In Which I Tenderly Smooch Some Blogging Patootie (part two of an Ongoing Series)

A while back we were talking about jewelry when Wendy B chimed in, saying she's become interested in working hands into some of her pieces.  We lurve us some hand earrings here Chez Eccentrique. I decided to test my new camera's macro features and share my hand earrings with you all.

The first earring is my first hand earring, my first Thomas Mann earring, and my first 'one only' earring. My mom has commented before about how she got me this piece at Tail of the Yak as a Christmas present for me. She was perplexed that it was only one, not half of a pair, but also thought it was unique and wonderful. The arrow and the black and white piece both move around, and the hand is solid brass - it has heft!

You can see the artist's signature on the back of the hand. That's one of my favorite parts of this earring - later on he switched to a stamp.

This earring is one of a pair. I gave the other to my sister - it had two brass feathers going crossways where the rabbit is, and a red heart attached with the bolt. This hand originally had an amethyst-colored half sphere attached through a center hole with the bolt. It disintegrated, and i've used the bolt to attach various items. Now it's wearing an antique Chinese carved piece which used to decorate clothing (these were sewn on to fancier clothing, much like beading or embroidery).

Here you can see the stamp, with which Mr. Mann still uses to sign his jewelry - a "T" & "M" combined. The ear wire came out of the top of the piece, but it broke off after about 15 years. I've twisted some wire around it in order to attach it to earwires or studs, but it hangs crookedly. I added the blue bead because i like it against the orange. Any ideas on fixing this piece are very welcome!

I also got these earrings from Tail of the Yak in Berkeley. They were made by a Mexican company which dates back to colonial Spanish times, and supplied jewelry to none other than Ms. Frida Kahlo herself. These originally had small blue briolettes in place of the pearls i added.  Regretfully, i've never been told the name of the company (despite specifically asking salespersons) or been able to research it. I'm curious as hell to find out!

Nothing fascinating or insightful, just hand earrings today. Mostly i'm thinking about the rotten events in Joplin. I watched a video recorded by a person who survived the tornado, along with about 10 other people, in a walk-in freezer. There's very little to see, as all the power was out, but the soundtrack is terrible to experience. It really brought home what the people there go through - the horrible waiting to see if you'll be hit after the warning is sounded, raw animal fear as the tornado passes over, not knowing what you will find if you emerge. These traumatized souls then have to clean up the mother of all messes.

It made me appreciate earthquakes - you have no time to work yourself up, just BOOM it's happening, and there's no rain to drench everything for days afterwards while you sort through your belongings and search for your loved ones. I think that the video affected me especially as it's the only recording i've come across that conveys something similar to my near death experience in my early twenties. Here's some resources for helping the people in Missouri. Don't forget to hug the people you should. Needless to say, you all get a big (((((( ))))))) from me for reading this.