Going Geometric

 Geometric shaped earrings are a big trend now, so I thought I'd make some geometric ceramic earring charms. I started with shapes you might expect. Half circles, triangles etc.

But then next I cut hexagons in half and then cut a half hexagon shape out of the middle! And those are the earrings I'm sharing today.

I used moss green and blue pigments on the clay and then a clear glaze overall.The are quite fun swing lightly from the earlobes.

I hope you are well and, if in the northern hemisphere, that you are blessed with sunny days. Take care my friends.

Linda Landig Jewelry

Sunshine And Flowers

I made a bracelet last week, about which my husband said, "It's pretty, but aren't those kind of Autumn colors?". Well, yes. So today I decided to go for sunshine and flowers. No mistaking which season these are for!

I started with two of my handmade ceramic ovals which I combined with some new brass ovals. My first design had a large flower above the brass ring, but the earrings ended up measuring 3.25 inches long! Back to the drawing board.

In this version, I used smaller orange glass flowers which I topped with brass filigree bead caps. I dangled the flowers in front of the brass and the ceramic ovals. You can find these earrings in my shop now.

There's a lot of upheaval and unknowns in our world right now, which can make earrings seem almost frivolous. But the creative heart finds balance in the act of making. I hope you are doing ok, as we each seek to make the world a safer and more loving place. I'm sending out big hugs. 💕

Linda Landig Jewelry

Cork Fabric And Ceramic

I've been curious about cork fabric ever since Lisa Peters Russ started carrying it on her website and since Heather Powers did a tutorial with it last week. Specifically, I wanted to see how it would look with my ceramic jewelry components.

So what is cork fabric? Cork fabric, often referred to as an ethical alternative to leather, is made with a thin layer of cork that is permanently bonded to fabric. No trees are cut down or harmed, so it is a sustainable product. It is strong, durable and flexible. You can even sew purses out of it! It is easier to cut than leather and it comes in many colors and designs. There are tons of beautiful patterns, but I wanted to start with solid color sheets as a background layer for my ceramic pieces.

I thought these rounded teardrop shapes would pair well with my yellow and blue ceramic earring charms and some silver spacer accents. What do you think? I have lots of ideas percolating in my head now, for more cork fabric jewelry. It's a welcome emotional boost to have something new to create with while we all shelter in place. I think I'm onto something fun!

Linda Landig Jewelry

New Beginnings

Today we got to meet our new baby grandson, Kai Landig! Grandma and Grandpa got to hold him and give him lots of loves! See how content he looks in his Grandpa's arms!

However, as far as blogging goes, you'll have to forgive the blurry earring photos.

I'm editing them on my phone, in the motel room near our son's  house, whereas I usually take them with a regular camera and edit them in Photoshop,  on my laptop.

If you do crafts of any type, have you had days where your hands seem to have a total disconnect from your brain and they bungle anything you try to do? I was having such a day when I made these earrings. The first earring came together reasonably easily,  but the second - gah! Either the decorative, crossed wires on the pearl, wouldn't lay flat or the cross was too high up and couldn't be coaxed back in place or....you get the idea. I had to keep cutting it apart and starting over. And this was Sterling silver wire I was mangling! 

Anyway, eventually I wrestled it into compliance. 

The earrings feature my own handmade ceramic dangles, colored mother of pearl beads and sterling silver. I named them New Beginnings in honor of Kai's new beginning in this crazy world of ours. 💖

Linda Landig Jewelry 

New Directions

While I've made jewelry for most of my adult life, I only began working with clay about 5 years ago. I've been mostly offering my ceramic components for sale to other designers, via FaceBook and my website. But I feel myself moving in a new direction right now. I want to reduce my emphasis on selling my components to other designers and mostly focus on making jewelry using my own ceramic pieces.

I've opened up an additional shop that solely focuses on jewelry featuring my ceramic components, such as these delightfully rustic, sage green flower earrings. I also have some easy going post earrings on offer.

There are also some earrings that you may recognize from previous Earrings Everyday posts, such as the following.

My new shop also has necklaces and bracelets and a few jewelry components. I am adding new jewelry all the time. I hope you will come, visit and check it out. My original website will continue as always, with a wonderful array of handmade jewelry and components. Here are the links for both shops.

Linda Landig Jewelry at the ClayShare Market, (my new shop for my ceramic jewelry).

Linda Landig Jewelry (my original website, with a wide variety of my jewelry to choose from).

As always, thank you for visiting Earrings Everyday and I'll see you again in 2 weeks!

Violet Dream

Sometimes I struggle to put together a pleasing combination of beads and other times I know right away what to do. These earrings fell into the latter category.  I had fun making these floral ceramic earrings charms a month or so ago.Then last week I received some beautiful lampwork glass spacers by Susan Spurling of Flame Madein. Right away I could see that they belonged with my violet ceramic charms.

I had some small lampwork glass beads, by Beads And Botanicals, in my stash which matched perfectly. I brought everything together with Sterling silver wire, which I crisscrossed across the front of the top beads. I love the result.  They are perfectly dreamy! 

Linda Landig Jewelry

Delightfully Dappled

Today's earrings were inspired by these delightfully dappled lampwork bicones by Sue Beads. I love the way the splashes of green, blue and lavender add an extra pop of color to the design.

A touch of silver adds a bit of shine and Irish waxed linen connects the glass beads and a pair of my own ceramic tiny teardrop charms. I left short bits of the Irish waxed linen by the knot and frizzed the strands out a little, adding a bit of boho charm. 

The Delightfully Dappled earrings are available in my shop now, and for those of you who design your own jewelry, I also have 2 colors of the ceramic Tiny Teardrop charms in my shop.

