We're All Ears :: January Reveal

INSPIRATION

This month's Earrings Everyday inspiration is all about color, using the Pantone Spring 2015 color palette. As I begin writing this post, it is a rainy, blustery, and dreary January day, far from inspiring a springy mood. I plan to really play a lot with this challenge, so I will write about each piece immediately after creating it.

PROCESS

To really get a feel for this palette, I captured images of all the colors and created a collage in order to play with possibilities and guide my experiments.

PRODUCTS

Earrings #1: Art Deco

Wanting to focus on the color of the year, marsala, I immediately gravitated toward the gray. This was a pretty safe choice; I have worked in those colors before. To make it a challenge, though, I decided to play with patina in a marsala shade, using some Art Deco embossed discs I had made. Combining garnet and earth Vintaj patinas made a marsala shade. Garnet and muscovite provided the marsala, while labradorite and silver provided the gray. Available here in my shop.

Earrings #2: Spot of Whimsy

Next stop . . . marsala and lucite green. To make lucite green, I combined verdigris, jade, and marine patina and colored some silver chain. I cut, textured, and antiqued some triangles of aluminum sheet metal, and cut, embossed, and marsala-patinated some aluminum discs. The marsala Indonesian glass beads matched perfectly! At the very last minute I added some whimsy - the lucite green dots on the domed charms. Available here in my shop.

Earrings #3: Hoops & Chain

Enough marsala. I wanted to focus on combining the other colors. To my own embossed and patinated brass hoops, I added antiqued brass chain and some vibrant colored beads. The holes in the yellow Indonesian glass beads were too big for my head pins, so I attempted to make knotted headpins, which I learned about from someone in our group in a previous We're All Ears challenge. I wish I could remember who shared this tutorial to give credit, but the video is here: Knotted Headpins. These earrings are available here in my shop. 

Earrings #4: Groovy Macrame

Next; marsala, aquamarine, and classic blue. I wanted to use fiber and had a spool of blue lagoon C-Lon sitting right in front of me. For these earrings I had to dust off my macrame skills, that's for sure, but I stuck with it. After a few failed attempts, I completed one, but it took me several days (and a couple of glasses of wine) to even attempt the second one. Once I got going, though, I was transported back to the 70's when I macraméd jute plant hangers and friendship bracelets, and, getting into the rhythm, it became a calming, natural process. (Maybe that was the wine talking.) The trade beads were a perfect marsala.  Available here in my shop.

Some Extras:

I really got hooked on this palette, and I couldn't stop with just earrings. There were necklaces and bracelets begging to be part of this collection. 

Marsala Sets - leather & gunmetal

Wrap Bracelet/Necklace

I love versatile jewelry; this bracelet can be worn as a 4x wrap bracelet or a necklace. These Indonesian glass and trade beads worked perfectly!

Once again, Erin, you have inspired some creative play. Thank you! Be sure to stop by Earrings Everyday to see the other earrings created by many talented jewelry artists.