My thanks go to Ellen Leclaire, a local jewelry artist, for inspiring the design. (Gems by Ellen) We've never actually met, but somewhere in virtual "handmade land", I came across her signature earring design and admired them greatly. She was very kind to share her technique with me and gave me permission to make a pair of my own. I changed them a little, but the basic idea was Ellen's.
Copyright is an important issue in jewelry making and inspiration is everywhere. I don't sell a lot of my pieces, most of the jewelry that I make is for myself and given as gifts, but I always try to give credit to the original designer, especially if I have used their tutorial. Bead & Button magazine has a simple outline of jewelry design ethics and can be found here: Beaders' Ethics.
I need to do some bead shopping before leaving for Grenada, but the weather is certainly a consideration! I'm only going out in emergencies... are beads an emergency? Yup.
Everyone drive safely!