Linda Landig Jewelry

Ferris Wheel Earrings

I've been having fun making these ceramic Ferris Wheel components.  When I first started making them, I glazed them all in one color, like the pair on the right.  But now, I'm getting a kick out using all sorts of color combinations.  I have a lot of these in bisque form now, just waiting for me to cover them in happy colors.

So I grabbed a pair of my Ferris Wheel components to use in today's earrings.

Purple and lime green are such a fun color combination.  I paired the ceramic components with pretty faceted amethysts, some pressed glass leaves and handmade brass ear-wires.  These are just fun to wear and I think I'll be keeping them for myself!

Linda Landig Jewelry

Spiffy Spirals and Other Words Starting With SP

Last week I mentioned having had an opportunity to make some earrings at the Fall Bead Fest earlier this month.  The earrings I'm sharing today were made that weekend also.

The pretty spiral lampwork beads were made by my friend and fellow Bead Fest vendor, Lara Lutrick.  They were a perfect with my ceramic spiral discs.  I also added wire spirals to continue spiral theme.  
When I was thinking of naming these earrings, I was looking for a word that starts with "sp" to pair with the word "spiral".  All I could think of was Spectacular Spirals. That seemed like overstating the case a bit.  On the other hand, Special Spirals seemed really lame.  So I Goggled "words that start with sp".

That Googled list made my husband and I laugh, as we started combining the "sp" words with "spirals".   How about these pairings:
Spineless Spirals, Spittle Spirals, Spelunking Spirals, Splattered Spirals or Spaetzle Spirals.  Now, while I love spaetzle (a type of German dumpling), its really an ugly name for earrings.  Just picture it as earrings!!!

Spaetzle

Then there's Sperm Spirals - um...nope!  
While we were going through this list, my husband all of a sudden came up with Spiffy Spirals.  Perfect.  Lighthearted, fun, not icky!  Ta-da!  
If you'd like to see more of the Spiffy Spiral Earrings and many other earrings, you should join the Facebook group, The Earring Show.  The group is not associated with Earrings Everyday, but our interests are definitely aligned.  Its a marketplace on Facebook for both finished earrings and earring components.  I'll be having a finished earring show on Friday from 1:00 pm PST (4:00 pm EST, 9:00 pm. BST) to Saturday at 1:00 pm PST (4:00 pm EST, 9:00 pm. BST).  The group showcases fabulous earrings and components for sale from a diverse array of artists.  Very inspiring...and tempting!

Hope to see you there!

Linda Landig Jewelry

Purple Fall Leaves

One of the fun things about having a new house is that you get to discover what you have in your garden as each new season unfolds.  We have a maple tree in our new front yard whose leaves are turning purple as the cooler fall weather is arriving.  Sure the leaves have tinges of the expected red, especially along the veins, but they are mostly an amazing and beautiful purple. In the morning the dew drops sparkle like jewels on the leaves and once more I am left in awe at the beauty of mother nature.

I've been making a lot of ceramic earring components for fall Bead Fest, which is only a week away! I've been inspired by the fall colors around me and so I decided to glaze these leaf charms purple.  Admittedly, they are not maple leaves, but we'll just chalk that up to artistic imagination.

The links the leaves are hanging from, came from some chain I got on sale.  The price was deeply reduced, probably because the chain is too large for most designs.  But I took all the links apart and they are awesome for use as components!

I dangled etched glass lampwork beads (Beads and Botanicals) from the links, along with some lime green seed beads. The earrings have a nice movement and are fun to wear. I love the traditional Autumn oranges, reds and browns, but its also fun to mix it up a bit with some purple!

The Purple Leaf Earrings are available in my shop.

Linda Landig Jewelry

Seaside Earrings

Earlier this week I designed this sea star necklace.  The colors are so delightful and beachy that I wanted to keep designing with the same color palette.

So I revisited the orange, turquoise and seafoam green colors when making today's earrings.

I think the necklace and earrings could be worn together, without being too matchy-matchy.
I made the ceramic charms and layered them with several shades of orange.

The ceramic is topped by stunning lampwork glass beads by HMB Studio and small knotted cord beads that I bought in Oaxaca, Mexico a couple of years ago. Perched atop the cord beads are tiny, little orange O-rings. I tied a bit of hand dyed ribbon just above the ceramic charms, covering the wire wrapping on the loop.

The ocean is my happy place and these earring bring me the smell of salt water, the cry of the gulls and the endless pounding of the surf.  The Seaside Earrings are available in my shop.

Linda Landig Jewelry

Little Cubes Of Happiness

As I was thinking about how happy the little ceramic cubes look in today's earrings, I all of a sudden remembered another type of cube from my childhood.  Sugar cubes! "Back in the day" there used to be sugar cubes, in bowls, at restaurants.  The sugar cubes were all wrapped up in paper, like tiny, little Christmas gifts!

Waiting for your food in a restaurant was boring, so as kids we'd use these tiny cubes of happiness like blocks; building towers and fortresses made of sugar.  Of course these days kids keep themselves entertained with electronics, but when I was a kid, little cubes of sugar could become castles or rodeo rings, with a bit of imagination.

Nowadays little cubes of ceramic can become earrings, with a bit of imagination on my part.  I've had these ceramic cubes for nearly 15 years!  I guess I've just been hoarding them. I put matching green "dog bone" shaped beads at the bottom of the cubes and topped them with brass, glass and tiny orange rubber O-rings.  Now I can wear tiny cubes of happiness from my ears!

These earrings are available in my shop, here: Linda Landig Jewelry - Earrings