Studio Time: BonBon Necklace and Earrings - Jewel Tones

Riffing off the other stackable necklace in jewel tones, I thought of an earring design I had done in the past in glass and wanted to create in polymer. I created itty bitty polymer beads, large silver hoops and !oila! tiny bon-bon earrings. And with the leftover scraps, I created large gum ball beads and a matching necklace. These were easy, pleasant and fun to make. I expect to be making a lot more. I need to learn how to solder the copper so I can make the earrings in copper and not just silver.

And while this set is super simple and anyone can make it, there is a lot to be said for the basic. Laura Sparling had a brilliant blog post about In Defense of the Basic. While I love making lace and want to learn how to knit a sweater, I like the mindless activity of knitting a basic, repetitive pattern scarf. And even though the beads in the above necklace are super duper basic (pinching off clay and making a round bead), the result can still be really, really pleasing. Why do we as artists get offended with doing the basic and simple? I know I like to do the more complicated difficult techniques, but I also like the basic and simple.

Do you have a basic technique and style you go back to time and again?