Winter wings quartz point earrings, clear icicles, sterling silver, crystal gem stone, rainbow arc, dangle earrings, artisan jewelry good for her

Advice is like the snow. The softer it falls, the longer it dwells upon and the deeper it sinks into the mind.
- Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Winter seems to come in on wings. Snow drifting and soaring, ice spreading feathers across water, icicles hovering in crisp air. This pair of ethereal earrings swing like the swirling snow and gleam like new ice. To honour this deep winter of the new year, I have created a small series of jewellery deeply rooted in my experience of January. It is inspired by many hours of hiking in frosty air, below canopies of pine and birch, amid the play of golden light on sparkling snow.

The quartz family is vast, including stones such as agate, chalcedony, carnelian, amethyst, citrine, jasper, chrysoprase and herkimer diamond and has been favoured since the Bronze age. Largely carved into decorations with a high degree of detail including ornate vessels and jewellery like finely detailed intaglios and cameos, faceted beads and prismatic shapes, quartz was long believed to be ancient water ice, now made permanent by the passage of time. It is a stone believed to enhance psychic abilities, purpose, calm and clarity, and to boost the healing properties of other stones. Its icy cool, included transparency continues to captivate us.

These etched sterling silver earrings feature striking natural quartz points set in handmade bezels. The quartz crystals are evenly faceted and water-clear, bearing very few tiny inclusions, except that the slightly smaller of the two has the faintest phantom floating within. A phantom quartz is like a crystal within a crystal, created when another mineral other than quartz covers the crystal during its formation process, leaving a layer on the end (termination) that is captured within the quartz during the crystal's growth.
These crystal points hang from handmade winged sterling silver tube bezels, etched with arcing lines resembling stylized wings. The back of the wings are marked with a delicate, shallow feathery pattern.
The earrings hang from handmade, rounded standard 20g sterling silver earwires for comfortable wear good and a pair of clear silicone stoppers is included to keep them securely on your ears. These are a luxurious length for a dangle earring, measuring just a hair over 2" (5 cm) long by approximately .75" (2 cm) wide at their widest point. The etching has been enhanced with a dark patina to contrast against the silver's high shine, and it and the unique crystal points make these earrings absolutely one of a kind, as the handmade drawing cannot be replicated.

All of my jewelry is made by me in my cozy home studio and will be shipped to you as shown, beautifully packaged and ready for giving as a gift for someone special (like yourself...?)

Thank you for shopping and supporting handmade!