It Ain't Heavy - It's My Earring!

I've been making some longer and larger earrings lately.  Since I'm from that age of huge earrings you just might think it's my earring of choice.  It never was but I'm getting bolder with age.  During that time they just kept growing in size until we all looked ridiculous if we were wearing a stud instead of severed elephants head.  Our heads tilted and our collective ear lobes ached.  While ear lobes naturally grow with us for the rest of our lives some of them began to look stretched, then our tiny holes contained slits in them rather than the original small hole.  Short of surgery to repair the cosmetic damage caused by years of this type of abuse, via vanity, what's there to do?

 

I know this is an ethnic preference but this does look painful to me. Although I have to say the ones below don't look any less painful to wear for an evening, let alone a lifetime.

 

Well, you could have guessed that my favorite jewelry to create is earrings.  I thought, as I was matching pieces up, it was high time to have some parameters on what might be acceptable as an earring weight.  Is there a rule?  Does it matter how heavy the earring is if it's really stylish?  No? Yes? Truthfully lots of you are just going to say it doesn't matter if you like the earrings and you'll wear them no matter what - everyone does have variances in their tolerance for weight.  I've been there before and I guess wearing an inappropriately heavy pair of earrings once in awhile wouldn't, in the long run, hurt your ear lobes.  But, I can't wear a pair of those for whole evening before they go in my purse.....and If I'm going to spend either the time or money on a pair I want to feel like I'm going to love the look of them and how they feel in my ears.

I've been working with glass, stones, ceramic, and recycled components for my new earrings.  I've also taken to adding tin to them.  I love recycling the tin.  It was a design decision based on weight and color.  I wanted to have more volume in my earrings - maybe a couple of royally large "statement pieces".  I could create a very large hollow glass bead and that would definitely give me the volume but glass still has a weight to it.  If it's hung on a pendelem (such as a chain) it will "feel" heavier than if it were on a short head pin.  It's the nature of the science.

Since I have to weigh out materials for casting I happen to have a very dependable scale on hand.  So, I googled earring topics (earring weight) to see what I'd come up with.  I love having potential info at my finger tips. 

A lot depends on the kind of earring attachment you are using - obviously a post with a wide clutch on the back is going to help distribute more weight than a standard earring nut - and, of course, common sense dictates they are going to better handle weight than a wire.  Even the gauge of earring wire is helpful.  But after reading quite a bit of material it seems like there is mostly agreement among the designers.

Judith Ripka, award winning designer, feels that 4 grams per earring is a good weight to stay under.  Some say a total of 10 grams for "art" earrings is reasonable, others stay to 7 grams per pair - max.  So, it looks like maybe a design limit of 3.5 grams per earring is reasonable (give or take your choice - wire/post/style and science).

Without a scale how much is a gram?  Well, 3.5 grams = 1/8 oz. (the average size tea bag).  Other weights to help guide you (me) on my quest for earring perfection:

Paperclip            - 1 gram
Penny                 - 2.5 grams
Quarter               - 6 grams
Reese's PB Cup  - 9 grams
2 Nickels            - 10 grams
Average Egg      - 50 grams
Dove Soap Bar   - 100 grams 
Average Apple   - 150 grams

Trust me - I'm unlikely to make anything as large (heavy) for my ears as the last three items on that list !