A Real HUM-DINGER!

For today’s earrings, I decided to keep my promise to myself and continue to design at least a few earring pairs with my own enamels. Just like the last pair of earrings I shared, these enamels were designed for a recent bird-themed show. Although I typically go for matchy-matchy designs, I do like to mix things up every so often, and these similar-but-different hummingbirds were just begging to be paired together. I was instantly attracted to the soft print and pastel colors, and the copper blanks somehow reminded me of the gilded bird cages I saw hanging all over the souks in the Marrakech medina a few years back on a family vacation.

Knowing I wanted to give the finished earrings a romantic but subtle vibe, I embossed the copper before adding the powdered glass enamel base coats and kept the oxidation intact after applying the iron oxides. Now that the charms were done, the design of the earrings remained.

I remembered coming across some fancy copper connectors from Joan Langmo recently while rummaging through my boxes of treasured components and hoped I could remember where I saw them (if you only saw my “organization”, you would understand why I said I hoped)! I hit the jackpot when I found not only the connectors I was looking for, but also some lovely flat copper flower stampings that I had completely forgotten about. It took just a bit of finagling to get all the pieces to play nicely together (do you ever feel that engineering is the most challenging part of designing? I know I do quite often!) by adding dainty Czech glass flowers on top of the copper stampings. Next, I added the hollow lampwork from Alisha White, sandwiched between pretty copper caps, at the top – just the thing to add a bit of color without distracting from the hummingbird enamels. The last step was to add the dangling Czech flowers on each side of the connectors to balance the earrings and tie everything together.

I just LOVE this subtle mix of colors:

Below you can see how the pair looks when hanging:

I’m still debating whether I “love” these or not – perhaps I’ll feel the urge to change them up a bit. But for now, they will appear this way later today in my etsy shop, TwinklingOfAnEye.

You can find other earrings in my fb group.

Thanks for spending a part of your day with me - see you in a few weeks! :-) 

Ethereal Jewelry Designs

My earring designs usually are in strong colors, more in the jewel tone color vibe, but it is always wonderful to challenge one’s self with something new, such as components from Emma Wilson, from the United Kingdom. When I first saw Emma Wilson’s porcelain ceramic components I was blown away by the intricate markings and patterns on each piece. They were so delicate and detailed looking, but having an art degree in ceramics, I knew they would be very sturdy for jewelry components.

Emma’s porcelain components exude a sense of history, like they have been part of something else, maybe having been worn by someone in a gentler time or possibly that they have been places and have a story to tell and now they were just found and repurposed into these ornate bits and bobs. Emma’s pieces are frequently in tones of pale peach, blue and white, with gold ‘gilding’ in key areas. They are a delight to design with as I get to work with my smaller glass pieces and ornate headpins to enhance the story Emma has started.

Emma’s pieces can be found at: https://www.facebook.com/TheNatureofPorcelain , https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop//TheNatureofPorcelain, and on Facebook selling groups such as https://www.facebook.com/groups/LBAGalleriaDesignersShowcase/

Each porcelain piece in these photos range from 1.5 to 2.5 cms in length or about ½ to one inch. When  other artisan materials are added they are 2-3 inches long and are extremely light in weight on your ear.

The round medallion type earrings with dangling Swarovski crystals also feature Rose toned beadcaps and rustic lampwork glass by Jody Brimhall of Inspire Glass Studio at https://www.etsy.com/shop/InspireGlassStudio as well as on Facebook selling group pages such as: https://www.facebook.com/groups/lampworkbeadmarket

The pale blue bell shaped earrings feature lampwork glass beads from Patricia Ritchie of Australia, more Swarovski crystals and Silver Tinned Headpins by Sasha Crow.  Patricia’s work can be found on Facebook selling social media pages such as https://www.facebook.com/groups/lampworkbeadsfs/

Sasha Crow’s artisan pieces can be found at https://www.etsy.com/shop/crowscachesupplies

The smaller round components with small round impressions in the clay feature Terry Turner of Silverfish Designs at https://www.etsy.com/shop/Silverfishdesigns and Sasha Crow’s headpins.

For more information I can be found at: https:www.facebook.com/ChristineKaitlyn.3  and

https://www.Etsy.com/shop/ChrisKaitlynJewelry  or  http://ChrisKaitlynJewelry.IndieMade.com/

and on Instagram and Pinterest.

Chris Kaitlyn