Jewels of the Month: Emoji Stud Earrings Are Handy

If you’re keeping up on your social-media trends, you’ll have noticed emoticons are old news. Why use your keyboard to create rough versions of little pictures when you can just use little pictures? It’s all about emoji now.  They hail from Japan — the source of many cute little things — but can now be used on a variety of international devices.

Some of the popular iPhone emoji.

I use them on my iPhone, so here’s how it works on that gadget. Go to Settings >> General >> Keyboards >> Add New Keyboard. Select “Emoji” from the Keyboard options and go back to your home screen. After that, when your virtual keyboard pops up in an app, you’ll see a little globe icon on the bottom row, to the left of the space bar. Tap that to toggle back and forth between your regular and emoji keyboards.  You can Poodle your emoji options for other types of phones, tablets and computers.

I started my growing collection of single stud earrings and mixed pairs with the punctuation and letters I’d used in my swear rings and other social-media-inspired ring sets. When I added the “Heart You” and “Screw You” earring pairs, I thought, “Hmmm. These are so small they remind me of emoji. I must do emoji earrings.”

That’s why I was happy to do a bunny-silhouette earring when gorgeous client Heather asked for one (thought I didn’t care for the official emoji bunny and made up my own). Same with the pig earring. I rushed those for Easter and took my time on the next batch of emoji studs: the hand gestures. Now they’re ready, and they are April’s Jewels of the Month. In the collection of emoji images above, there are quite a few hand signals. I picked a few favorites to start: the okay sign …

Okay stud in sterling silver. $35 for a single stud. Click to purchase.

… the thumbs up …

Thumbs up in sterling silver. $35 for a single stud. Click to purchase.

… the peace — or victory — sign …

Peace sign in sterling silver. $35 for a single stud. Click to purchase.

… and the always-useful “talk to the hand.”

“Just stop” in sterling silver. $35 for a single stud. Click to purchase.

But there is no middle finger emoji. Why, God, why?! There’s a smiling pile of poop emoji (see top image, 5th row), but no flipping-the-bird emoji.  So I made my own.  It’s based on a real person’s hand (but not mine). I’m pleased with the position of the thumb.

Middle finger in sterling silver. $35 for a single stud. Click to purchase.

I did a gold middle finger stud for me because I’m all gold everything.

Middle finger in 18K gold. $225 for a single stud. Click to order.

That one’s been adorning my right ear since it came back from the photographer. Before I got it, I’d been wearing my gold “Screw You” earrings in my left ear 24/7. That’s how, one day, I wound up wearing the “Screw You” earrings in one ear, the middle finger stud in the other ear AND the IDGAF necklace that I’ve worn nearly every day for months. When I realized what I had on, I was like, “Damn, I’m not even feeling that angry today!” So lately I’ve worn the “Heart You” earrings in my left ear and I’ve been mixing up my necklaces. I’ll save the ultra-hostile jewelry combination for moments/people who deserve it. Maybe I’ll wear the swear rings on those days too.

I’m happy to whip up another 18K-gold middle finger stud for anyone who wants it. Click on the photo above to order.  The gold bunnies are already on my site. To request the pigs or other hand gestures in gold, holla at me at wbjewelry at hotmail dot com. They are all the same price: $225 for a single. And, of course, you’re allowed to order pairs in silver and/or gold. While I’m giving you the option of buying and wearing single studs, I’m not forcing you to give up matched pairs. Wear what you want! (Still … the single studs and mixed pairs are way more fun. I’m sleep tho, as they say on Twitter)