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Latest Earrings

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.

© Camilla Walton and Adventures In Color, 2012. All rights reserved. See
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