Featuring Ajdjss Guild Earrings and the Jewelry Supplies Needed to Create Them

This week the Ajdjss Guild is featuring the many beautiful earrings made by the Jewelry Designers and the fabulous earring components showcased in our Jewelry Supply Studios.
Baubles, bangles and beads have been adorning human earlobes as earrings for as long as five centuries.

Pierced earrings first made their debut in the Middle East as early as 3,000 B.C. and were intended to provide strangers with a quick and easy clue as to the wearer's religious, political or tribal identity. Earrings were also an indicator of the individual's social status in the community and were worn as a matter of choice and pride by those who were in power and as a label of inferiority and shame by those who were enslaved. Originally crafted of metals that could be bent, flattened and twisted into unique designs and hoops, earrings became more elaborate in the second century A.D. when assorted gems were introduced. During the Middle Ages in Europe, the fad of fancy ear bobs that had caught on with society's elite was pushed aside in the excitement of gigantic hats, towering wigs and high collars--a combination that would either completely obscure any ornamentation dangling from one's earlobes or cause it to get tangled in fabric and voluminous locks of hair. With the transition in necklines and more subdued hairstyles at the seventeenth century Italian courts, earrings were once more back in vogue and part of a well-heeled lady's bragging rights that her husband could keep her in frivolous luxury. A century later, however, earrings went back into hiding with the advent of bonnets that framed the face and hugged both sides of the head with wide sashes. With the arrival of 1900, elegant hair piled on top of the head or brushed back into a sleek chignon not only delighted jewelers once more but also led to the subsequent invention of clip-on earrings that were considered more sanitary. The rise of both the movie and the modeling industries put the allure of the earring on its biggest platform ever, with women of all ages wanting to emulate the fashion sense of film stars and cover girls who clearly knew how to accessorize. As for men, the option of wearing an earring dates back prior to Biblical times and, in later centuries, came to be associated with rogues such as pirates and explorers.

The wearing of earrings today is primarily ornamental and helps to "tie an outfit together" by using colors that match or contrast with the overall ensemble. The metals, primarily gold or silver, are complementary to the necklaces, bracelets, rings, watches and pins the wearer selects as accessories. Earrings are also an expression of one's personal taste in art and can be made out of wood, plastic, feathers, ceramics, rubber, shells and even food such as pasta, dried beans and various seeds. Earrings can even make a political, religious or social statement by representing campaign propoganda, crosses, or "ribbons" in support of causes such as U.S. troops, breast cancer awareness or empathy for victims of AIDS.

Different Types of Beads Used to Create Earrings from the Ajdjss Guild:

Earring Components from the Ajdjss Guild:

All kinds of Earrings From the Ajdjss Guild:

The pictures in this article were provided by the following guild studios:

1. PickleValentineVintageBeads, SWBeadShop, LadyHawk

2. KitschBeads, FiredanceBeads, VintageBeadlady5

3. RougeRiverBeads, FreshStringBeads,
4. RoyalMetals, SupplyCloset, VintageBeadlady5

5. JewelledTrellis, CatinaLife, SWDesigns

6. CreationsWithHeart, GravelRoadJewelry, Beadlady5

The information about the history of earrings was gotten from "History of Earrings" by Christina Hamlett (http://www.ehow.com/about_4588246_history-of-earrings.html)