The Ocean Pendant Necklace
This posting is for the heart of the collection, The Ocean 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 fine silver piece of giant kelp, the roots of the Ocean, sprawling across the world, resilient and prolific. Sitting atop the kelp, in a 14k gold bezel, sits a STUNNING piece of abalone shell, found on the California coast, as were all the natural materials used in these collections. The base of the pendant is capped by two fine silver nautilus spirals. The pendant is hung from two 14k gold hand formed jump rings. It’s hung from an 18” sterling silver snake chain I found hunting for the PERFECT chain in my travels through New Mexico. ((Visbile in the 7th and 8th photos))
The pendant has a diameter of 2 1/4" and weighs 1 oz (or about 28g).
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 will be The Forest, and The Ocean, on October 23rd, when the Sun enters Scorpio (a time when we learn about the balance between light and shadow). 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.