I have to confess.....

[lesley]

Thanks for the healing tips xx.
The annoying thing is I'm fine with silver and have had no bother with my lobes for the whole of the two months - so why go oozy now!

Oh Lesley, I'm sorry to hear about your earlobes...xx

Why does that sound funny?

[Fiona]

noooooooooooooooooooo not naked!!!!! i do wear a gown!!!

Oooooo how very posh .. and do you wear evening gloves as well

[kymbi]

I'm with Barbara on the surgical spirit treatment Lesley - it's alcohol so it kills anything dead and dries up the ear. If you can, put a small silver or gold sleeper into the ears, wipe with surgical spirit 3-4 times a day and gently turn the sleeper, so that it doesn't stick or crust.

Anyone who had their ears pierced more than 35 years ago will recognise the standard treatment back then - they used a sleeper to pierce the ear directly (no ear-guns back then) and had to keep it in for a month bathing with the surgical spirit and turning. The surgical spirit helps to harden the sensitive skin inside the lobe around the hole.

[Boo]

I clearly remember when I had mine done - I'd wanted them doing for years and my parents said I had to wait until I was 16. So I got them done a few days before my 16th birthday - on 30th December - sometime in the 70s. And I was one of the first to get them done with gold studs - until then they were always done with sleepers and my place had a new fangled gun that worked with studs. So you're spot on, it was just under 35 years ago. I still did the surgical spirit and twist routine several times a day.

[kymbi]

ooooooh, that sound spookily familiar - I wasn't allowed to get mine done until I was 15, so got them done in 1973. It's etched on my mind - jeweller/pawn shop at the Elephant & Castle, ice, sleepers and a pair of pliers (ewwww, I still shudder). A friend got hers done 6 months later and had a neat pair of studs done with a gun (humpf!).

I went to get second holes pierced with my mum about 6 years later - she got hers done immediately while I walked up and down the high street dithering for 2 hours as I couldn't face it after my original experience. I didn't have any problems with my original piercings but one of the stud ones gave me gip until I popped a sleeper in it - I always put it down to soap n stuff getting in behind the stud or around the butterfly.

[Ominicci]

I had mine done in the 70's too and had little gold star studs.

Thanks for the tip about Argentium silver for ears Barbara. I am glad as I've just done a load of earwires in Argentium as it balls perfectly on the ends!!

I recently wore a pair of my own earring that I had oxidised on the front and although I had rinsed them well and sanded and polished all the oxidisation off the back of the earring it still caused some irritation. Something to mention when selling oxidised pieces?

[lesley]

They seem to be settling down now - normal colour, nearly normal size.

I was a bit worried yesterday as I felt decidedly unwell (headache, hot but shivery, nauseous) and I didn't like the thought of a rampant infection coursing through my body.

As I had them done a couple of months ago I've only made myself one pair of earrings so far. Well actually, they were rejects that didn't make the grade. I wear those when I go out and a pair of leverbacks when I'm in the house - I find them more comfortable than studs. When my ears are better I'll make a pair of earrings just for me.........I might even post a piccy.

By the way, do you all make "nice" things for yourselves or, like me, only wear the rejects and experiments?

[Jayne]

Glad to hear that your ear is getting better Lesley

By the way, do you all make "nice" things for yourselves or, like me, only wear the rejects and experiments?

ha ha, this is a question close to my heart.......I only wear the rejects & experiments - ever - at the moment I'm wearing a 'statement necklace' which I made by joining together the 'statement earrings' which I wore for most of last year, which were themselves an experiment in gold plate
Now there's class lol!
J x

[snow_imp]

By the way, do you all make "nice" things for yourselves or, like me, only wear the rejects and experiments?

Most of the 'reject' pieces I make can be recycled into other stuff as they just involve beads and wire

The most recent piece I made (the carnelian stuff) was redone from an earlier attempt with other beads where I didn't like the end result - but since it's made with sterling silver instead of silver plated wire I consider it a "nice" piece and it's alllll mine.

[kymbi]

Rejects, Lesley? Oh, no, you surely mean "prototypes" and yes, I keep them ~ well there has to be some perks

Can't remember the last time I made something especially for me, but I do a lot of beading, so I gather all the dodgy beads from different strings (chipped, badly drilled holes etc) and then make some asymmetrical necklaces with them, adding silver stations and jumprings along the way....