Best of Etsy: Painted Metal

This series highlights noteworthy jewelry selections available on Etsy, the mammoth online marketplace for handmade goods.

To some, texture is the soul of every jewelry piece, separating the artistic from the mass-produced, the inspired from those that have nothing new to communicate, the layered from the mundane. And for Tammy Antoinette, texture is everything, dictating the design and color process.

Utilizing a multi-layered patina course that produces a watercolor finish, the designer creates pieces that are both rustic and beautiful. Stacked brass rings, colored mocha and turquoise, have a weather-beaten appearance, as does her shackle earrings (above). Leaf-shaped cuffs are treated with an external terra cotta patina, with a red tone gracing the interior. New color palettes are introduced frequently, but the prevalence of texture remains…gritty grooves, hammered pockmarks and meandering ripples.

To view styles and purchase, visit the designer’s Etsy store.

The Metamorphosis of Gauged Jewelry

Will the mainstream fashion industry forever turn a blind eye to the mounting popularity of gauged jewelry? Maybe, maybe not, but the reality is that more and more designers are artistically moving beyond industrial ear plugs, and producing more palatable pieces.

One of our favorite stores Robot, nestled in Portland, has amassed a worthy online collection of ear adornments from local designers such as Lobey Wan, who produces pretty elements in shapes of frogs and angel wings, and Cheryl Lisowski, whose line Heart of Metal flaunts hoops intricately woven with brightly colored thread (above right).

To browse styles and purchase, visit Robot’s online store.

Danielle Pittman

Yes, a soft-spoken demeanor often does belie a tough-as-nails interior, but it's not as if being disingenuous is on the agenda. Some people just subscribe to the belief that if you want to rule the world, an iron fist in a velvet glove is a more palatable approach. Determination after all, doesn't come in just one aggressive flavor.

Designer Danielle Pittman has an appreciation for nice girls that say please and thank you, but insightfully recognizes that it doesn't mean they are relinquishing anything, not even close. Her pieces are simultaneously tough and pretty, influenced by nature's sturdier creations, such as pinecones, hickory, and sand dollars. Even delicate petals are translated into robust forms, appearing hearty and twisted. The honeycomb selections, necklace pendants and earrings mingling enamel with gold, are stalwart pieces, worthy of attention.

To browse styles, visit the designer's Web site. To purchase, shop Bird in Brooklyn.

Hot Pick: Bonbon Oiseau Woods & Fields Collection

Bonbon Oiseau's Autumn collection, entitled Woods and Fields, was inspired by Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass, and is overflowing with exquisite elements, such as 1920s mold-pressed, reverse-painted and foil-inlaid glass.

Flaunting antique etched glass and vintage brass leaves, the Feuilles de Rubis Rouge earrings, one of favorite pieces from the collection, sweetly marries a 24k gold pear charm and a freshwater pearl at the bottom.

Available at the designer's Web site.

Hot Pick: Soixante Neuf Heart Earrings

Heart jewelry usually can be described as a giant sugar-rush, transforming women into little girls who absentmindedly forget that eating too much candy does indeed make one sick to their stomach.

Fortunately designer Joie Jager serves up an alternative, draining the heart of its gushiness, and infusing it with some well-placed gypsy mojo. Her heart-shaped wood earrings from her Soixante Neuf line are intricately hand-carved with floral detail, maintaining a sense of femininity, but without heavy-handedness.

Available at the designer’s Web site.

Rising Trend: Knotted Jewelry

Mastering the rope knot isn’t to be taken lightly, as any sailor, rock climber, or Eagle Scout, will tell you. The reef knot, the sheet bend knot, the clove hitch knot, the sheep shank knot, the bowline knot…there are many, many knots that can get you out of a jam, or at the very least make life easier.

So it’s unsurprising that the functional art of the knot has now become a focal point of design, inching its way into necklaces, earrings and rings. A few of our favorites include a black rope necklace from Lanyard, a chunky knotted ring from Adeline Cacheux, vintage brass knot earrings from 1.4.2. (above right), and a feminine necklace from Sunday’s Best sprinkled with knots.

