The Desert Pendant Necklace
This posting is for the heart of the collection, The Desert Pendant necklace. The design is an adaptation of my personal necklace I wear everyday, I wanted to bestow my strengthening tools to the rest of you.
The bones of the pendant have been hand fabricated out of sterling silver, but instead of having an open base, it’s been filled with a pieces of fine silver textured by dried cholla cactus. Sitting atop the cholla crescent, in a 14k gold bezel, sits a striking piece of Kingman Turquoise, hand selected directly from the mine in Arizona . All of the natural materials used in these collections have been hand found and collected by me, aside from a couple special pieces found by friends who gifted their use to me, telling me their stories, so they fit my desire for only using what comes naturally, and from my surroundings. The base of the pendant is capped by two fine silver rattlesnake rattles, from a rattlesnake who met its fate in a friend's yard, but now can live on. The pendant is hung from two 14k gold hand formed jump rings on an 18” antique snake chain I picked up in Albuquerque this summer.
The pendant has a diameter just shy of 2 1/4" and weighs 1.1 oz (or about 31g).
>>> Rattlesnakes are a powerful totem. Believed in the Southwest to be the bringers of death, their rattles carried as amulets of protection from danger. They are also greatly respected as creatures of great control, and keen perception. Not wasting energy, poising themselves to attack their goals with diligence, and great self awareness. I feel like channeling this energy is incredibly potent at this time when we are all feeling a bit collectively out of control. Wearing this rattlesnake talisman should help you be mindful of your environment, and hone your control and direction moving forward. <<<
Damaged Goods - A Collection Divided
I am beyond pleased to finally begin unveiling my new works, a full collection of one of a kinds, in four parts. Likened to, and symbolizing the four elements: earth, air, fire and water; there will be collection correlating to each: The Forest, The Swamp, The Desert, and The Ocean. The first two to be released were The Forest, and The Ocean, on October 23rd, when the Sun entered Scorpio (a time when we learn about the balance between light and shadow). And now, it is time for me to announce the release of part three, The Swamp, which will be on December 26th at 6pm PST, it will be the final new moon of this decade as well as a solar eclipse: a time for ultimate life breakthroughs, growth, and new direction! >><< Which brings me to the title of this release, “Damaged Goods”. I started attempting to learn a new skill set three summers ago, and drew up the base of this collection then, but when I returned home to New Orleans I found myself deep in the darkest chapter of my life. Lots of intense trauma, and just a need for survival overpowered any ability to creatively focus on new directions. I had spent a long while attempting to keep all of my plates spinning, but many dropped. I’ve spent the last year and half very seriously working to properly mend those broken plates, which I’ve related on more than one occasion to the Japanese pottery technique of Kintsugi, the art of repairing cracks and damage with gold - to add to its beauty, strength, and value. Which is something I genuinely believe in: when someone actively works at healing their wounds, their trauma becomes growth, understanding, and more value. I wanted to use returning to this collection as a form of healing, so I applied these metaphors and techniques into my original drawings, and I adore the shape its taken. They maintain the integrity of being a true talisman of nature, made directly from materials I’ve found myself, be it the textures I use in the metal pieces or in the stones and shells I set, but also, each piece will contain that metaphor of gold bonds woven throughout to bring the wearer’s life more strength, growth, and value. I hope you treasure wearing these pieces as much I have making them.