About my handmade earrings

When I discovered I could craft earrings by myself, I decided not to buy them anymore. I told myself: if I find something I like but don't know how to make myself, it's a very good reason to learn something new.


Well, some time ago I had to revisit this idea. I found an Etsy shop which sold wood fake gauges. I decided my husband would not be very pleased if I rearranged our flat into some sort of a wooden workshop. My current rules are not to buy any earrings but fake gauges from that specific shop. And so far it works out just fine.


What I like about handmade earrings is the fact that they are very unique. You can use many kinds of material to craft. Sometimes it is not necessary to buy supplies. I know a person who crafted earrings using safety-pins. Ok, to tell the truth, I didn't like her creations. But it may be a matter of taste.


Few months ago I tried to organize somehow beads I owned and had not used yet. I discovered I have some very special ones, like beautiful lampwork beads I had bought just because they had been lovely. Usually they were sold in small quantities, like 6 or even 2 beads per pack. They were ideal for earrings.

I also fell in love in cloisonne beads. Beads crafted in this technique are beautiful and one of a kind. I am still looking for more colors and patterns of these (again, the idea of crafting them at home by myself does not sound like something reasonable).

If you want to see some of my earrings, feel free to visit the earrings section in my Etsy shop: A Good Bead.

How I became addicted to... beads

In 2008 I moved with my husband from Poland to Switzerland. I had spent my last months in Poland reading and hearing about how difficult it is to find a job in Switzerland if you are not a specialist with a good knowledge of German. Well, I had a degree in literature and my German skills, however existing, where limited to casual conversations. Which meant, I found some new friends in Switzerland but I did not find a job.

I could write a book about everything that happened since then. Actually, I already did. I was eight-year-old girl when I started writing a diary and I have never given this up. There's no need to rewrite my life story here. Besides, it is going to be about beads.

I knew some people who made handmade jewelry. I had always been tempted to do something like that, just for a hobby. In Poland I had two jobs, I was studying and had a lot of friends I met on weekends. And I read tons of books. In Switzerland I read tons of books, had some new friends who were not so eager to spend weekends' nights at pubs and had no job. 

One day I bought a basic set of beads. They were beautiful, in various shapes, all in brown and orange, autumn shades. I had no idea what to do with them so I just stringed most of them on the thread. It looked nice, but I had had no need any imagination to craft it.

I started to buy more and create more intricate items. I started wearing some of them, especially earrings. At some point I discovered that my mother is not the only one who admired my work. I started thinking about promoting my creations in some way and I believe that using Internet is probably the best idea possible.

I'm going to use this blog not only as a place for advertising items I want to sell. I'd like to create a place where I could write about my hobby, what makes me happy about it, what sort of problems do I face… and so on. 

Let's see how long a story about beads can be ;-)