S925 Silver Sipaho Motif Stud Earrings

The name zibaza is a transliteration, awkward to say and with no settled spelling; customers ordering it usually just say "that beast-head stud". The name is obscure, the thing is easy to recognize: a broad-mouthed beast face, eyes wide, nose turned up, mouth corners pulled back to the cheeks. Beast faces vary from place to place. Some look like lions, some like dragons, some are nothing but a mouth, and this one takes the broadest line. The chin is made thick, as is usual with this type: a heavy chin is what lets the face hold.

Beast faces of this kind are used widely in Tibetan metalwork. The base of a door knocker is one, a belt buckle is one, and the small plates on horse harness often are too. The beast grips a ring in its mouth and the ring swings; that is the old form. Made into a stud, the ring is gone and only the face is left. On old pieces the face is usually set at a corner, with light coming from the side and half of it in shadow, which is where it belongs. A door knocker's face points down, a stud's points out, and that difference in angle changes the shape of the eyes as well.

Size is the difficulty with a stud. The face has to be small enough not to drag the lobe and large enough for the features to separate. This one enlarges the mouth and the eyes, shrinks the nose to a small triangle and cuts the whiskers at the cheeks down to three. At that point the face still holds; cut further and it becomes a painted mask. The distance between brow and eye is the key to the face. Pressed too close it looks fierce and cowardly at once, spread too wide it turns into a smile. Seen from the side, the nose rises higher than the eyes, and that is what makes the face stand in three dimensions.

A silver stud is light; a day's wear goes unnoticed. The post is straight and the back has to sit flush. Loose, and the stud tips forward with the face down. If your piercing sits low and you wear a face this large, keep the lower edge from pressing on the rim of the lobe. Backs come in several kinds, plastic, silver, silicone, and silver sits best; the others loosen with time.

Silver at the ear darkens quickly; hair, sweat and shampoo all hurry it. Take them off and wipe with a soft cloth, leaving the black in the hollows. If a post bends, do not force it with your fingers. Ease it from the root, since a sudden bend can break it off in the piercing, and that is a real problem. The features of the beast face are held up entirely by that black; polished white, the face goes flat. Silver white shows best against dark hair, so wear your hair up and the whole face is in the light.