My statement cherry earrings started life as a request from the lovely Lizzie West, one of the creative minds behind Bristol based band Slamboree (If you don't know Slamboree - you need to check them out, they are mind blowing.) Her sister Amy runs a company called Cherry and Bee and Lizzie wanted some custom earrings for Amy's birthday.
As with all my commission, if there is an opportunity to resell the design, I don't charge a design fee. The cherry motif has been popular for decades, finding a permanent home in Rockabilly culture, along with cherry adorned dresses and cute cherry necklaces. It was definitely a statement piece that could find a home in my product line.
I wanted to give them my own twist whilst also tying in with Amy's brand. Amy already had a necklace with her brand on featuring the gold glitter acrylic. This was the element I decided on to tie everything together, so used it as the stud part for both the cherry and bee earring.
The cherry stalk is made from beautiful frosted green acrylic, it's opaque enough so you don't see the birch back plate, but still defuses the light. The cherry fruit is made from a deep red mirror, which I've engraved subtle details into that become more obvious depending on how the light catches the fruit. 
The stalk of the cherry earrings fits absolutely beautifully into the cherry fruit. When you use a laser cutter to make acrylic jewellery, if you simply cut out each part you are left with gaps where the laser has melted away a fraction of a mm around the design. This is one of the key differences in quality of laser cut creations, as I've developed my skills I've become a little obsessed with ensuring I find the perfect kerf for every single piece. This can take a lot of trial and error but I'm getting better at predicting it for each finish of acrylic and wood. The key is to get the pieces to fit together with enough pressure that they are snug, but not too much to cause a fissure. 
I laser cut this stand recently to illustrate the drop length of my larger statement earrings. These Cherries sit around 5cm below the earlobe finishing around the jawline. If you are an earring maker yourself and want one of these stands with your branding on, get in touch and I can chat to you about making one for you.
I decided to use a birch backplate for these earrings over a metallic one. I felt the wooden finish lent itself better to the design. The backplate and careful hand assembly of the individual cherry elements is what elevates the quality here . They are still not heavy, yet you can see and feel the extra time, love and care that has gone in to making each one.
As with all my jewellery, I design and cut a bespoke sustainable backing card from recycled cardboard. When working with a material such as acrylic it is important to try and be as sustainable as possible. All my backing cards are made in house as I need them, they can be thrown in the recycling at the customer end. But are robust enough to be retained if the customer wishes to use it to store the earrings on it.
When I'm making statement earrings like these cherries, I make them in very small batches or to order. If it's a layered piece like this one, I want to make pieces that people will retain and treasure, single layer pieces can be recycled - check out my recycling incentive if you own any of my single layer pieces.
I use high quality surgical steel stud findings and offer an upgrader to sterling silver so the wearer can tailor the piece according to their needs.
So that's design the journey behind my statement cherry earrings. If you would like your own pair, they can be found in my shop or come and visit me at one of the makers markets listed in my events calendar.
Stay fabulous! x