Kicking off 2019 with an earring design challenge is a great way to begin the year because earrings are my favorite kind of jewelry. The We’re All Ears earring design challenge theme for this month is Pantone’s Color of the Year, “Living Coral.” Pantone describes this color as “an animating and life-affirming coral hue with a golden undertone that energizes and enlivens with a softer edge.” I would describe it as a warm peachy red, because I’m not as flowery as the folks at Pantone.
I happened to have a pair of earrings that I think are a good match for this year’s color already in one of my online shops. They use Swarovski crystal pearls with brass components. Even though I didn’t make them for this challenge, I’m sharing them because they fit the theme.
These brass chandelier earrings use Swarovski crystal pearls in a color that’s very close to Pantone’s “living coral.” They’re available in my Cactus Frog shop on etsy.
In addition to naming a color of the year, Pantone also provides color palettes to go with it. The palette they’ve labeled “focal point” reminds me of a desert in bloom. This was the palette I began with when making some beads for my new earring designs. I mixed up some polymer clay colors that closely approximated “living coral” and some of the other colors in that palette and created a mokume gane veneer for some beads.
These are the polymer clay colors I used to create a mokume gane veneer for some earring charms. In hindsight, I probably should have tone down or left out the berry pink because it overpowered the coral.
Unfortunately, I used too many colors and the coral got lost in all the greens and over-powered by the pink. The pattern came out okay, but coral was not the star color. The veneer also turned out more “retro” wallpaper than desert flower. I decided to go with it and paired the veneer with some solids from the original color blends and used repeating circles for dangle earrings.
This collection of retro earrings use my polymer clay discs with brass findings. Since the coral got a little lost in the mokume gane veneer, I brought it back with some textured solid coral colored connectors.
Going back to the drawing board, I decided to focus on making some earring focals in the coral color I mixed. This time, the pattern came from silkscreening mandala patterns in a pale sand color over the coral. I cut disks from the silkscreened veneer, cured them with a domed shape, and drilled some holes to use them as chandelier findings. I also added a copper patina to some metal feather charms and selected some round turquoise beads for accents.
The domed coral discs in these chandelier earrings have a semi-gloss finish because I sealed the silkscreen print under liquid polymer clay. Copper wire with a dark patina was used to connect the turquoise beads and feather charms.
I wanted to try one more palette for this earring challenge, and mixed up a few colors inspired by the “Under the Sea” palette from Pantone. This time I limited my polymer clay cane to three colors: coral, teal, and a grayed green. Before making a cane with these colors, I made a skinner blend with the coral to get a gradient from the original vivid color to an almost white tint. These colors were shaped into a squiggle cane (aka a “brain cane”) from which thin slices were taken and applied as a veneer to beads. These beads needed accent beads, which led to making lace cane beads, textured beads, and other assorted beads in coral or that might go with coral.
This bead box is filled with all the beads I made in preparation for making earrings for this design challenge. I may have gone overboard, but that’s because I didn’t have an earring design in mind while I was making them.
I sat and stared at my box of polymer clay beads for a very long time. I saw quite a few “almost there” earring designs and also realized I needed to make more specific accent beads. In the end, I only managed three pair of earrings from this assortment of beads. Luckily, they won’t go bad and will be there when my muse settles on a use for them.
These earrings use some squiggle cane beads, lace cane beads, and textured solid coral beads on brass wire. I don’t make a lot of polymer clay canes, because the process can be quite tedious and fussy. For some reason, I felt I needed to make canes for this challenge.
This year’s color of the year is a very versatile color that pairs well with so many other colors. That may be why I got so carried away making polymer clay beads and canes. Too many options.Thanks for stopping by my blog today. If you want to see more “living coral” inspired earring designs, hop over to the Earrings Every Day blog to see how the hostess for this designs challenge, Erin, and the other participating designers interpreted the theme.
Wow! Such a wonderful variety! I love that you were inspired to create a whole slew of polymer clay beads. I have never tried a squiggle cane, but that looks like fun! I think that this color will make a great accent to a great many color palettes this coming year. I think I need to start making some coral beads of my own since I don’t have a very large stash! Thanks for playing along! Enjoy the day! Erin
This was my first try at a squiggle cane. I definitely need more practice because the squiggles didn’t go the way I wanted. But I don’t love making canes, so it’s likely I won’t practice. LOL Thanks for the inspiration.
Your earrings with squiggle cane beads, lace cane beads, and textured solid coral beads are a perfect representation of coral! They are great. Once again you ended up with a lot of wonderful beads.
Thanks so much, Kathy. I usually end up with lots of beads when I have no idea what I want to do with them. My lack of design plans leads to loads of “extra” beads more often than not. But as I said, luckily, beads don’t go bad. 🙂
Wow, love your earrings. And your bead box……. amazing, what gorgeous beads you made for the challenge.
Thanks so much, Janine. Now I just need to come up with designs for that box of beads.
As usual, you let yourself go wild with the inspiration!! That’s fantastic! I’m particularly smitten with your mandala earrings. But, the variety of beads you made for the challenge intrigues me the most. So awesome!!
Thanks so much, Hope. I’ve been “leaning in” to design challenges more in the last year or so, trying to explore more variations on each theme. This challenge led to a lot more beads than usual because I had no idea what I wanted to make in the way of earrings.
You’ve got some great designs going there! I like the combinations of colors you chose for all of these earrings, and the way you brought back the overpowered coral in the mokume gane set is simple but brilliant. Well done!
Thanks so much, Anita. I quite like this year’s color for its versatility.
Your second pair (silk screened one) is super duper awesome. I feel that it has a very strong boho yet south western vibe to it. Your third pair is very poetic and (I feel) is a reflection of the interconnectedness that corals as marine life forms portray
Too bad that I can’t count right 🙁 I meant the 3rd and 4th design in my comment above. But that doesn’t mean that I like the first 2 less. The chandelier is a very wearable piece of coral jewellery and the mokume gane is reminiscent of 70’s retro print.s Overall great job.