Black Cherry Drop EarringsPick a black cherry at the peak of summer and hold it up to the light. That color not quite red, not quite purple, something deeper and more secretive than either is one of the hardest colors in nature to pin down. It shifts. It absorbs light and sends back something warmer. Jewelers have chased it for centuries, and painters have mostly given up. These earrings don't chase it. They build it. Art by any Means Jewelry, a woman owned studio on the coast

lightweight

Sometimes you know someone's taste better than you know their jewelry box

and the Ward W

when the garden has gone a little wild and the last of the black-eyed Susans are leaning toward the fence — that's the color

one embrace

and the stainless steel gives it structure and staying power

Peruvian opal is cut and polished rather than left raw

working from their studio in Fort Collins

and magenta jade rounding out the trio — each one chosen not just for its hue but for how it speaks to its neighbor

with a 4-inch stick that slides securely through a twist or chignon

and when it does

not polite