Living Coral Earrings for We're All Ears

Each month, Erin at Earrings Everyday offers up an earring design inspiration. This month, she chose the Pantone Color of the Year, Living Coral. While I've never really been drawn to pinks, oranges, and peaches, I have recently come to appreciate the blend of colors in a good coral. Even with that appreciation, I have to confess that I put off this challenge for far too long. Trying to juggle all the challenges and inspirations I found this month has taken its toll in that not everything is getting the attention it deserves. But, I did set aside almost all of yesterday to focus on this challenge, and two pairs of earrings were eked out!

To begin the process, I pulled out everything coral I could find in the craft room. 

While there wasn't much, I did unearth a cookie tin, large acrylic beads, faceted Czech glass beads, Vintaj Patina, and acrylic paint. Hmm...

Part of the inspiration that Erin shared for the challenge were several Pantone palettes in which Living Coral is featured. I was particularly drawn to the "Under the Sea Palette" because of the variety of colors. 

 Unsure how to incorporate so many colors into the small space of earrings, it finally dawned on me that I could use smaller beads and a wire frame to pack in all the colors. 

Since I didn't have any small coral beads, I put white seed beads and e-beads in a small plastic container, added a few drops of the coral Vintaj Patina, and shook the fire out of it to make my own. As well, a wire jig was used to create a wireframe for the first pair of earrings. 

You can see some of the e-beads I made in the upper left. I ended up using the seed beads instead, even though they didn't color as well.

From there, I got to stringing on beads.

While I own more seed beads than any non-beadweaver probably should, I still didn't have exact colors to make up the Under the Sea Palette. I made it work the best that I could.

Once the beads were wrapped onto the frame (after about three tries to get them the way I wanted), jump rings and ear wires were added to finish them. 

The colors are definitely not as pretty as the inspiration palette, and I really am not keen on that pink at the top. They still work. 

I did put two lines of the coral beads so that it would be the main color for the earrings. 

And, if you don't know what the inspiration was supposed to be, it's not that big of a deal. I suppose. 

While I really do like the idea of the above earrings, they just didn't feel like "me". I knew it was time to cut into that tin. 

I had an inkling of an idea that I just couldn't shake. The vision of a bead hanging in the center of the tin kept running through my head. 

I was happy that the inside of the tin was gold-colored as I had envisioned the living coral paired with gold. And, the bottom dangles are the circles that were punched from the centers. They worked perfectly as charms. 

Even better, they're "reversible", giving the earrings interest as they hang and swing. 

These earrings feel a little more "me", though the color isn't one I would usually have picked. That's what I love about these challenges. They make you think outside your own little box and preferred palettes. Thanks for that, Erin!!

Now, hop on over to the We're All Ears Reveal and see what the other artists created with Living Coral!