Weaving A Gem Of A Life » earrings

Back to Jewelry

Peg Cherre — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 01:11:44 +0000

My next show is the Letchworth Arts & Crafts Festival. This is the only juried show this year where I will have my jewelry. It’s also the last juried show that I plan to bring jewelry to. Period. From here on, weaving only. But I’m committed to jewelry on Columbus Day weekend.

I have very little jewelry stock left, so have to focus on that for the next few weeks. Earrings are usually the easiest to make, and the easiest to have fun with, so I started there.

Hmmmmm……why am I having a hard time?

To begin with, my hands have lost the quickness and sureness to make the same loop in the same size repeatedly. So practice is in order before I start wasting supplies.

The real problem, however, is lack of sufficient inspiration. All I want to wear, and therefore all I want to make, are relatively long, dangly earrings. I had one idea in my head, so started there.

These are a very dark green agate rondelle. I made the same earring in a dark pink agate.

These two weren’t enough. I made them in a blue triangle glass for a brighter look.

That still didn’t exhaust my desire for these 3-stroke dangles, so I made a pair, a bit shorter in case everyone doesn’t want them quite as long as I do, with an 8mm amethyst round.

Then I played with sterling silver wire. This is one version of the earrings I made.

After every pair of earrings, I felt like I was again empty, devoid of inspiration. It was a struggle to come up with something else. I kept opening my drawers of beads and waiting for something to pop out at me. I had a pair of blue cane beads that I like.

Next some hematite teardrops said, “use me.” Although the two agate pairs are my favorites, these run a close second.

After what felt like several hours at the table, I have created only 18 pairs of earrings. I need to make 3 times that many, for sure. Plus necklaces and bracelets.

Sigh.

Your turn: where do you get inspiration when you need it?

September Contest Winner

Peg Cherre — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 18:32:48 +0000

Yeah, it’s taken me forever to post this. Sorry. Getting ready for 2 shows back to back, one of which requires me to clean my house thoroughly, has kept me really busy. Anyway…

Congratulations to Joyce, the winner of the September contest for the starry earrings! Check out her blog – Joyce takes some amazing photographs!

And if you haven’t yet entered the October contest for my new handmade bracelet with porcupine quills, red jasper, and sterling silver, what are you waiting for? Leave me a comment for your chance to win free jewelry!

September Contest – Still in the Sky

Peg Cherre — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 22:31:01 +0000

I fully intended to have a bracelet be the prize for the September contest, but when I went to make choices, I kept getting called back to a celestial theme.

This pair of earrings is made with (manmade) hematite stars. I fancy that the hematite orbs dangling from them are planets, and the sterling wraps indicate their spinning or the rotation of their moons. Like all my silver earrings, they hang from sterling silver earwires.

Since we’ve been having very clear skies for the past several days, the stars are AMAZING! Being an early riser, I’m more likely to be gazing skyward at 5AM than at 11PM, but regardless of when you watch, they heavens offer great viewing. Before the full moon, I got great views of the Milky Way in the early morning. And it’s always a pleasure to me to give a morning nod to Orion, Taurus, and Pleides, the three constellations that I can find and identify easily. For reasons I cannot identify Pleides, sometimes called Seven Sisters, always brings a smile to my lips.

We had a full moon just last night, and after missing it for several months, Margaret & I finally got a great full moon hike in. It was perfect – not too hot, not too cold, perfectly clear, and both knees and backs were in good shape. We loved it, as did our dogs.

As I promised some people verbally at the Elmwood show last weekend, this month’s contest is REALLY easy! All you have to do is leave me a comment, on any of the posts I make this month, and you’ll be entered into the drawing for the free earrings.

I got this post up late, so the contest will run four weeks, ending at midnight on September 25. Comment on this post, or wait for something that tickles your fancy and comment on that, but don’t forget to comment!

In the meantime, if you’re anywhere in the northeast, enjoy the gorgeous weather, the return of children to school, and the beginning of the changing of the leaves.

Perseids Winner

Peg Cherre — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 21:41:52 +0000

Valerie, from Lewis Run, PA, won the August contest, and the Perseids handmade earrings are on their way to her.

Be sure to watch for the September contest — I’ll be announcing it soon.

August Contest – Perseids

Peg Cherre — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 15:59:49 +0000

I am fascinated by the night sky. I’m also consistently amazed at how little I understand about it, but that’s another topic.

I live far from the madding crowd, so the sky offers itself to me easily. Every August we have a meteor shower called Perseids, so named because it appears to originate in the constellation Perseus. If I knew what that constellation looked like or where in the sky it was located, it’d finding those meteors easier, but my yard offers a limited view of the sky before trees & hills block my view, so I simply pay attention to the sky I can see.

Anyway, a few years ago we had a stellar event of a lifetime. The Perseids shower was remarkably active, and it was during a new moon (e.g. no moon), so the sky was dark enough to see them all. It was easy to see several shooting stars every minute for hours on end.

Perseids earrings

This remarkable Perseids shower inspired jewelry in me. And since this is August and that’s when the Perseids occur, this month’s contest winner will get a free pair of my Perseids earrings. They’re sterling silver with little stars of manmade hematite (the gray ones) and cat’s eye (the white ones).

