Difficult to
ignore.
Impossible to
fake.
Laser cut. Hand-painted. Assembled with love — and, depending on how the paint's behaving that day, a fair bit of swearing. Every pair's got its own little era.
"It actually doesn't take much to be considered a difficult woman. That's why there are so many of us."
— Jane Goodall
Laser cut
Every shape starts as a design, cut clean from timber ply in the shed — no two sheets ever quite the same grain.
Hand-painted
Colour goes on by hand, layer by layer, so every pair carries its own little imperfections. That's the point.
Small batch
Made in tiny runs, one shed session at a time. When they're gone, they're gone — no factory reorder button here.
Click the button. Receive unsolicited opinions.
Designed by a difficult woman
Every piece here starts life as a flat sheet of ply and ends up somewhere far more interesting. Call it a reinvention, if you're into that sort of thing.
It gets laser cut into shape, then hand-painted — properly hand-painted, brush by brush, one colour at a time — in a shed at Lindisfarne that's seen more paint splatters than the walls would like to admit.
There's no production line and no two pairs that come out quite identical. That's not a flaw to be fixed; it's the whole point of making things by hand instead of buying them off a shelf. Every batch gets its own little era, its own mood, its own mess.
Behind it all: an unapologetic dreamer, a story-seeker who'd very much like to be an author one day, a trainer and entrepreneur who calls politics a spectator sport, runs on coffee and winds down on wine, and still misses Bikram more than she'll admit. Quality control is handled by Cleo the standard poodle and Jada the cranky old pug, both deeply unimpressed by the paint fumes.
- Cut, sanded and painted in small batches, not mass produced
- Colours mixed and layered by hand — expect gorgeous, deliberate imperfection
- Findings checked and finished before anything leaves the shed
- Earrings come mounted on custom MDF display hangers, cut and branded right here — not off some generic packaging shelf
- Offcuts don't hit the bin — they become the next colour test, a smaller pair, or something nobody's designed yet
- Journal materials are sourced secondhand where possible, tip shop finds included — waste in, worth out
- Named "The Difficult Woman Dept." on purpose. You know the type. You probably are one.
- Certified Swiftie — if you've clocked the earring names, now you know why
- Reputation: hard-earned, one paintbrush at a time
When the paint's drying, you'll usually find the same hands over at Grace & Grit Consulting & Training or Grace & Grit Tasmania — a different kind of difficult, same energy.
- Co-wrote the ABC drama series Total Control
- Cut her teeth working with Cape York Partnership, under Noel Pearson
- Fronted a House of Representatives inquiry as the only independently invited practitioner in the room
- Tasmania's only currently active Safe & Together CORE Trainer
- Working towards a Certificate IV in Celebrancy, because why not
- Hosts a community radio show out of New Norfolk
- Secretary of the Tasmanian Online Lions Club
- Ocean swimmer, 30-odd years deep in the community sector, still not tired of arguing a point
Got your own laser cutter? Cut files (SVG & DXF) for some of these earring shapes are available as digital downloads — cut them yourself, in your own colours.
Shop cut files on EtsyGet in touch
Prefer to just message?
Stockist enquiries, market swaps, custom colourways, or just a g'day — all welcome. Based in Lindisfarne, Tasmania, and happy to arrange local pickup or postage.