Poppy and Garnet Hoop Earrings

You have to be paying attention. That is the whole thing with poppies. You walk past the garden one morning and nothing, and then you walk past again two days later and there they are, those enormous tissue-paper petals in the most vivid red you have ever seen in a garden, nodding slightly on their stems like they know exactly what they are doing. You have about a week. After that they are gone until next year. This is why gardeners develop the habit of checking every single morning in May.

The Poppy

Oriental poppies are among the most dramatic perennials in any garden and also among the most fleeting. They bloom for approximately one to two weeks in late spring, producing flowers up to six inches across in colors so vivid they seem lit from within, and then they vanish. By midsummer the foliage has died back completely and the plant is dormant underground, invisible, gone. In autumn the foliage returns and forms a quiet green mound that persists through winter without growing and without dying. And then in spring, when the conditions are exactly right, the whole spectacular show begins again.

The poppy does not bloom twice. It does not extend its season or produce a second flush. It gives everything it has for about a week and a half and then it rests for a year. This is either enormously frustrating or enormously clarifying depending on how you look at it. Gardeners who love poppies tend to find it clarifying. You learn to be present. You learn to check the garden every morning. You learn that some of the most beautiful things are beautiful partly because they do not last.

The red garnet, January's birthstone, has been prized for thousands of years for a deep warm color that looks, in certain light, exactly like a poppy petal held up to the sun.

The Piece

At the top of each earring a round faceted red garnet glows in a granulated crown setting, that deep vivid red catching the light and holding it warmly. From there the earring opens into an elongated teardrop frame with small silver ball details running up each side and a delicate scroll at the top corners, the whole frame ornate and considered. At the base a poppy plant spreads across the full width of the frame, one open bloom at the center surrounded by the deeply lobed and frilly foliage that makes poppy leaves so distinctive and so beautiful even when the flowers are not blooming. Every leaf and every petal was carved and layered by hand from sterling silver, deeply oxidized so the details read in rich relief.

The earrings drop approximately 3 inches from the ear wire and are approximately 1.75 inches wide at their widest point.

The Craftsmanship

• Earrings: approximately 3 inches drop, 1.75 inches wide
• Stones: faceted round red garnets, January birthstone
• Material: sterling silver throughout, oxidized
• Style: French wire dangle earrings
• Edition: one of a kind

One of a Kind

There is only one pair of these earrings in the world. These poppies, these garnets, this particular ornate frame: they exist once. When they find their person they will never be made again exactly like this.

A Note from Tamara

A portion of the sale of these earrings will be donated to The Poppy Foundation, a non-profit cat rescue in Nevada that saves special needs, chronically ill, unadoptable, and abused cats. I love cats and I love poppies and it felt like the most natural pairing in the world. I hope whoever wears these earrings feels good about where part of their purchase is going, and I hope they also feel good about checking their garden every single morning in May. The poppies will not wait and neither will the cats who need homes.

Shipping

Your earrings are finished, packaged safely, and will be on their way to you within 3 to 5 business days.