After a topsy-turvy couple of weeks of trying to wring the very last drops of summer leisure and sunshine out of the days, I finally have a swath of earrings for you.
Inspired in part by watching Christopher Nolan’s epic in theaters, and finally starting to read “The Iliad” in August, I have five very different earring designs named for a few ladies from “The Odyssey.”
As I am wont to do, I kept the design aspects that represent the women from “The Odyssey” somewhat vague, so the interpretation is open for the beholder. Though the representations are clear to me, I wanted them to feel a bit wispy and impressionistic to others.
Without further ado, here are my odes to a few incredible women from Homer’s mythos.
(Also, this year for my birthday, my fella and I hiked in New Hampshire to find this chonky frog boy, a naturally occurring boulder formation. And I just HAD to share a photo with you!)
CIRCE EARRINGS
There will be 8 pairs of earrings available.
Can be worn as ear jackets, or as studs without the dangle
There will be one jewelry set with amethyst studs and a jasper necklace.
Price for earrings: $146
Price for the earring/necklace set: $158
Named for that powerful demi-goddess who dwelt on the island of Aeaea, wandering the sun-drenched Mediterranean cliffsides gathering herbs for her charms. Mixing potions by candlelight and singing softly to the transmogrified figures lounging in the shadows.
She was a fascinating figure of myth, endlessly reimagined in art and literature. Her depictions often mirrored contemporary attitudes towards women living outside societal norms.
At times, Circe was depicted as a jealous shrew driven by petty meanness, as when she transformed the innocent Scylla into an ocean monster. Surreptitious and manipulative.
And at others times, we see her as a brilliant magic-weaver, seemingly justified in her persecution of men. Some writers over the centuries even viewed her transmogrification magic as a kindness, with many of the animals refusing to be changed back into men when given the opportunity.
Circe is endlessly reimagined and open to interpretation. But what we do know is that she lived entirely on her own terms, her autonomy bolstered by her innate power and mastery of her craft. Dried flowers hanging from cedar beams, and hearth-smoke wafting through the sunshine.
These earrings are made from glowing amethyst gemstone studs suspended above unique Maligano jaspers. Some are grey and bouldery, others like sun-cracked sandstone. On the backs of the jaspers are silhouettes of small flowers, low-growing plants clinging to a windswept cliff.
These earrings are made with a bit of transmogrification ability of their own! They were made so that you can wear them with the jasper gemstones in front of the earlobe, or in back as in an ear jacket, or even as studs alone.
I had planned to made some simple studs and necklaces to go along with these earrings, but by the time I decided I had used all the gemstones in earrings! So I was only able to make one necklace and one pair of studs, which I will be offering as a set.
ATHENA EARRINGS
There will be 14 pairs of earrings available.
Suspended from sterling silver french earwires
Price for earrings: $143
“Stand beside me, Athena, fire me with daring, fierce as the day we ripped Troy’s glittering crown of towers down. Stand by me – furious now as then, my bright-eyed one – and I would fight three hundred men, great goddess, with you to brace me, comrade-in-arms in battle!”
– Homer
Bright and bold earrings for that glimmering goddess of wisdom, peace, and diplomacy, the adored patroness of Athens, feared even by Ares, god of War. Athena visited Odysseus often in his travels, counseling him when his hubris put others in danger, aiding him in escapes.
Last year, I read an article about how the Parthenon, the great temple for Athena, was originally engineered so that the inside of the temple was usually dim and shadowy. But then at certain special times of the year, light would filter through the temple at the perfect angle, setting the giant gold and ivory statue of Athena aglow with golden light, as though she stepped down from Olympus as that very moment.
And so these earrings are my ode to bright and shining Athena.
They are made of glowing Botswana agate, some with wisps of white like stratus clouds set afire at sunset. The backs of the earrings have windows sawn out to let the light stream through. And there are carefully sawn brass suns framing the backs of each earring.
And below each earring are brass coins, textured to reflect light and feel ancient.
Earrings made of sunshine and lore.
CALYPSO EARRINGS & NECKLACES
There will be (9) pairs of earrings available,
and (3) simple necklaces.
Earrings are suspended from sterling silver french earwires
Necklaces are suspended from sterling silver chains, adjustable from 17″ – 20″
Price for earrings: $143
Price for necklace: $136
“The enchanted island was full of wonders, and the nymph Calypso was more than mortal fair, and would have been glad to marry the hero; yet he pined for Ithaca. Nothing could win his heart away from his own country and his own wife Penelope, nothing but Lethe itself, and that no man may drink till he dies. So for seven years Calypso strove to make him forget his longing with ease and pleasant living and soft raiment. Day by day she sang to him while she broidered her web with gold ”
– Josephine Preston Peabody, “Old Greek Folk Stories Told Anew”
Earrings made of sea foam and the sound of crashing waves, named for that sea nymph who lived on the island of Ogygia far out in the Atlantic ocean.
These earrings are made from large organic, natural apatite gemstones, in beautiful, saturated blues with swirls of brown.
Like wind-swept dunes washed over by unruly waves.
Below each gemstone is an arrangement of sterling pebbles, a bouldery shoreline at which Odysseus stares longingly to sea.
PENELOPE EARRINGS
There will be 12 pairs of earrings available
Earrings are suspended from sterling silver french earwires
Price: $147
“The fame of her great virtue will never die.
The immortal gods will lift a song for all mankind,
a glorious song in praise of self-possessed Penelope.”
Earrings for the ever-steadfast, never-bending Penelope.
Hers was a quiet strength, to endure and keep a lantern lit for Odysseus.
Despite his failures and flaws, Penelope did not break, she upheld Ithaca as a bulwark against the greed of men.
Simple, classic earrings made of soft pink agates, some gorgeously layered and full of crystals.
They are set in handmade prong settings and suspended from molten sterling pebble studs.
Feminine, yet simply adorned. Soft yet sturdy, like Penelope.
NAUSICAA EARRINGS
There will be 7 pairs of earrings available
Earrings are suspended from sterling silver french earwires
Price: $148
“White-armed Nausicaa led their singing, dancing beat… as lithe as Artemis with her arrows striding down from a high peak – Taygetus’ towering ridge or Erymanthus – thrilled to race with the wild boar or bounding deer, and nymphs of the hills race with her, daughters of Zeus whose shield is storm and thunder, ranging the hills in sport, and Leto’s heart exults
as head and shoulders over the rest her daughter rises, unmistakable – she outshines them all, though all are lovely.”
Earrings made for sweet Nausicaa, the daughter of King Alcinous and Queen Arete, the princess who found Odysseus tossed by the waves onto the shores of her home.
One of the kindest and most compassionate mortals in Greek mythology.
These earrings are made from frothy amethyst gemstones in long, unique cuts.
Undulating edges border the stones, like rolling waves surrounding islands of amethyst.
On the backs are sterling silver flowers gracefully laid across the backs. I have sawn windows out of the backs of the earrings to let the light stream through.
That’s everything that will be in this special, one-off collection of earrings and necklaces made of Grecian sunshine and ancient lore.
This collection will wash up onto the shop shelves on
Wednesday, September 9th at 7:00 p.m. EST.
Click here for a direct link to where they will appear.
And remember, refresh your page often once the clock strikes 7:00 PM EST, until they all appear.