One for You, One for Me, One for You …
Who Stole My Cherry earrings aptly wrapped in bird tissue paperI adore jewellery. I hoard it in my nest like a magpie. Any time I glimpse a little shining string of beads, my eyes light up and I take it home with me. I’ve built up quite a collection, and sometimes I am even moved to actually turn all these bits and bobs into jewellery. Recently two birthdays motivated me to pick up my tools again. Here’s the story …
Cherry Picking
Who Stole My Cherry? earrings
Everyone loves cherries, don’t they? To eat, to wear, to adorn themselves with –who remembers dangling cherries from their ears as a child? Nostalgia, not nature, inspired me to create this pair of cherry earrings.
I chased down just the right string of dark red agate beads, and then a string of through-drilled green leaf beads. It wasn’t so easy to find the latter, for most of these Czech pressed glass leaves are top or side-drilled, and I definitely wanted opaque, not translucent leaves. After trawling Etsy for hours, the seller I ultimately found was right in my hometown, Melbourne. I ended up with so many beads I would be able to make a punnet of cherry earrings!
Nostalgia, not nature, inspired me to create this pair of cherry earrings.
After all my research however, I realised that cherry earrings were rather common. There were a multitude of varieties out there, how would mine be any different? At least they were made from real stone and sterling silver, but that wasn’t quite enough. Then I hit upon it. One of the cherries would be stolen! Instead of a cherry, the pip would be dangling from the stalk. I found some peach-coloured pearls and I was ready to go.
I call them the Who Stole My Cherry? earrings, and I gave the first pair to my friend Rapunzel. She loved them.
The Circus is in Town
Circus Is In town pendant
Recently I had purchased a selection of carnival-themed vintage cloisonné beads. I’d had an idea in my head to create a collection on this theme using the glass foiled beads I’d bought years ago – 1kg for $10. But then my friend Amerika’s birthday rolled-up, and I realised these would be perfect for her.
It would be dull to make earrings again (Amerika and Rapunzel know each other), so I made a pendant using a little clown and two stars. I much prefer to use sterling silver than base metal, and silver isn’t terribly expensive if you know where to shop (online, not retail). Amerika was delighted with her present too, exclaiming as she saw the circus theme.
And then in the time-honoured tradition of ‘one for you, one for me’, I contrived a pair of earrings for myself on the same carnival theme. Using another set of vintage cloisonné beads embossed with stars, I dangled them from a string of sterling silver baubles. They’re somewhat reminiscent of a set of juggling balls.
What can this magpie make next?
Stars In Her Earrings