Best of Etsy: Linda Layden

This series highlights noteworthy jewelry selections available on Etsy, the mammoth online marketplace for handmade goods.

Numerous designers skillfully dabble in scrimshaw, from Dana Lorenz to Black Sheep & Prodigal Sons, but we give high marks to Linda Layden for offering her one-of-a-kind pieces at such wallet-friendly prices. And most importantly, the hand-etched designs are sweet, from heart-shaped ivory pendants with colorful flowers to bluebirds on dangling bone earrings.

To view styles and purchase, visit Linda Layden’s Etsy shop.

Megan Auman

You’re a dyed-in-the-wool minimalist, which means you cleverly opt for one savvy, unconfined effect, instead of piling on a myriad of overly hip items. Label it selective behavior or pickiness, it doesn’t matter, because the heart of the deal is that the objects that take up cherished residence in your world are there for the right reasons, instead of all the wrong ones.

Floral patterns are the focal point of Megan Auman’s jewelry collection, but she impressively sidesteps the usual route by employing welded steel in her designs. The effect is dark, but not dour, with beautifully shaped ironwork leaves sprinkled across long necklaces or taking form as hoop earrings (above). Many of the pieces are artistically adorned with raised silver drops in clustered patterns, imparting a dew-like appearance.

To view styles and browse a store list, visit the designer’s Web site.

Hot Pick: Cristalette Thunderbird Earrings

Some jewelry designers tend to craft their wares in a bit of a vacuum, imagining the woman that buys their pieces, but never really knowing for sure if their inspiration is in fact their true customer. Designer Cristina Armijo smartly does not play this game, opting instead to fully immerse herself within the Bay area scene that she not only designs for but helps to create. More than a handful of prominent area bands don her playful clothing designs for gigs (Armijo herself is also a musician), but it’s her signature Thunderbird earrings that are all the rage with the locals. The fringe earrings are heavily beaded, and dangle 4” in length.

Available at Bona Drag in sky blue, black and red. You can also visit the designer's Etsy shop.

Hot Pick: Double Happiness Sari Earrings

Stephanie Wells and her sister Alisa Rottenberg have been cranking out gorgeous collections of earthy jewelry for years, but their most recent designs caught our attention, from enameled peacock feather earrings to chunky turquoise slab rings. And while everyone else is doing fabric necklaces, they smartly give a pair of earrings the treatment, wrapping dangling ovals with brightly colored sari fabric and then layering them with delicate gold chain.

Available at Double Happiness.

Best of Etsy: Christine Kangas

This post is part of an ongoing series highlighting noteworthy jewelry selections available on Etsy, the mammoth online marketplace for handmade goods.

It’s easy to get caught up in the quest for the statement necklace, but sometimes a sweet little something for the ears is the better adornment. Designer Christine Kangas crafts dainty brass earrings that flaunt hand-wrapped vintage fabric beads paired with rustic stones and sparkling crystals. The pieces look antique, yet modern, and decidedly feminine.

To view styles and purchase visit the Christine Kangas Etsy Shop.

Hot Pick: Ant Earrings From Jezebel

As far as insect jewelry goes, the usual suspects generally appear…spiders, scorpions, beetles, and flies. So hats off to Jezebel for choosing the entirely underrated ant as the focal point, an ego-less bug who understands that seemingly impossible feats can be accomplished by being the consummate team player. The stud earrings are crafted from 14k rose gold.

Available at Catbird.

Best of Etsy: Elizabeth Scott Jewelry

This post is part of an ongoing series highlighting noteworthy jewelry selections available on Etsy, the mammoth online marketplace for handmade goods.

Many jewelry pieces have a daring flavor geared for nightlife dressing, but the truth is that your social life is just as active when the sun is shining -- lunch dates, museum trips, matinée movies, strolling through flea markets. Elizabeth Scott's jewelry is exactly what you want for your daytime adventures, boasting botanical prints and shapes, some with soft-hued enamel detail. Her pool series has a wonderful relaxed summer flavor, but we adore the petal collection (earrings above) that features hand-cast hydrangea petals with an oxidized finish.

