Which Earring Type Are You?

I think most women who wear earrings fall into two distinct types. Those who like to wear long, swooshy, shoulder-scraping (I pinched that phrase from Claire!), wind-chime-esque highly dramatic ear-chandeliers, and those who prefer sweet, dainty, discreet and delicate ear-decor. 

I definitely fall into the former category, but I know many people who don't. With this in mind, I always try and vary the earrings I design to be a good mixture of both. 

One of my 'problems' with the latter category of sweet and delicate earrings is that often this can translate to boring. Safe. Uninteresting. Middle-of-the-road. 'Do you like my distinctly-average, rather dull earrings?'  said nobody, ever. 

They don't have to be dull is the truth of the matter. Is there anything more exquisitely lovely than a beautifully executed sterling silver stud? I may not choose to wear them myself for the most part, but I can appreciate their loveliness. My Mum, also an earring fanatic, tends towards the simpler style, and has a beautiful selection of stud earrings. Here are some I scoured from online, proving how gorgeous a simple stud can be. 

AliBali Jewellery

Alison Moore Designs

Ebba Goring (ok, these are a wee bit fancier, but they are still in the small, delicate and dainty category, and still studs!)

Until I get settled in a new abode and can get a silver-smithing station set up (been on the to-do list for, oh, only two years now...), studs are pretty much out for me. I don't trust glue-on flat-backs - they work for some people, but I just can never quite put my faith in ones I make myself in this way. Instead, I have been working on a line of sweet, dainty and definitely not dull earrings for Songbead. 

Featuring a simple glass round, and embellished with fine-silver and golden-brass. 

Now, I know that some people see glass as a poor relation to gemstones. I real shame, I think - they are simply very different materials, and both extremely beautiful in their own way. I love the history within the glass industry (and of beads in general of course), particularly that of the glass bead industry of the Czech republic. Even though most of the Czech glass I use within my designs is contemporary, many of the moulds used are not, and so they carry with them a sense of timelessness and nostalgia. Sometimes, even the glass used itself can be an 'old lot', meaning that although the bead has only just been made, the glass and the mould that created it have been around for a lot longer. 

I have added an extra something special to these by embellishing the patina-gold brass earwires with faceted brass beads and oxidised fine-silver wire. These add a tiny trail of beads connecting the point where the earring passes through your ears, down to the pretty mint and gold pressed glass rondelle. Sweet and simple, but definitely special - and a little bit different.