Deep Forest

Deep Forest Earrings

I need to get another photo of these earrings. The ebony wood beads are not facing the same direction, so one looks wider than the other, In reality, they match and they look awesome! I love this book.

This particular pair of earrings can be made in 15 minutes. Instructions can be found in the book “Perfect match”. It uses the “Wire Wrapping a Top Drilled Bead With an Accent Bead” technique that can be found in the front of the book. It is made using the basic tool kit.

Supplies: I had a difficult time trying to locate the 2 12×12 olivine faceted glass briolettes. Instead I went with the Swarovski Crystal Briolette. I had two choices, 11x10mm and 15.4x14mm. I went with the larger size. I thought I would have trouble finding the exact wood beads, but they were surprisingly easy to find. I bought mine individually from Fusion, but I also saw them by the strand at my local Joann store.

Assembly: When I ordered the supplies I hadn’t really taken a good look at the instructions for making the earrings. I assumed (you know what they say about that) :p that the olivine briolette would be a separate wrap that dangled below the rest of the earring. When I noticed that the directions indicated otherwise, I even went so far as to make a sample with the briolette swinging freely.. I have to say though that the earring design is just perfect the way that it is. The extra link in my sample detracted from the overall look of the earrings. I love how they swing when I wear them.

Tip: When ordering beads individually it is sometimes fun to pick up an extra one to play with.

In this case the beads are wood. Natural things do not tend to be as perfect as manufactured things. It is why I went with the Swarovski Pearls in the Center of Attention necklace. In that piece, I think that uniformity was necessary. With the wood beads in this piece, I was worried about variations and I wanted to up the chances of having a matched pair. I have to say that all three beads looked great. I could have used any of them. That left me with an extra bead. I don’t have any other wood beads to store it with, and I hate to devote a whole compartment to storing one inexpensive bead. I decided I needed a necklace.

Accent Necklace with a wood focal bead.

Ugh, I just noticed that I have silver Daisy Spacer beads and a copper toggle clasp. I prefer the look of the copper colored clasp with the earthy colors of the beads, but the earrings are made with silver wire. It looks like I am going to have to redo this one. That is ok, it will go back together pretty quickly. I have the wood bead, two daisy spacers, two faceted crystal rounds, large seed beads, a clasp and crimping supplies. The Seed beads were purchased to make a bail for a pendant on a pearl necklace. I just love it when I find a good use for left overs. I really liked the pearls in the earrings though so I decided to make another necklace.

A classic strand of pearls for Fall.

I loved the pearls so much, I decided that I need a strand to wear. Knotting pearls isn’t as complicated as it seems. I hope to get a tutorial up this weekend. If the idea of hand knotting pearls seems a bit much, you could always crimp them. I would space them though with a coordinating seed bead.

When I was putting my new goodies away I noticed that I now own several pieces in earthy brown and green tones. I adore them because they remind me of hiking in the Pacific Northwest. Remember the Hammered Silver Leaf earrings? Those are also green. I now have two sets of earrings and two necklaces that I can mix and match. I like complimentary things more than I like matchy, matchy sets so this works well for me. The pearls are just a smidge longer than the seed bead necklace and they look great layered together.

Crystals, Wood and Pearls