To view styles and purchase visit Elizabeth Scott's Etsy Shop.

Comfort Station

You’re the brainy one in the group, humble, but with biting wit. Of course, smart doesn’t equate to being a know-it-all, it just means that attention to the finer points carries serious weight. That’s right, the devil is in the details, not to be glossed over in flaky, airhead style.

London designer Amy Anderson’s Comfort Station line is brimming with multifaceted jewelry selections that deliver a singular monumental impact. The whimsical pieces flaunt signature wood pendants (some engraved with cloak-and-dagger type messages, others shaped like chess pieces), as well as a slew of other adornments, from chandelier charms to glass bottles. Steam Punk influences are on full display, from a gold vermeil necklace dangling clock hands to burnt walnut heart-shaped earrings dressed up with brass clock innards.

To view styles and browse a store list visit the designer’s Web site. Selected pieces are also available at kim & maki.

Hot Pick: Dream Mullick

A lovely twist on classic hoops, these sterling silver earrings from Dream Mullick are inspired by the New Mexico designer’s travels to Indonesia, as is her entire collection filled with ornate silver jewelry.

Available at the designer’s Web site.

Vesper Jewelry

Never one to live life as a spectator sport, you categorically define optimism, bouncing from one adventure to the next with smiling authoritative glee. And your friends, well they love you to pieces, thankful for a genuine cohort who’s up for anything, day or night, rain or shine. But don’t paint you with a brush dipped in sticky sugar, because you’re no one’s fool…just someone who’d rather not get her hands dirty with self-centered drama. So unsurprisingly you favor jewelry pieces with an infectious playfulness that radiate your live-it-up lifestyle.

Working in collaboration with her main squeeze Jason Sho Green, Seattle designer Jessi Frenkel crafts a light-hearted collection that proves jewelry doesn’t have to be grim to be taken seriously. Let others corner the skull and crossbones market, because Frenkel’s joyful robots, angry totem poles, and delightful storm clouds are right-as-rain objects to adore (shown above are the peacock feather earrings). The sterling silver and copper pendants are created using a production process that entails toner resist etching and roll printing, and then hung on complimentary chains or ear wires.

To view styles and purchase, visit the designer’s Web site.

Yayoi Forest

Flowers, of course, get all the glory, but they come and go too quickly. Which is why all women know that good looks only take you so far, and that it is better to have unwavering strength that can carry you through absolutely anything and everything. Like a tree branch weathering the heat of summer, the cold of winter, the rains of spring. Like a tree branch that remains standing after the colorful leaves and scented flowers have all fallen to the ground.

Jewelry line Yayoi Forest understands the unparalleled beauty of the tree branch, using its meandering form throughout its collection. A blackened silver twig necklace, spiral vine earrings, a gold branch pendant brandishing the word “love”. Naturally, other earthly creatures find their way into the designs, from owls etched into silver pendants to tiny gold birds dangling within a birdcage comprised of twisted silver branches.

To view styles visit the designer’s Web site. To purchase, visit YLANG 23.

Alisha Louise Designs

The best jewelry pieces are the ones that don't look like they can be worn everyday, with any outfit, for any occasion. But really it is these selections that communicate your personal style, your willingness to mix things up, to take chances, to not be defined within stereotypical terms. After all, if your iPod can be loaded up with Hank Williams, Black Mountain, and Andrew Bird, surely your wardrobe also can be an intoxicating off-beat blend of this and that, vintage and new, edgy and preppy, upper-crust and vagabond, bohemian and mod minimalist.

Serving up bold enamel jewelry drenched with fresh color, Alisha Louise Designs delivers pitch-perfect pieces that compliment any stylistic choice. Brimming with Art Deco and Nouveau inspired designs, the collection boasts statement pieces like the daring Triple Fan Neckpiece, antique-feeling pendants resembling historic tile work, and dangling earrings in feminine, artistic silhouettes. And the best part? Each design is offered in 16 dazzling colors, enabling you to choose the precise shade that will seamlessly integrate with your existing wardrobe.

To view styles and purchase, visit the Alisha Louise Web site.