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This is an image of a pair of earrings side by side. Each earring is about three inches tall, one inch wide and has the depth of 18 gauge copper (approx. 0.05 inches). The earrings are made to look like stained glass windows and have a domed rectangle shape. There are thin rectangles outlining the shape of each earring that are filled with a dark, royal blue enamel. The other cells of enamel are stacked in a grid going up the length of the earring and taper off at the top in a teardrop shape. The cells of each earring are the same size and shape but, aside from the dark, royal blue, are filled with a multitude of different colors that differ from earring to earring. The colors emanate a soft glowing light, especially when lit from behind (as they are in the photograph). The colors represented are: a buttery yellow, burnt sienna, rose pink, turquoise, tortoise shell brown and various shades of purple. The metal itself is copper and is patinated black with a fine silver, handmade earhook.

Stained Glass Earrings

Annabel Paul

Copper, Silver and Enamel

Undergraduate
Designed so that light can shine through them, these earrings were inspired by a past family trip to the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris. They were made using a traditional enameling technique called plique à jour, which employs surface tension to hold the glass enamel in each cell before kiln firing. Plique à jour is is an ambitious technique and this pair of earrings exemplifies my artistic process as they were made with an extremely labor intensive, time consuming and hands on process that took me a long time to learn and understand; they are largely geometric and they were inspired by an experience that I had with my family when I was younger.