jewelry display

On display at the public library here in Limerick, Maine is the jewelry featured in The Art of Wire. The exhibit will be there until the end of December. Jennifer did a beautiful job of setting up the display (thanks, Jen!), with colorful turquoise-y fabric and black velvety jewelry stands.

I’m very pleased to be following an exhibit of the drawings of Michael Chute, husband of author, Carolyn Chute (she wrote “The Beans of Egypt, Maine," among other novels). I love Michael’s drawings, they are full of character!

Our library, in addition to its many literary services is our local art gallery. The talent that has been displayed there is awe-inspiring. For this small village out here in the boonies, the amount of creativity that is happening all around us is amazing.

If you happen to be in the area (and I know that is a stretch), do stop in and put your name in the jar for the free book drawing. Yes! You heard that right; a free book for one lucky person!

earring stands

earring stand

I had gotten near the end of a reel of 16 gauge brass wire and it had been hanging out on my workbench for some time with its ends sticking out and getting in the way of things. I was starting to get tired of looking at it. It’s the yellow-y kind of brass, not the warmer merlin's gold, so it seemed to be calling for a non-jewelry type of project.

Our local public library is graciously offering to put my jewelry on display alongside the book, The Art of Wire. The pieces will be arranged inside a glass display case. As I haven’t any type of display for the earrings to hang on, an idea hit me that would be perfect for using up the 16 gauge wire. Earring stands! Creative-looking wiry stands for displaying original wire jewelry. Why not? The stands might add a unique touch. 

So, after a few sketches, and some tries that were scrapped, (designing is like that- it can take a few tries to get the brain cells to sort out the rubbish and land on something good), what you see here is what transpired. 

earring stand detail

There are two stands; one has six hanging wires, and the other four. Each consists of individual lengths of 16 gauge wire bundled together and wrapped with 24 gauge wire. The "feet" are the wires shaped into curves and wired together with wraps. All wires begin and end with a small loop to finish the ends. For decoration, lengths of 20 gauge wire were hammered, then entwined along the stems.

...and the reel of 16 gauge wire? Entirely used up. Fait accompli!

How would you make a wire earring stand? What would your design look like?