, I was delighted when I managed to snag these components to work with. Fun, colorful, unique. Thank you, Anna! 

SheFliesAgain

This gorgeous pair of silk components is paired with various Czech glass beads and Greek bronze castings in a column-shaped design. They're all wrapped with waxed Irish linen and attached to soldered copper metal rings. 

SheFliesAgain

The second pair includes handcrafted copper ovals by Shannon German of MissFickleMedia, and wonderfully crackled recycled glass shards made by Emily Cohen of CatFishStu. Again, wrapped with waxed linen and attached to soldered rings.

SheFliesAgain

Both pairs are amazingly lightweight, at only 0.10 oz / 2.83 grams, and 0.15 oz / 4.28 grams respectively. 

Thanks for checking us out today.

Always with Love and Joy,
norbel
SheFliesAgain

Ancient Petroglyph Design

Hello. We have a new guest today! Please welcome Chris Kaitlyn.

I view making earrings as making a small sculpture or painting, blending elements together until I create a design that pleases my eye. I had so much fun putting these elements together to make a colorful bold earring design. Jill Stoffregen of Foxpaws Ceramics made the focus component for the design. Jill’s petroglyph of people outlined in blue against a brick red background goes well with the blue and red lampwork glass beads from Jody Brimhall of Inspire Glass Studio. 

Chris Kaitlyn Jewelry

Years ago while reading about materials in jewelry designing I came across black annealed steel wire. I tried some and fell in love with the product. It is a sturdy wire that supports any material I need to wire to other elements whether it is gemstones, ceramics or glass. It is also easy to find at my local Ace Hardware store. I also like that it is a black to steely black color and doesn’t compete with the various elements in the design. Currently I’m using a lot of 28 gauge wire as it bends and wraps well and doesn’t wear out my hands. 

Chris Kaitlyn Jewelry

The other element in the earrings is a new one for me. I have used black and antique copper Niobium ear wires from Tierra Cast for years now, but the colored ear wires are new in my earring designs. They really lend themselves well to colorful earrings and they are made so well. The Niobium is a non-allergic metal, being free of nickel, lead, or other additives. The color is applied through an anodizing process where the metal is dipped into an electrically charged solution making the color bond to the metal so it will not flake or chip. They also make head pins and jump rings in colors, but it is good to note that just as with yarn and fabrics, the color can change a bit from one lot of jump rings, to head pins, to ear wires, but they will all look beautiful together.

To avoid getting confused I put all of one order of a specific color in its own tray and do not mix them with the next order as they can be a slightly different shade. Today’s earrings feature blue ear wires. They also come in purple, green, teal, pink, and yellow and look even better in person than in the pictures.

Chris Kaitlyn Jewelry

Thank you to the Earrings Everyday Crew for the opportunity to be today’s guest writer.

ChrisKaitlynJewelry
Chris Kaitlyn Jewelry on IndieMade
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🌟Shine like a star🌟

⭐⭐⭐Hello⭐⭐⭐

Have you guessed this week's theme yet?!  Clue is in the title ;). 

So today I bring you several pairs of star studded ear candy.  

Group shot of some of them.

This was the first pair I made featuring Invicit pewter stars.  I blinged up the stars with rhinestones, added vintage brass triple star stampings on top for that mixed metal look that I absolutely love.  They are finished with lampwork caps (GlassNatalyaDarlin) and brass hearts.

Second pair features Inviciti's Lady in moon charms along with lampwork butterfly lentils by Helen Chalmers and my wire wrapped hoops.

I made a third pair with Inviciti hands (those Invicit charms are addictive!), added teeny brass stars to keep with the theme, finished them with antique silver plated brass leaves, crowns and lampwork caps.

And finally this pair with Scorched Earth discs.  I didn't add much to these, they looked pretty glamorous just with sari silk and cup chain so I resisted the urge to add more.

 I also made this pair with my painted resin daggers but I'm not too sure about these.  They may need a makeover. 

You can find out if these did undergo a makeover in my show on Monday where I will be listing this star studded lot.  My show will take place in The Jewellery Show FB group.

Thanks for stopping by.  See you again soon. 

Suhana 💖💖💖

And now for something completely different...

After making so many ruffly, floral, super-girly earrings for my last post a couple of weeks ago, I was ready for something different:  (1) tribal style and (2) crows. 💗

Thanks to the dynamic duo of Vincent and Nooma Cav of Inviciti, I was able to combine these two favorite things in one pair of earrings.

Why crows/corvids?  They're extraordinary birds.  Crows remember faces; they remember the people who feed them and who are kind to them--and they remember the people who hurt them too.  They tell each other who to watch out for and whom to look after.  They have a kind of magic. 

I love Inviciti's rustic bird charms, and they called out to be made into a pair of simple tribal earrings.  I'd had the carved-wood African beads and the beautiful dark red lampwork spacers by Julie Wong Sontag in my bead collection for a while, and I didn't need much else, just a couple of gunmetal spacers and some black niobium ear wires.  They came together easily...and I so enjoyed making them!

   
The earrings, called "Tribe of Crow," can be found in my shop, here. 

Thanks so much for reading--I'll see you all in a couple of weeks!  💗

xoxo
Meridy

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London Calling

A hint of sadness this week ....one of my all time favourite ceramic artists, Robyn Cove, announced some time ago that she isn't going to make beads or jewellery components any longer; she's concentrating on her beautiful and very original pottery.  Everything in her shop is reduced, so as soon as I saw this I hoofed it over to her Etsy shop RaggedRobyn pronto, to stock up as much as I could!
Robyn's work has inspired some of my best and most innovative pieces of work. I particularly like her spikes - the ones I used below remind me of an industrial skyline, rows of windows in a skyscraper.  Her work is just so different to anything else.

In my minds eye I see London - the tall buildings, the one they call 'The Gherkin' (30 St. Mary Axe - what a fabulous address!) represented by the faceted amethyst, the lovely eucalpytus pod connectors from Helen Backhouse representing the parks and public open spaces filled with flowers. The dark metal lever back earwires - the underground rail lines with their sidings and spurs. A whole city in a pair of earrings!

Hope you like them - they're available in my Etsy shop Precious Violet

 

See you next week  as I'm covering one of the extra days at the month end. February soon..........shall we do Valentine's Day?

 

Lindsay x

 

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Caribbean Sunset

My husband and I will be celebrating our 45th anniversary this coming July and we've been discussing some ways we might celebrate.  Our favorite idea, at the moment, is a return trip to a very remote beach in Costa Rica, that we have visited twice before.  

This is our secret piece of tropical paradise!  We stay in a rustic, thatched roof cabin, swim, read in the hammocks and eat fresh fish and tropical fruits while listening to Caribbean music in an outdoor bar. Pura Vida!

So I was thinking about this getaway when I was designing these Caribbean Sunset Earrings.

The colors make me think of evenings in an open-air, beach-side bar.  Picture it:  The sun is going down and setting the sky ablaze!  Its warm, with a light breeze.  You've got a fruity adult beverage in your hand and these happy earrings dangle from your ears.  The colors reflect all the intense hues of the tropics: turquoise, blue, purple and orange. Lovely!

The small, orange lampwork glass beads are by Paradise Beads and the larger, multicolor lampwork beads are by Out West Designs. The earrings are available in my shop.

~~~~

Linda Landig Jewelry