Reigning It In

With the launch of my etsy shop, I enlisted the help of some good friends in critiquing the jewelry, descriptions, and prices. It's been incredibly helpful in the tweaking of things, and through this process it came to my attention that some of the jewelry I make is pretty "wild" for some folks.
I have to say, I totally agree. Of course, I'm the type that loves to wear jewelry that will get noticed. Otherwise, what's the point? With that said, I see the problem: wild jewelry isn't for everyone, all the time.

I needed to sit down and make some more low-key pieces that can appeal to a wider audience, bring more folks into my little shop, and then, hopefully, the right people will see my 'wild side' and fall in love. So, that's what I did today.

I came across a string of gorgeous zebra jasper beads awhile ago, from a jewelry maker getting rid of her excess supplies, and totally fell in love. The problem was, I didn't have anything in mind for them, so the beads just kind of sat around in a container. Until today. It took some puzzling (and lots of mess-ups) but I finally came out with a beautiful, simple design that I hope will appeal to someone.

                                                                 

What do you think? The beads accenting the jasper stone are snowflake obsidian, but are near-flawless black (would that make them just plain obsidian?). All strung up on silver-plated head pins, jump-rings, and silver-plated gunmetal french ear wires. 

I ended up making about four pairs before the dogs started whining for dinner, and then of course I got completely distracted with editing the photos,writing up the listing for one pair, and ya know, blogging about it. I'm still pondering whether or not to post all the pairs at once, or pepper them in between other items. 

The jasper has this amazing marbling that I just adore. I'm making a pair just for me tomorrow. Love these earrings? Pop on over to my etsy shop and grab 'em before someone else does!