Ok, I have a character in a book that wears a certain type of earrings. The problem is, I have no idea what it's called. I have a picture of a character from an anime that wears what I'm looking for. What I'm wandering is: What is the name/term for the earring that he's wearing on his ear? The image is this:
Do you know someone who is into body art? If not, perhaps you could visit a body art shop. Failing that, you could consult some body art websites. Or you could check the body art websites first, and then visit a shop for more information. The thing is, asking on a forum like this is really a scattershot approach to research. You might get a hit, but purely by chance. And too many aspiring writers are lost without the Internet. The Internet is certainly powerful, but getting out and talking with people face to face has benefits you'll completely miss by online approaches. For instance, are the cuff earrings inconvenient or even painful over time? Are they prone to getting infected due to dirt getting trapped? Or perhaps the weight of them and the way they are mounted makes them feel really cool, or maybe sometimes they whistle when you drive with the top down and the wind catches them. You never know these kinds of things if you don't talk to real people.
In all honesty I'm a teenage girl that's the outcast of outcast. Before coming to this thread I did ask others but that's like asking a wall for directions. Also, it's hard to find books in a library that focuses on a certain type of earring alone, especially when the local library has more children books than books for research. Another issue that I ran into is that this earring is outdated, and being seen with it is suppose to be some kind of taboo. But it works for my one character.
I'm a jewelry maker, and at one point I had an ear cuff tutorial on the web (before I couldn't afford my website host anymore.) It's a metal piece that looks like a C it can be made from any type of metal and there are some that are plastic and bone too. It is put on the top part of the ear, and just slides on, no piercing involved. Some even have dangling things from the bottom. In terms of correct spelling I have seen it as two separate words ear cuff, or ear-cuff. I think either one is correct.
