Hawaii On My Mind...

I am sitting here, thousands of miles away, in the misty mountains of North Carolina. The leaves are changing and the vista is aflame with vibrant reds, golds, and ochres. I am still under the spell of the sea. If I concentrate really hard, I can almost hear the sound of the waves crashing and the sea birds singing. I can almost smell the salt on the air and feel the breeze on my face.

The bracelet above was made in homage of my trip to Hawaii. While we were there, we spotted loads of penny press machines. You know, the ones that you put in two quarters and a penny and crank. I used my handy-dandy Euro-Tool Two-Hole Metal Punch that I picked up from Fusion Beads to make the holes necessary for stringing. It's great! Namely because it's surprisingly powerful, yet quiet and small - perfect for apartment dwellers like myself. I wanted the piece to have a very festive and musical quality, so I did a lot of wire-wrapping. The piece, slightly over-sized has a lot of movement. I used Czech glass from Raven's Journey, Swarovski bi-cone crystals in Caribbean Blue and AB finish Ernite from Fusion Beads, Peruvian opal, white coral, and sky blue potato pearls from Talisman Associates, a shibuichi seashell clasp and small fine pewter shell beads from my family at Green Girl Studios, and drawn copper and fine silver headpins from Earth2Sea on Etsy.

I think that travel jewelry (made with artifacts from your trip and beads inspired by the specific scenery) is a perfect way to capture the trip and hold it in time. You can revisit any place you've visited at anytime by simply wearing the piece you've created.