Sea Foam - new pearl Catholic rosary

I've been working on this one for awhile now. Pearls take some attention to work with, since a lot of times the holes aren't drilled correctly and need to be made bigger for use.

Sea Foam on Etsy

I love Hill Tribes silver, especially the sea and flower shapes. The tribesmen (and women!) really seem to understand how to capture nature very well in their art.

For those unfamiliar with it, Hill Tribes silver is made by indigenous peoples of Thailand, who use a purer grade of silver than sterling silver. This metal is 99% pure silver, and is shaped and worked entirely by hand.

I've used Hill Tribes silver a lot in my work, and I am always excited when I find objects like this to use, because supporting these peoples and their ancient way of life is just as important to me as making jewelry!

The Way-Back Machine

I'm going to go back today to... hm, about 2004. I was sent to Michael's by my supervisor to find some plastic boxes to store some special thread. At the time I was working as a management assistant to the Conservation department at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian.

Michael's is a craft store and I've always loved going there. So many possibilities! Granted, the quality of their stuff is rather suspect at times, but it is still a great place for ideas, and it's also a great place to have around in case you're working on a project and run out of one little thing!

On the end of one of the aisles was a book on making beaded jewelry. I stopped and had a look, and that was the "beginning of the end". Returning back to work, I mentioned my interest to one of the conservators, and she recommended I check out Fire Mountain on the 'net. That was the "next step to the end"! The result of these two forays was this:

Sea Friends on Etsy

I had seen instructions on how to make a charm bracelet, and I had seen those beautiful .99 silver fish and shells and things made by the Hill Tribes of Thailand, but they weren't charms, they were beads! Well, by golly, why couldn't I make them into charms? So I did.

Clear crystal was a natural companion for anything sea-like, and upon further searching I found out about the beautiful cool green of amazonite. It was then that I became interested in what natural stones were used for in holistic medicine, and what they represented. Kind of like what Hildegard von Bingen did, as I read about her writings recently. So I decided that I would only use natural stones and precious metals for my work.

When I made "Sea Friends", I really had no idea why I was making it. I knew that I would never wear it, because, strangely enough, I'm not a jewelry wearing person. Well, except for hair sticks, but let's not get into addictions, shall we!

I made this jewelry because it was inside me and it just needed to come out. That's the only way I can possibly explain it. And after "Sea Friends", I began spending more and more of my money on jewelry supplies and soon I had about ten pieces of jewelry.

They were wrapped up carefully and stuck in a drawer. It was something I was ashamed of. This was because, at that time, I was still clinging to the hope that my mother could actually become a nice person at some point and give me some emotional support. And when I showed her my pieces, she, being the malignant narcissist that she is, pooh-poohed them and told me to stop spending money on things that "weren't necessary". God forbid I have any talent that didn't relate to her at all or acclaim her in any way.

Five years later, with the help of a supportive husband and therapists, I unwrapped all that jewelry and became inspired again. And so now I post my pieces on Etsy to share with others.