So how do you enter?

Simply leave me a comment about your life this summer. Talk about whether the weather has impacted on your enjoyment of this season, or the best summer moon you ever saw, or whether you’re taking a vacation or a staycation, or just about anything that tickles your fancy. I’ll put the names into a hat, and draw the winner on August 22. You won’t have your lovely earrings in time for this year’s Perseids peak (August 12), but they’ll be fun and starry in your ears year round.

If you can’t wait for the contest and MUST have the earrings, with or without their coordinating necklace, in time for the Perseids this year, contact me to purchase them.

Talisman Earrings

Peg Cherre — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 17:32:29 +0000

A good friend asked me to make her a pair of talisman earrings to improve her memory.

I know this woman well so didn’t need to ask too many more questions. I knew that I really needed to focus on memory, but also wanted add other gems for mental functioning.

So I did my research, gathering information about healing gemstones that are good for memory, creativity, and focus, among other qualities. I let it all percolate in my brain.

Talisman Earrings

A few days later I gathered my stones and sat down to the design challenge. I wanted to include several types of stones. Although I want all my talismans to be aesthetically pleasing, that was particularly important because these were earrings – they’d be seen highly visible, not like my healing talisman for my knees that I carry in my pocket, or little Benjamin’s talisman, or even the custom bracelet and necklace talismans I’ve made, since they’re not always seen when they’re worn. Additionally, my friend usually wears only small, simple, monochromatic earrings. How would I incorporate multiple gemstones into small earrings that she’d find wearable? After trying various arrangements, I came up with two options for her; she chose one and I completed the pair.

The talisman gemstone earrings contain petrified wood, carnelian, clear quartz, blue topaz, and rubies. Petrified wood, carnelian, and clear quartz are all memory enhancers. Carnelian, ruby, and blue topaz are all used to stimulate creativity, while clear quartz and ruby improve general brain function. Courage, stress reduction, wisdom, calmness, and clear thinking are a few of the other qualities these healing gems can impact.

My friend’s only had them for a few days so we can’t comment on their effectiveness yet, but she does like the way the look, move, and feel when she’s wearing them.

Contact me if you need a custom talisman, and I’ll be happy to help.

June Contest – Free Gemstone Earrings!

Peg Cherre — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 23:34:27 +0000

I’ve promised you another easy contest this month, and I’m true to my word. Here’s all you have to do.

Leopardskin Jasper & Sterling Silver Handmade Earrings

Leave me a comment that includes the web addresses of blogs that you really like. Just for leaving me a blog address, your name will be entered into the contest.

Here’s the really good news – you can enter as many times as you wish. You’ll get your name entered AGAIN for every blog address I like well enough to link to!

What could be easier?!

And what’s this month’s prize? A free pair of handmade earrings. These beauties are little leopardskin jasper hearts. Of course they’re dangling from sterling silver earwires. I made the head pins, with an extra special twist of wire down the length the earring. Total length from top of earwire to bottom of heart is 1½ inches. In my next entry I’ll tell you about the healing properties of the gemstone leopardskin jasper.

Entries are due by June 26th.

Start sending in your favorite blog sites!

May Contest Winner

Peg Cherre — Thu, 28 May 2009 22:23:31 +0000

Handmade Sterling Earrings

Charlene from Olean, NY is the winner of the handmade sterling silver earrings. When learning that she won, Charlene wrote, “WOW! I’m not usually a lucky person when it comes to drawings these earrings will be extra special. Not just for the luck that goes with them but because of your excellent design and craftmanship. And silver is my metal of choice.”

I’ll get the earrings into the mail for Charlene promptly, and trust they’ll look great on her.

Watch for the June contest – it will be easy, too!

May Contest Winner

Peg Cherre — Wed, 27 May 2009 23:17:08 +0000

I know you’re all dying to know who won the May contest. Well, I’d love to announce the winner, but I’m waiting for her to respond to my email. So everyone who commented – check your email to see if you got one from me. Perhaps I fell into your spam as an unknown?

I can’t wait to hear from you, and to send off handmade earrings!

May Contest – Free Jewelry!

Peg Cherre — Thu, 07 May 2009 19:39:23 +0000

Last month I made the contest too hard, discouraging some folks. So this month it’s MUCH easier!

All you have to do to enter is leave me a comment, telling me what’s delighting you this spring. Choose your sweetie, the weather, your budding garden, our new President, anything! Give me a bit of insight into your choice, and your name will be entered into a random drawing.

You can certainly leave me more than one comment, but your name will only be entered into the drawing once.

I’ll collect all the commenters’ names on May 25, put them into a hat (ok, it’ll probably be a bowl, or a basket, or a vase, but it’ll work just the same) and pull the winner’s name. I’ll notify you (the winner) by email, and will post your first name and city.

Handmade Sterling Earrings

Oh, yeah – what will you win? A pair of my handmade earrings! (If you don’t have pierced ears, we’ll work out another prize of equal value.)

So comment away!