Meme: Today's subject is Earrings

[pensnest]

ephemera asked for this one.

I did not start wearing earrings until, hmm. Well into my thirties. Bun actually had her ears pierced before I did. However, I quickly began to make up for lost time, as you can see (below the cut). My favourite dragons (and the little silver dragons, too) are among the earliest surviving pairs, as naturally I bought a bunch of little studs which, one way or another, did not survive. I still rue the loss of the little glass stars—well, I have one of them to this day, but eh.

I'm not a great wearer of jewellery. The burglar found nothing worth stealing in my jewellery box, although I do (still!) have some pearls from my mother-in-law, and possibly also from my gran. I've occasionally succumbed to the glittery lure of a pendant or necklace, but seldom remember to put one on—with the result that when I do want to wear one, I don't really have exactly the right thing.

But once I started wearing earrings, I couldn't stop. They're so convenient! And sparkly! And pretty!




Click on the pic to see it full size.

After the burglary, I put my earrings in order

Top left are the little studs, which go down the line to big stud earrings eventually.

Pearls - well, everybody needs pearl earrings at some point, right?

The fourth pair are little chunks of rock, possibly agate, which I very rarely wear but couldn't resist at the time. They're different, which I do so like.

There are blue frogs and green frogs, because Frogs! There were also pink frogs, but perhaps I gave those away at some point.

The orange glass squares are lovely shiny fused glass, bought at a craft fair at Hatfield House. Then another pair I rarely wear, probably because they are understated by comparison to the ones I do wear, lovely subtle designs on very flat metal squares. Then blue glass blobs, I can't remember the derivation of these.

The mother-of-pearl in old-fashioned frames I think came from my grandmother, though I don't know that she ever wore them herself. My uncle gave me the theatre comedy/tragedy masks on my 40th birthday, when I had a big sparkly party at the Playhouse. I got the green dangly rocks (in the middle of the display) then, too, from some friends, ditto the gold stars with suspended blue disks to the left of them.

Of the next four, three are basically from the same place, namely a rather large craft fair I went to at least fifteen years ago. They look far better when not taken by a very amateur photographer! Lovely, shiny enamel (I think?), in brown/gold/orange (the rectangles), reds with flower design (the ovals) and brown/gold/orange again (the curves). The oval brooch next to the butterfly at top right is of the same origin, and it's actually a glasses holder - in theory at least one hooks an arm of the specs into it when one changes to a different pair. In practice, of course, this never happens.

The stars at the bottom are Swarovski ones my Beast bought me a few years ago. Annoyingly, one of the rods is a bit wonky, and I have a feeling one of the twinkly bits has fallen out, which frankly I think is a poor show from Swarovski!

Up to the top again, and the next row starts off the drop earrings with a pair I inherited from my grandmother. Obviously not valuable enough to tempt the burglar! Not that this is any surprise, my grandmother was not a wealthy matriarch. The fourth pair down were also hers, I think, though I don't really wear them and just keep them because, well, they were Grandma's. The pair below them, pink and pearl, were a present from my mother-in-law. Again, not *quite* right for me because they're a bit too delicate, and I tend to go for something bigger and flashier.

Like… a frog in a tutu, paired with a unicorn in a tutu—yes, they are a pair, absurd, and delightful. I was lured (helplessly) into a shop around the corner from Covent Garden tube station a few years ago, because it was having a Sale. I found these, and the yellow flowers with dangles (including little yellow ladybirds), which I love, and the blue danglies with daisies, and the sparkly orange flowers with green leaves. TOO MUCH SPARKLE, COULD NOT RESIST. I could have bought more, but at some point, rationality kicked in.

In between, there's a red square pair of glass ones which Bun chose for me. Oddly, I don't seem to wear red earrings very often. There may be some Deep Psychological Reason for this. My kids also gave me the orange-brown ones at the top of the next row, and the yellow and gold glass ones next to the pink hearts. I suppose I don't wear quite as many clothes which require red, orange or yellow earrings as I might have been expected to wear.

On the bottom are a pair of black feathers with a diamanté strip, which I have half-inched from Bun's collection on the grounds that she has left them here and presumably doesn't want them. I've not worn these, or the pair of nu-age silver and blue ones next to them, which are actually a bit of a nuisance, being so huge. I've tried them on a couple of times, only to find they keep catching in things, and really, I have better earrings, but I can't quite bring myself to get rid of them, even though they are nothing special. Nor have I worn the peacock feathers, which I think were also Bun's, but. Peacock feathers! One never knows.

The next pair up/along is made of sparkly silver blobs on stalks, and, like the top pair in the row—the suspended rings with sparkly in the middle—I got them in Brighton during this year's Camp. There was a cute little—actually, Brighton was full of cute little shops, but I wandered into this one and it was having a sale, so I went round and round until I fixed on these two pairs, plus a beaded ring. Nice shapes, and versatile because they're metallic.

The pink and swirly hearts go with something I bought in Bloomingdales in New York. I'd promised my dad—who had by this time had a stroke and was living in a home—that I'd sort out a Christmas present for him to give his wife, and I found some beautiful glass hearts. I ended up buying a 'lariat' for my daughter and another for myself as well: mine has pink hearts, and when I saw these earrings I thought it would make a useful set. Incidentally, since the burglary I have hung up my pendants and necklaces inside the wardrobe door, so that I have at least the possibility of noticing them and deciding to Accessorise. Even so, I don't wear neck stuff very often.

The blue drops, which are glass and on incredibly fine wires, were inherited from my mother in law. I think they may be Venetian. They are very pretty. Then there's a pair of what look like large, flat teeth, but aren't, which came from my Grandma, although I cannot imagine why she owned them! The mother-of-pearl fan-like ones just above and to the right also came from my gran, and I'm rather fond of those.

Below the 'teeth' are my favourite earrings, the fabulous silver dragons entwined round large ovals of dark blue stone. I love these. I bought them at a Star Trek con in 1996, for the shocking price of £25, which felt extremely self-indulgent at the time, but which I have never regretted. I've worn them many, many times. They're also handy if my ear-holes are threatening to close up, as the hooks are quite fine and the weight of the earrings helps pull the holes open. (Ew.)

I have also inherited a few pairs of earrings from my mother, who did not have pierced ears. There are elegant little pearls—hmm, I wonder if the burglar found those, must check (I still have them, yay)—on screw settings, and quite large dangling jade ones, ditto. There were a couple of pairs of intricate dangly metal earrings, which suggest where I inherited my taste in lobe adornment, but which were too uncomfortable to wear so I got rid of them ages ago. And I have one remaining pair of clip-ons from the pre-pierced years: large, shiny discs in black, cream and dark red, very elegant. I never wear them, but I can't quite bear to part with them.


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Comments

[turlough]

So many pretty earrings!

[rikes]

So many of those look familiar. ♥

[ephemera]

Yay, earrings - this is a fabulous post - thank you!

[turps33.livejournal.com]

Your earrings are so pretty. They look lovely together like that.