Thursday, February 27, 2014

Continuing on a theme

I've always been inspired by my natural surroundings, for as long as I can remember. One of my earliest memories of integrating myself with nature was convincing my sister that we were wild girls, with no home to call our own except the great outdoors. We would spend afternoons collecting rocks, leaves, flowers, and snail shells in a bucket to make Stew. We would decorate our Secret Place with strips of fabric, branches, and our favorite Anole lizard family. We would ride our trikes up and down the sidewalk with our sippy cups, confident that since we knew our neighbors by name, we could count on them to refill our water, should we ever get so desperate. Let me be clear-- none of this was ever because we felt neglect at home, let alone to the point of feeling the need to fend for ourselves in the wild. Quite the opposite; my parents have always showered my sister and me with love and freedom. But the idea of living outside and relying on Nature's elements gave me such a thrill, even then.

So, to continue on a theme of extracting inspiration from the natural world, here is my latest work:


You can see more of Basaltic Cuff on my Etsy site.

I'd say this cuff was directly influenced by one of my favorite memories of visiting the Smithsonian's Museum of Natural History in D.C. when I was a kid. My dad and I spent what seemed like hours (never long enough) in the Gem & Mineral section, me pointing out my favorites. To this day I still mourn the loss of my Rock Collection which went mysteriously missing during my family's move when I was fifteen. My husband and I have since worked up a pretty good collection to replace it, though.