Earrings With Inner and Outer Beauty

My most recent beads are my idea of the perfect earring bead:  combining transparent glass with ivory and fine silver.

I had a really strong desire to see these beads made up in that natural, aged metal look that is so romantic and popular.  So i got out my sterling silver wire stash, and zapped off some rustic headpins by using my torch to melt the end of the 22 gauge wire into a ball of silver, then measuring 1.5 inches and snipping it off.

The round dot of color on my beads called for a round ear wire, i decided, so i wrapped 20 gauge sterling wire around one of my son's drum sticks, and snipped off the coils at a point just past the end of each wrap. I carefully filed each end to smooth and round them, and then i used rounded needle nose pliers to loop up one end.

I hard boiled two eggs and while it was still quite hot, i peeled and cut one egg into fourths and put it in a jar.  I then placed all of my silver findings into an open area of the jar and sealed it up.

I then ate the second egg in a salad with red lettuce, avocado, and tomato, cracked black pepper and ranch dressing...  but this is not a necessary step in making the earrings.  :-)

After about 45 minutes the sulfur from the hard boiled egg in the jar had darkened the silver findings to a nice dark patina, so rinsed them off and wiped them down.

When the light catches the domed face of my one of my beads, it positively glows, like moonstone, or like there is a light source within it.  Very fetching little earrings.  Available for purchase in my The Bead You Need etsy shop.

Nisa Jewelry

I've been corresponding lately with a very nice woman who makes some of the loveliest jewelry i've seen. These mussel shell earrings are a very small sample of what she offers for sale on her website. She's developing her etsy shop right now, and i can't wait to see more creations from her. Most notably, i look forward to seeing what she makes with my beads!

Nisa, the artist behind this beautiful work, is stationed on the northeast coast. I'm pretty much a central plains person, but looking at her work makes me wish i could comb a seashore for inspirational flotsam and jetsam. I can't help imagining the wet wind in my hair, the salt spray on my cheeks, and the calls of the shorebirds, as i handle and consider hundreds of pieces of wave-washed shell bits, looking for a perfect match for earrings... hmmm, maybe it's not too late to change our spring break plans...