Earrings

So this post shows my forays into earring-making, and how that has developed.
I have given away so many earrings that I didn't document by photographing and now I wish I had.
It all started with the pearls, remember?

These are coin pearls in a copper tone, with seed pearls.

The upper left are a maroon oval pearl-somehow I found other pearl rounds that matched.
Upper right is the complement to my own Wilma coral necklace. I can't remember if the findings are pewter or sterling. I think pewter, but am not sure.
Lower left is an early effort- white potato pearls. I used to wear these a lot.
Lower right; I got these semi-frosted glass beads at Vintage Vogue & really liked them. They are paired with Japanese seed beads on the largish size, also from VV, and silver beads.  I made two pairs- my friend Ros and her friend Lynda were staying over here and Lynda loved the purple so much I gave them to her.  She sent me some Celtic knot earrings from Wales as a thank you- and I wear those a lot as well.

Top left is Lapis Lazuli-these go with my Celtic lapis necklace.
Top right is turquoise and chrysocolla to go with my other Celtic necklace.
Bottom right is aventurine, silver, pewter & Czech glass-it goes with my leafy glass necklace & bracelet.
Bottom right is a close up of my carnelian set's earrings.  I just love the striations in that carnelian.

As I got more confident with wire work I started branching out from just a single dangling head pin...

These are aventurine cylindrically-shaped beads paired with cobalt glass beads from VV. I made these to go with an aventurine & cobalt necklace Kate had given me a few years ago.

This is Czech crystal paired with gold-toned beads & Miyuki seed beads lined with gold, strung on gold-tone wire. Sparkly!

You'll see the necklace this goes to later on. It's Prehnite, peridot & black agate with Miyuki seed beads lined in silver.  Look, Ma, no head pins!

All About Me

After making a bunch of things for friends, I turned to making some stuff for myself. I also tried thinking outside the box and shaking up my colors a bit. I have a tendency to stick to sea and twilight colors for myself.

This is my own red necklace with pewter spacers and three sizes of dyed coral.

This is my carnelian set. I loved the patterns on each oval bead. I paired it with carnelian rounds, onyx rounds and gold-tone beads & clasp. See? I am capable of making and wearing gold once in a while.

(I still always prefer silver and have had a love affair with pewter from the first time I ever engraved it.)

This necklace was originally made by Kate as a gift for me. It was too tight, she miscalculated the length. She got some more onyx beads to finish it but gave it to me to do as she was in the middle of moving.  It's jasper rounds separated by onyx 3mm rounds.  I liked the way she spaced it, so all I did was add onyx to the length. Then I made me some earrings to match. I subtracted the jasper rounds from the necklace & put them in the earrings so that the final count of jasper would not come to thirteen.

Failte!

As my beading skills progress, I wanted a forum in which to show my friends what I have created. Since I am  obsessive about photographing my creations, this should not be a problem.
I've been making earrings for a few years now. My visit to Hawai'i started me off when I picked up a bunch of pearls. Then I started using bead from the two bead shops in town. (Yes, we have TWO bead shops in town-it's kind of a mandatory hobby, I guess.)
My first creations were for my son's wedding. I made jewelry for myself, my daughter and a friend.

This was my first; a gift for my sister. I found the glass shells at a bead show. The beads are jasper and the clasp is gold. 

This is a coral and sterling silver simple necklace I made for my friend to go with her dress of white with black flower print.  I call it Wilma.

She can't wear pierced earrings so I made a few clips for her.
I liked them so much I made a few for myself.:)

Goldstone is a man-made semi-precious gemstone. Originally invented in the alchemic quest for making gold from other natural materials, it was made nearly exclusively by an Italian family, its recipe handed down through the generations. It comes in several colors, usually seen in a warm brown. I favour the dark blue with its silver glints.

My daughter's dress was blue, so I made this for her, accented with sterling spacers and Swarovsky jet black crystals. I also liked the funky sterling clasp- very modern, so I knew she'd like it.
Apparently, I neglected to take a picture of my own set, an amethyst and sterling creation that matched my lilac-colored gown. I guess that will be the topic of my next post.