Punctuated Equilibrium

One of the reasons I signed up for Year of Jewelry again this year was to help give a bit of structure and order to my time, since I was looking for a job and finding that it is very easy to completely lose track of time passing when you don't have a regular schedule. As you can tell from the past few weeks, that hasn't worked out so well, has it? However, I'm okay with that, and okay with the work I'm producing and have no intention of quitting YOJ. There's a lot more to the project than just a deadline, and it is a good thing to know that at least a few people are looking at my jewelry from time to time. Thanks!

I started weaving a cuff using the same technique as the woven pendant for my project for last week. It turned out to be really slow and time consuming, so I set it aside to work on a quicker project. I had been thinking about some earrings and knew that earrings were a quick project. They were nearly ready in time, all but the earwires, then the weekend somehow ate up all the time and the dangles were ready with no wires. Wires are boring. Really boring. I should just take an hour to be bored and make about 20 pairs so they don't hold me up in future. Can you imagine that for a YOJ post? Sandi made 20 pairs of latch earwires, how creative and unusual, what an artist!!


Now that the earrings are done, I like them. They are a little large and fancy for my current look. (Summertime grandma who plays with kids a lot) OTOH, large and fancy is something I think a lot of people are looking for, so that's okay.

Technical details: 19g sterling core wire, #11 Miyuki delica beads couched with 28g sterling wire. 8mm Swarovski rondelles in Indian Pink. The delicas are a similar shade, slightly iridescent. The geometry worked out that the beads are couched outside the top and bottom squares and inside the center square. Once I saw it I rather liked the effect, so I kept it. Overall length excluding earwire just over 2 inches. Earwires are handmade latchbacks in 19g half-hard so they have some spring to them. Once I tried making them, I really came to like these earwires. They answer all the concerns I have had about french wires -- I've lost far too many earrings over the years to be happy with un-stopped wires, and I don't like the way the plastic stoppers look.

I am starting another project today that could theoretically be done before the sun sets tomorrow so I'm close to back on track for time. I think I have a couple free days, then I have a large number of distractions looming so I really need to concentrate when I can. Over the next three weeks, my grandson turns 4, we plan to spend some holiday time with friends, I will be going to visit my sister, and we have a wedding anniversary. I better bend some wire right now to get ahead of the curve.

What do you think of these? I love to read your comments. Also, don't forget to check out all the beautiful work at the Year of Jewelry Project website.