Studio Stories: The Green Long Gemstone Tassel Earrings
What Are the Green Long Gemstone Tassel Earrings?
The Green Long Gemstone Tassel Earrings are hand-fabricated drop earrings featuring faceted green amethyst (prasiolite) anchored by 14k gold-filled sequin chains on recycled 14/20k gold-filled ear wires and connective wire, designed as a companion piece to the Green Long Gemstone Necklace in the Tamar Collection by Andrea Li Jewelry. These earrings were born from a late-night sourcing session and a designer's obsession with finding the right chain.
What Are Sequin Chains and Why Do They Move the Way They Do?
Sequin chains are named for the way their flat, disc-shaped links catch and reflect light in tiny individual flashes, like wearable confetti. Unlike a standard cable or paperclip chain that hangs in a single plane, sequin chains shimmer and animate with the wearer's movement because each link acts as its own miniature reflector, bouncing light from a slightly different angle than its neighbor.
That optical behavior is what makes these earrings feel alive on the ear. The 14k gold-filled sequin chains do not just hang; they respond to every turn of the head, creating a cascade of warm, flickering light that shifts constantly. It is movement as a design element, not an afterthought.
How Do These Earrings Work as a Companion Piece?
The Green Long Gemstone Tassel Earrings were designed specifically to live beside the Green Long Gemstone Necklace in the Tamar Collection. The relationship between the two pieces follows Andrea Li's companion piece philosophy: matching the design vocabulary without matching the scale or complexity.
Where the necklace adds structure and presence, the earrings add motion and playfulness. Where the necklace commands the eye downward, the earrings frame the face with light. The two pieces share a color story and material palette, green amethyst and gold-filled metal, but serve different compositional roles within the same look.
This is the second companion earring set in the Tamar Collection, following the Topaz Gemstone Drop Earrings designed for the Pendant Pastel Gemstone Drop Necklace. The practice reflects a consistent design principle: earrings should complete a composition, not compete with it.
How Does Andrea Li Source Materials for Her Designs?
Andrea Li's idea of retail therapy is not shoes or handbags. It is hours spent scrolling Etsy for distinctive chains and unusual findings, or twelve-hour days walking the sprawling vendor halls of the Tucson Gem Show. She calls the online version "chain-scrolling", a healthier alternative to doom-scrolling, driven by the same compulsive energy but directed toward materials that will eventually become part of a finished piece. The sequin chains in these earrings came from one of those sessions.
That willingness to keep searching until the right material appears is what sets one-of-a-kind handmade jewelry apart from mass-produced alternatives. When the right element finds its place, something shifts; the piece stops being an assembly of parts and becomes a unique design.
Why Is Green Amethyst Used as an Anchor Stone?
Green amethyst, known in gemological terms as prasiolite, serves as the anchor stone in each earring, grounding the shimmering motion of the sequin chains with a single point of saturated color and weight. The faceting on these stones is designed to return light from within, giving the prasiolite a calm, glassy depth that contrasts with the flickering activity of the chains above.
In metaphysical traditions, green amethyst is associated with bridging the heart and root energy centers, connecting emotional openness with grounded stability. It is not positioned as a fantasy stone but as a foundation stone: one that supports feeling deeply while remaining anchored in reality. That quality aligns with the earrings' design intent, playful and expressive yet structurally grounded.
What Makes These Earrings Different from Mass-Produced Tassel Earrings?
Every component in these earrings was individually sourced and hand-assembled using recycled 14/20k gold-filled wire and connective elements. The sequin chains were selected for their specific link size and light behavior, not pulled from a standard catalog. The green amethyst stones were chosen for their color saturation and facet quality. And the overall proportions, long, elegant, and deliberately lightweight, were calibrated to complement the Green Long Gemstone Necklace rather than exist as a generic accessory.
The result is a pair of earrings that feels like joy distilled, designed with the same obsessive attention to materials and composition that defines every piece in the Tamar Collection.
The Green Long Gemstone Tassel Earrings are part of the Studio Stories series, where Andrea Li documents the design decisions, material choices, and making process behind each piece in the Tamar Collection.
