Friday 18 September 2015

We’re All Ears September Challenge

Every month the Earrings Everyday blog hosts a design challenge based on a theme. This month the challenge was based on a Japanese performance art and dance troupe Enra.

Erin Prais-Hintz provided a video of a piece called “Torque starter” for inspiration. The video can be seen here. (I haven’t mastered the art of adding a video to my blog).




I watched the video several times and, each time, found myself captivated. I was drawn to different sections of the performance, thinking do I have the right pieces and/or beads to interpret that?

Finally, I found the perfect fit for this portion of the performance, occurring about 20 seconds into the video:

Screen Capture from the video of “Torque starter” by Enra
 I had acquired some steel stampings from HighArt Destash on Facebook. These are not steel that’s been riveted and cut into that shape, rather are literally stamped out. They were originally curved and it’s thought they were meant for shoe bows. A little grungy when I first received them, I cleaned them up with a file and gently flattened them.

 
Torque Earrings

The “dots” on the stampings reminded me of the flashing “sparks” in that section of the video. Though the video is black and white I saw flashes of blue throughout and decided to use faceted blue Goldstone beads plus gunmetal jump rings and ear wires, and black wire to attach everything together. I’m rather pleased with how they came together.





I explored online to find more information on the troupe. Maybe it’s because they’re based in Japan but I found it hard to find a website. I did however find many videos online and watched a few.

One in particular, titled “Primitive” caught my attention.



Again, it was a particular section that caught my attention.

 
Screen capture from the video “Primitive” by Enra

The strong bars reminded me of some silver plated pieces with black resin ovals with a very oriental influence that I have, giving an old fashioned photo negative effect. I decided to add some faceted black Onyx beads that I attached with gunmetal chain, wires and head pins.

 
Primordia Earrings


The onyx beads bring in the influence of the ball from the inspiration video along with emphasizing the vertical aspect of the screen capture.




Please check out what everyone else has made too.
  
Thanks for stopping by and have a great day.

16 comments:

  1. Having a love for all things vintage, I really enjoy jewellery made from things repurposed from the past so I love your first pair, they turned out really well. Your second pair are a stroke of genius too, I would never have thought of using the oriental influence and these are great! xx

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    1. Thanks Fiona
      I had fun with this challenge. It just seemed to "fall together"
      Mona

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  2. I love how you repurposed the metal into very pretty earrings!

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    1. Thanks Kathy
      I think those pieces have great potential and have a bunch more to play with
      Mona

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  3. I love the earrings you made from the inspiration.
    I also participated this month. You are welcome to visit if you want http://sofies-succulent-beads.blogspot.be/2015/09/were-all-ears-september-challenge.html.

    Greetings, Sofie

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  4. Both of these earrings are fantastic! Captured so beautifully from the image inspiration!!

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    1. Thanks Terri
      I'm not sure why but this inspiration video resonated with me
      Mona

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  5. Excellent job! I can see the sparks in the first pair. I too was drawn to it, but couldn't think of anything to use. Great choice to repurpose those pieces! And I wouldn't have thought to look them up on line. Great idea, and I love the second pair. Really capture the moment!

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    1. Thanks Veralynne
      Coming up with a new purpose for those neat finds is the bonus isn't it?
      Mona

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  6. Very cool earrings. I like the way you explored further into this group and designed another pair of earrings inspired by them.

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    1. Thanks Nan
      Truth be told I would probably not have looked at this video or explored the performance troop on my own. These challenges that Erin puts together are great for pushing us.
      Mona

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  7. What a perfect use for the shoe bow pieces. Very clever interpretation. I see those flashing sparks in your earrings. Also cool that you located other videos to inspired another pair of earrings. I love the bar ones, too.

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    1. Thanks Cindy
      When I got those shoe bows I was thinking of leather bracelets with them riveted to the bracelet. Then Erin came with her challenge and this is the first thing I've done. Glad you like bar earrings too.
      Mona

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  8. Awesome! I think you nailed it! (Also, you must have mastered getting the video embedded because I can see that here!). Those sparkly stars were fascinating. I like the way you repurposed this component that would be hidden with beads on top of it. So much better and architectural by itself! And the second pair is a great study in shape. Without color you can really focus on form. Thank you for joining me in the We're All Ears challenge for September. Check back on October 2nd for the next inspiration! Enjoy the day! Erin

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  9. Thanks so much. This was a fun challenge and I look forward to next month's.
    Mona

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