Maybe You’re Not Allergic to Metals in Jewelry

Posted on February 13, 2020 by lorigreenberg

Do Your Ears Itch When You Put in Earrings?

I had my ears pierced way back in high school and everything was OK. I won’t go into the time that my dad tried to pierce my ears with a needle and ice, with his giant fingers and my tiny ear lobes.

I even got a piercing way up on my ear in the cartilage and enjoyed that for a while. It was the late 70s and double-piercing your ear lobes was just starting to be a thing, so I did that too. That didn’t go so well.

They got really sore and I couldn’t wear earrings in those holes. I don’t know the exact progression of things but at some point I couldn’t even wear the first, regular piercings. As soon as I’d put earrings in my ear lobes would start to itch, and turn bright red.

I’d heard of people being allergic to metals and I thought that was what had happened to me, too. So I stopped wearing earrings. For about THIRTY years!

It wasn't an Allergy to Metals - And I Can Wear Earrings Again

Fast forward to the wonderful internet era. I was on a message board and the subject came up. A fellow artist, who was also a nurse, said it could be an infection, not an allergy. She suggested putting Bacitracin, or a triple antibiotic cream on my ear lobes and also on my ear wires before putting them in.

Would you believe that it worked? I did that and no itching!

At first it was a temporary fix because if I didn’t do the ointment, my ears would itch again. But, after I did it for a while, I tried without the ointment and would you believe that now I don’t even have to do that? I’ve only tried it with sterling silver ear wires that I make, so I don’t know what happens with base metals, or other metal compositions.

You Should Try It

If, at some point you started being unable to wear earrings, and think you’ve developed an allergy, you should give this a try. It can’t hurt you, other than the itchiness or other reaction you usually have if it truly is an allergy.

Of course, if you have big reactions, or if you’re sensitive to a Bacitracin or Triple Antibiotic ointment, don’t try this.

Good luck. I hope it works for you, and I’d love to hear if it does. I can say that I’m really happy that I can wear earrings again.

Why I Choose to Give the Best

Posted on January 16, 2020 by lorigreenberg

I Give the Best Because You Deserve the Best. Period.

Don’t you agree? Honestly, I think that the start of this whole ‘give the best’ thing goes back to my childhood. I remember school food drives where we’d be asked to bring canned goods in around Thanksgiving time. I’ll never forget my mom pulling a can of waxed beans off the shelf and handing it to me.

My first thought was, “What the hell are waxed beans?” Maybe I didn’t think ‘hell,’ but you know, what the hell ARE they? Who eats wax? We obviously didn’t because we were giving them away. Then I thought, “That’s going to be one shitty Thanksgiving meal if this is one of the ingredients they have to work with.” Again, maybe I didn’t think ‘shitty,’ but you get my point.

It was at that moment where I decided that if I give things away, I would give things that I would want to get. You may be thinking that people with nothing would be happy to get anything. I might agree with that, but why not give something more than just anything.

Anyway…

Right now, this is one of my best, and I’m giving it away over on Instagram.

It’s a sterling silver setting that was made for a stone that cracked, so I filled it with a polymer clay micromosaic.

I love this damn ring.

Check out my Current Giveaway

All you have to do is head over to Instagram and tag a friend who you think would like my jewelry. The instructions are all right there in the first comment of the post.

Good luck!!

Occult Water Collection

Posted on December 15, 2019 by lorigreenberg

The Occult Water Collection features sterling silver statement rings and pendants with teal and blue glass centerpieces, as well as some blue Owyhee opal pieces.

I never know where to start when I try to describe the inspiration for a collection because it usually starts out with one thing, and by the time I’m deep into it, it’s morphed into another. So, I’ll just dive into where I am right now with it.

This collection came to me in a meditation. One of my goals for 2019 was to spend more time living in the place of “flow.” You know, that magical feeling of everything aligning perfectly. It is the best feeling in the world.

As I was meditating on that state it seemed obvious that images of water would come. In fact, sometimes as I sit in meditation I use the water analogy of a river…seeing any distracting thoughts drifting right by me so that I can settle into stillness.

On this particular day I wasn’t using the river analogy but right in front of me, in my my mind’s eye, a rushing river with a giant boulder in the middle of it appeared. The water parted effortlessly around the obstacle, and flowed easily past it. It was immediately clear how this vision paralleled life.

When the water came upon a potential encumbrance, it didn’t complain, it didn’t resist, it just moved on by, just as we should when we come up against blockages.

I was reminded of the power of water. Given enough time, that yielding force of the rushing current will wear that rock down to nothing, and the water will not be diminished one bit. I can get behind that. Be more like water.

So, that’s how it initially hit me, and you can get a feel for the intention behind the pieces. The state of mind I was in while creating them.

Flow. Water. Yielding.

That’s how it all started. But why occult? Stay tuned.