Seemingly earrings are a dime a dozen when it comes to quantity. When I go to a department store I see displays full of gold and silver earrings with set “jewels” and then also more “handmade look” items in antique brass and copper and hammered metals, usually with beads. Personally I prefer the handmade look items but that is my personal taste. I’m sure my elderly mother never would have worn the type of jewelry I wear. She is from the “string of pearls” era. She had pierced ears as a young woman but she quit wearing that type when they went out of style and the holes healed up. Yes, you heard me right (read me right?) – pierced ears went out of style! I don’t remember seeing earrings for pierced ears when I was young.
Most of the jewelry I have from my mom (she doesn’t wear it anymore) is predominately pearls and rhinestones but there are a few pairs of earrings that really appeal to me. One is a pair of long drop earrings of blue lapis set into marcasite. Another is round green turquoise set into sterling silver with beaded edge trim. By beaded edge I mean the silver edge has the effect of small beads. The last ones are button earrings. Both pairs have screw backs on them. If I don’t tighten the screws enough they fall off. If I tighten them too much I end up with aching ear lobes. Plus some of the older ones tend to loosen as you wear them and can easily drop off without me noticing. I don’t wear them as I am not about to lose antique earrings.
As I mentioned above, I wear clip earrings. I just never got my ears pierced since it wasn’t in style when I was young and now I feel like I am too old – LOL! I have a hard time finding the colors of clips to put on my earrings when I shop in stores around me. Finding antique brass or antique copper or bright copper clip earring findings in shops is almost impossible. I have to order those online. They aren’t difficult to find online so I’m not sure why the brick and mortar stores where I shop don’t stock them. I know I am not the only person in the world who doesn’t have their ears pierced.
The earrings I make for sale are for pierced ears and they are not the stately traditional jewelry of old. Mine have the handmade/handcrafted look because they ARE handmade! I buy beads, metal pieces, Czech glass, etc. and I play around with designs. Mostly I use the French hook/Shepherd’s hook style for hanging in the ear lobe but occasionally I will do them with lever backs or studs. I used to offer different options on my StormRising Designs standalone site but rarely did anyone ever request that I change then from what I had, not even to clips. Of course I put clips on the ones I make for myself. Hopefully if a person prefers lever backs or clips to wires they will ask me if I can accommodate them. I aim to please!
Here is a batch of earrings (see below) that I worked on over last weekend and on Monday. They are all for pierced ears as usual. Right now I am finishing up a necklace made from some openwork brass leaves, poppy jasper and picture jasper and I am trying to come up with a design for some unusual shell beads I have. They may end up being in a bracelet because of the odd shape. I also have an idea for a chain necklace with various colors of gemstone leaf-shaped beads from my stash. They are leftovers but they can end up being very tasty! I like to strike when the muse is hot so I will create everything I can before I finalize names and write descriptions.
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KSullivan said:
My mom had her ears pierced as an infant because that was the custom in France. When she met and married my dad, an American, he told her that American women didn’t get their ears pierced – and at the time, they didn’t because it had gone out of style. So she gave all of her earrings to her sister just before they moved to the US. Her piercings closed and she never had it redone. I think she regretted listening to him though!
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