Strawberry-inspired earrings.
This month on the We’re All Ears earring design challenge, the inspiration is all about strawberries. Summer is the season for berries and melons. Unlike me, they seem to thrive in the heat. They’re also the perfect thing to eat when it’s too hot to even think about cooking. Continue reading
Some ferny components
The inspiration for April’s We’re All Ears earring design challenge was images of fiddlehead ferns. There are many design elements to choose from in the images, from the spiral shapes of the coiled fiddleheads to the feathery unfurled green leaves.
I’ve had fiddlehead ferns in salads and stir fry when I lived in Alaska. They’re quite tasty. I’ve looked for them in the produce section of my local Whole Foods here in the Mid Atlantic and have not seen them. Maybe I need to visit an actual farmer’s market for something so exotic? Continue reading
I’m so glad the Art Jewelry Elements design team is continuing the open challenges this year. I had a great time with the themes last years challenges. And the theme they chose to kick off 2016 is another fun one: Eye Love Beads. As in, jewelry with eyes.
No, not actual eyes. That would be a little too Silence of the Lambs. Rather, the challenge is to design a piece of jewelry, an art bead, or a component with eye symbolism. I had been hoarding an “evil eye” component and this was a perfect opportunity to set it free from my stash. Continue reading
Arabesque-inspired dangle earrings.
The inspiration for the We’re All Ears earring design challenge this month was arabesque architecture. Our hostess shared photos of the elaborate ceiling designs and precise geometric structures in a variety of mosques.
The colors and repeating shapes within shapes were mesmerizing. At first I wasn’t sure how I was going to interpret that for earrings. Should I focus on the geometric shapes? The colors? The patterns? Continue reading
Apparently, changes are coming to the way shops look on Etsy. When I logged in this afternoon I saw this bright orange invitation to preview how my shop will look come April 5. I haven’t kept up with the Etsy forums so this was the first I knew of these changes. I have a few weeks to make updates before the changes go live.
This bright orange box showed up at the top of my shop home page. The way my Etsy shop looks is about to change. Again.
Faux copper earrings from polymer clay.
The inspiration for the February “We’re All Ears” earring design challenge was a photo of a statue on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The statue is an 18th century standing Buddha.
The Buddha statue is copper alloy with gilding. It has a rich assortment of textures, shapes, and symbolism to inspire earring designs. Continue reading
This is a slightly out of date photo of my art bead collection. I have since filled every compartment in these four boxes, and moved into a fifth and six boxes.
It seems I am not the only one who has an easier time collecting art beads than using them. Why are they such a challenge to use? Continue reading
A midwinter sunset in Pantone’s “rose quartz” and “serenity.” I took this picture on my way home from work a few days before the reveal date for this challenge.
The inspiration for this month’s We’re All Ears earring design challenge was the Pantone 2016 color forecast. This year Pantone announced a pair of “colors of the year” rather than a single color. That pair is a pastel pink called “Rose Quartz” and a pastel blue called “Serenity.” Our hostess challenged us to design earrings inspired by these colors or the rest of the spring palette. Continue reading
The theme for the winter design challenge on Art Jewelry Elements was the rebirth of the sun, including mythology about the winter solstice.
The Winter Solstice, which marks the longest night and shortest day in the Northern Hemisphere, is something I learned to celebrate while living in Fairbanks, Alaska. There’s nothing like having just short of four hours of daylight per day for months to make you appreciate the mid-winter event that marks the gradual lengthening of days. Continue reading
As I prepare to flip the cover on a new calendar, I wanted to look back at what I’ve done this year. Luckily, I have my blog posts to remind me of the design challenges, blog hops, and creative adventures that took place in 2015. Continue reading