We're All Ears: July 2015

I love the inspiration for this month's We're All Ears Challenge hosted by the Earrings Everyday blog!  Erin always finds something super interesting to spark our creativity, and this month is no exception.  She stumbled on the primitive folk art quilts of the Sidde people.  Here are just a couple of the images... you can read and see more over HERE.

I might have gone just a little bit crazy with the earrings this month.  I started pulling beads and just couldn't stop making things!  Not the worst problem for a jewelry designer to have.  :)

The first things I thought of were the paper beads that I have had in my stash for quite some time.  Some were bought individually and gifted to me by my husband.  Others were originally in a necklace that was gifted to me several years ago.  The ones from the necklace were made by African women and sold to help them be independent.  While the matching pairs of paper beads I had weren't quite as colorful as the quilts, I think they still have a similar spirit/feel to them.

My first two designs are variations on a theme.  They both mix the paper beads with recycled glass teardrops from Lima Beads.  A while back I was inspired by Lynda Carson's use of these teardrops and grabbed some in several different colors... and then let them sit and sit in my stash.  The recycled glass felt like the perfect compliment to the paper beads.  These (and most of my earrings this month!) are LONG... not for the dainty earring wearers out there!

The next two pairs are also similar to each other and both started with some ceramic donut beads from my most recent bead subscription box from Blueberry Cove Beads.  I  added some of the smaller, skinnier paper beads as dangles on these.  I originally thought about running wire or a headpin all the way through the donut but decided that I didn't care for the look of it that way.  Plan B was to run a longer headpin through each of the holes in the donut bead from the inside.  I think the mismatched pair might be my favorite of the whole bunch!

Next up... a couple of pairs using some patterned wood beads.  I bought a bunch of these guys in coordinating colors the first year (probably the first months) that I was making jewelry what seems like a million years ago.  At that point I was mostly stringing (on stringing wire... not fibers yet) and I found the holes in these to be too large for that purpose so they got set aside until now.  I added some orangey Czech glass for one pair and dangled them from some brass gears.

That's already a lot of earrings... but wait, there's more!  This next set is more neutral and monochromatic.  One pair uses some carved coconut pieces (also from Blueberry Cove Beads) wire wrapped with more of the larger paper beads.  Then for one of the more muted pairs of paper beads, I decided to add some Red Creek Jasper (one of my favorite stones!) in coordinating colors.

And last but not least (I hope!)  I made a slightly smaller pair of earrings using more tiny paper beads and some carved wood beads in a nice light color.  These are more beads from my very early days of jewelry making.

That, my beady friends is it for me!  I can't wait to see what everyone else made this month!

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