Beaded Eye Rings

I’ve grown incredibly fond of making herringbone rings, and I find that other styles just don’t appeal to me as much. Not only are they really simple and fast to make, but they are just so cute and wearable. I’m always looking for new ways to incorporate different patterns and shapes into the design to make each one unique.

Way back during my Ring a Day challenge, I made a herringbone ring with a shell coin as the focal. It turned out so nice, that I’ve made quite a few since, but none of them were quite like the original. The combination of shape and color made it look just like a misty, mysterious eye. Over the past year, I’ve pondered other ways to incorporate an eye design into a herringbone ring.

While experimenting with different Egyptian inspired designs, I came up with the idea of using a tortoiseshell bead and a white herringbone increase to make a more realistic, if not a bit feline, eye ring. And since the theme of this month’s April’s Army fundraiser is ‘beauty’, it seemed like the perfect fit.

I used some eye-shadowy colors for the base of each ring, and created an eye shape with a black lining. I carefully selected tortoiseshell beads that had a central black accent for the iris and pupil, and made some pretty interesting, wearable eyes.

These two rings are available as a set from the April’s Army shop, which opens today. All proceeds from the shop will benefit an artist who needs a hand up.

Here are some of my favorite jewelry designs from the shop:

Click on the images to learn more about the designs and the artists behind them.

And I have to give a shout-out to one of my all-time favorite Etsy sellers, UglyBaby, who is donating for the first time this month.

There are lots of beautiful, weird, and wonderful products on sale until the end of this week. This month, the team is raising money to help an artist go to school and get her dream job! You can learn more about the shop and this month’s recipient on the April's Army Facebook page.

Copyright 2011 Inspirational Beading and Friends
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