Sunday, January 4, 2015

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.

22 comments:

  1. Wow you really rocked this challenge! Your pieces are all fantastic. I really love the earrings.

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  2. Your combination of marsala with gray looks great. I love your patina work! Great job on all!

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    1. Thank you, Kathy. I did have fun with color on this one.

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  3. What creative, complex earrings. Splendid!

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    1. Thank you, Susan. Now I do feel the urge to make something simple and easy for a change. I have discovered that I always seem to gravitate toward complex things. Interesting how much we can learn about ourselves in these challenges.

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  4. Love what you do with your metalwork especially the patinas, I am off to investigate aluminium now! All lovely designs, you really got inspired this month. My favourites are the 'Spot of Whimsy' pair, such a lovely colour combination...xx

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    1. Thank you, Fiona. I do like that color combo, too. I probably wouldn't have used that combo if not for this chosen palette. Aluminum is a cheap metal to use, if I am going to paint it. :)

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  5. Some one was inspired...and got busy! Fabulous designs one and all! Hard to pick a fav!

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  6. Ooh la la. Just as I was about to conclude that earrings #3 were my favorites you brought out the necklaces and earrings. Everything is fabulous. And I love how you used your own mixes of Vintaj paints to match the colors of the palette.

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    1. Thank you, Tammy. The painting bug certainly bit me on this challenge. So many endless possibilities to create unique shades.

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  7. You rocked this challenge. The patina colours you made are fabulous.

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    1. Thank you. I did have fun experimenting with paints on this project.

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  8. Well, you were really inspired. I love how you created a collection/line. I am working with Bsue boutiques 3 month challenge to do just that. Wow you rocked the challenge and created some gorgeous pieces.

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    1. Thank you, Gloria. I had heard about that challenge. I'll be curious to see what you come up with. When is the reveal date? Please message me when you post your completed collection. I'd love to see it!

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  9. I thought about Muscovite too when I saw the new colors and I must say that you sowed how great it works! Beautiful work on everything.

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    1. Thanks, Katherine. When I bought this strand years ago, I had never heard of muscovite before. I'm glad I had it on hand for this challenge!

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  10. Cindy -- what a great idea to create a collage with the palette colors! So smart! I'm going to save it to my computer for future reference.
    I love all the earrings! Each pair is so fun to look at. Love that you used many gemstones!

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    1. Thank you, Oksana. I'm glad you might find the color college useful. I am definitely a gemstone - lover!

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  11. Wow! Miss Cindy, you sure did get inspired! I love that little palette of 'gems' you put together for yourself. That would come in handy over the course of the year to play with different color combos. Of course, you know that I love the gift of the embossed pieces. And I thank you for the formulas to achieve those colors! I have all those patinas but I think I need to get them out to play a bit more! I do love the Whimsy earrings. That pop of lucite green is exciting! (And by the way, it was me who shared the knotted headpin tutorial! ;-) Thanks for joining in the We're All Ears challenge for January. Check back on February 6th for the next inspiration! Enjoy the day. Erin

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    1. Erin, I received your lovely card in the mail. Thank you so much; you are so thoughtful. I'm pleased that you found the pieces useful, just when you needed something marsala. :) I did enjoy painting. It's my new jewelry novelty. Fun to play! I'm not surprised that it was you who shared that cool knotted help in tutorial. It saved me on this challenge! Thanks again for everything. Looking forward to your next inspiration. Also I am going to challenge myself to try some 30-word pieces and photos. I love those!

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