A “parliament” or “wisdom” of whimsical owl earrings.

Each month Erin Prais-Hintz presents a theme, with inspiration photos, and invites jewelry designers to create earrings for the “We’re All Ears” challenge.  The earring design challenge theme for March is owls.

I have some assorted metal owl charms in my stash, but of course using them would have been too easy.  I’ve made more than a few pairs of earrings using such charms, in styles ranging from steampunk to boho.  For this challenge, I wanted to try making my own owls.  And so, out came the polymer clay.

The fun thing about owls, real owls, is that while they are wonderfully diverse in size and coloring, they share some commonly “owlish” features.  If you include those features, even just one or two, in your design, you can evoke “owl” without having to sculpt a realistic miniature in excruciatingly lifelike detail.

These whimsical lime green and teal owl earrings have coordinating leaf charm dangles. They hang on sterling silver wire.

Obviously, owls in nature are not lime green or teal or cobalt blue.  Parrots, yes. Owls, not so much.  And yet, when you look at the charms on these earrings, you see owls. Right?  Because of the large round eyes.  And maybe, just a bit, because of the way the wings seem to be wrapped closely around the body?

Who hasn’t heard of the Great Blue Horned Owl? With googly eyes, of course. These owlish earrings have coordinating blue leaf (or maybe they’re feathers?) dangles and hang on sterling silver wires.

Some owls have tufts of feathers on their head that give an impression of horns.  This feature, along with the large round eyes, evokes “owl” even when sculpted in a rather primitive fashion.

Some owls are very round and fluffy looking. Especially the babies, which are called owlets. These little teal and cobalt owlets have small blue flower dangles and hang on sterling silver wire.

Whether the overall body shape is oblong, pear-shaped, oval, or round, as long as you include some large round eyes, you’re likely to get “owl” rather than a more generic “bird” from your design.

With this combination of “horns” and large round eyes, these earrings look owlish even without defined wing features. The brown owls are paired with Czech glass beads on bronze niobium wires.

Even when you don’t define the wings, you can still evoke owls with those large eyes, and maybe a little beak.  You can make your owls any color your imagination desires.  Owls go with everything.

These little round brown owls are more three-dimensional than the others I made. I plan to experiment with slightly more realistic shapes and colors. For now, these little guys are paired with Czech glass leaves and hang on bronze niobium wires.

This challenge theme was a great opportunity to experiment with my budding sculpting skills.  I hope to make more owls, preferably in more realistic shape and detail, over time.  Many thanks to our hostess, Erin, for yet another fabulous theme.  Be sure to stop by the Earrings Everyday blog to see how she interpreted this theme, and to visit the links to other participating jewelry artists.