The Unicode Consortium — aka Emoji Headquarters — is killing it lately! The consortium used to approve new emojis at such a glacial pace that I started designing my own emoji-like jewelry right along with pieces representing actual emoji. For instance, I created an emoji-like middle-finger earring in 2013. Two years later, Unicode announced a…
single earrings
Thrifty Wendy Brandes Jewelry on JCK Online
Thank you to Brittany Siminitz of jewelry trade publication JCK for including my hockey mask and chainsaw stud earrings in her recent post about Halloween jewelry. At $70, my earrings are the most budget-conscious on Brittany’s list! A mismatched pair like this looks great worn traditionally, with one earring on each lobe, but I think…
Valentine’s Day/Anti-Valentine’s Day Countdown: #14 of 14
Happy Valentine’s Day! If you don’t have a Valentine, maybe you can be mine. I’m not shy about saying it: I’m your No. 1 fan! The final entry for my Valentine’s Day/anti-Valentine’s Day countdown is my brand-new emoji-inspired earring. I decided to improve upon the standard pointing finger emoji … … and turn it…
Valentine’s Day/Anti-Valentine’s Day Countdown: #8 of 14
I’m definitely NOT feeling the love today, which is good, because it’s time for an anti-Valentine’s Day choice for my Valentine’s Day/anti-Valentine’s Day jewelry gift-guide countdown. I’ve got a few suggestions today, starting with my GTFOH necklace. GTFOH is what I thought when someone pointed out this Louis Vuitton hashtag earring to me last night….
Valentine’s Day/Anti-Valentine’s Day Countdown: #2 of 14
Some people loathe Valentine’s Day. “It was invented by Hallmark to sell cards!” they complain. That’s not true, though. The holiday can be traced back to the kinky ancient Roman holiday of Lupercalia, which was then adapted by early Christians, who liked to de-kink pagan holidays by co-opting them and giving them a new backstory…
Two New Earrings for World Emoji Day
Today is World Emoji Day, and if you’ve been wondering why, check the date on the calendar emoji*. According to Emojipedia, July 17 was selected because iCal for Mac was announced at MacWorld Expo on July 17, 2002. The calendar emoji, in turn, inspired Emojipedia founder Jeremy Burge to declare World Emoji Day. And what’s…
Jewels of the Month: Crabs for Cancerians
According to the astrological calendar, the sign of Cancer rules from June 21 to July 22. Cancer is the Latin word for crab, which is why the zodiac sign is represented by a crab and why my Jewels of the Month are my crab emoji designs. You might not be familiar with the crab emoji…
Jewels of the Month, Part 1: Punk Platinum
It’s rare that I get to introduce a full collection (nearly) all at once. Usually I’m creating and revealing just one or two designs at a time. But today is different! June’s Jewels of the Month are the first nine styles of my brand-new Punk Platinum line. I was inspired to do this collection after…
America Needs MY Emojis, Including Westside/Eastside
Did anyone catch Damon Darlin’s article, “America Needs Its Own Emojis,” in the New York Times Sunday Review section? As he reminds us, emojis originated in Japan, so they don’t cover all of America’s emoji needs: “Indeed, the Japanese vocabulary is most notable for what it fails to offer Americans. For example, there is no…
Year in Review: Jewels of the Month for 2014
My Jewel of the Month posts highlight my newest jewelry designs. Here are 2014’s hot jewels from both my luxe signature line and my social-media-inspired WENDYB by Wendy Brandes diffusion line. Click the photos to read the original posts. Single earrings were hot this year and they’re not going to let up in 2015. I…