The Himalayan Treeline

One summer I spent two months with the Tibetans in Dharamsala and Ladakh. It was the year of the Kalachakra ceremony in Leh and in very high altitudes above the treeline. The views were stunning and I made this motif to reflect the blues and forest greens covering the horizon. Sky blue agate stones create the front border.

The base weft yarn is made of cotton with decor slubby wool and green ice flake crystals on top.

$1008

The Kilim

This weaving technique is known for its slitweave design--referring to the gap left between two blocks of color. The motif is taken from Native American inspired shapes and organic with the geometric. Detailing includes vintage red glass lampwork beads with fiorato, or a flowered motif, chenille, wool, and linen yarns, with copper loops as fringe.

$1296

The Ceremony Necklace

During the years with a Lakota family - my tiospaye - I needed jewelry to wear during the ceremonies without metal or anything shiny. Those were the rules for ceremony adornments, unless you were the hayoka (sacred backward clown), which I am definitely not that gifted. This weaving uses complementary contrast colors red and green on top of black. The gemstones are red coral nuggets and green ice flake quartz with hand-drilled black onyx cylinders adorned with silk ribbon.

I wore it in ceremonies and it contains special healing powers.

sold

(more can be made in this style on request)

The Greek Countryside

My first trip to Greece for the summer months inspired two motifs based on plants. This piece is woven in layered shades of wheat and dried rugged flowering stalks covering the hills and roadsides on the remote Lesvos island. When walking each day, I picked a thick bundle to decorate the house. The yarns are cotton and encrusted with amethyst and rose quartz, which are strung directly into the warp threads for extra strength. The weaving is mounted on a metallic leather hide base.

$1296

How they are made

This is not just jewelry, not just a necklace - it's a statement and a story. Each unique piece is a special find for unusual jewelry collectors and for fashionable and independent women. The necklaces are woven in traditional tapestry techniques to perfection as I examine each centimeter with a magnifying glass to make sure the weave is flawless. The designs are created in the place of inspiration and started on location as I travel. I can do this because of a specially invented loom that I fashioned out of steel bankers' pins and foam board to create any shape, and that fits weightlessly in my suitcase. I travel with a small selection of yarns and the warping thread so that I am always weaving from wherever I am. After that, I average one necklace a year - maybe two.

These are one-off wearable art pieces in unusual asymmetrical shapes with yarn and gems collected from many corners of the earth coming together into each design. Living globally allows for finding special stones and materials not often gathered into one design.

Please contact me with any questions you may have or for special commissions.

The Sultan's Water Palace

This motif comes from when I lived in Java. On a short holiday, I took the train down to Yogyakarta and saw things beyond imagination. The derelict beauty of the once grand water palace of the Javanese sultan was mesmerising. I listened to the water spirits and created this piece to echo the original glory of the water pools with a burst of sunlight and lotus leaves. It is made with cotton yarn and silk ribbon in an abyss of green and blue with a few amethysts, long strands of green ice flake quartz, and raw emeralds on the border connected with hematite seed beads.

$1500

Pomegranate Flowers

The second in the Greek series, this design is based on pomegranate flowers and the dry brown and tan colours of the vegetation. Thin aqua blue stitching accents the surrounding Aegean Sea. And the real shimmer on this piece are the tiny faceted cut rubies on the tips of the orange-red flowers. Coral nuggets are featured on the front edge.

$1296

Blessed Bees

The design for this comes directly from the Minoan gold bee necklace made by the goddess civilization from Crete. I went to study the archeological sites and ceremonial practices with renowned feminist thealogan (intentional sp.), Carol P. Christ. There has never been a better time to relearn our connection to the divine feminine and our mother earth. The bees are a sacred symbol of regeneration and pollination. Their ancient art depicted women mimicking the movements of bees in their ritual dances. Here, the two bees are depositing a drop of nectar into the honeycomb. The nugget above is Tibetan turquoise (collected pieces myself in Tibet) and rabbit fur medallions below (from Budapest).

$1008

The Monk's Robe

The second one from the Tibetan series, this design came to me in a dream at night during the Kalachakra ceremony. I saw medallions of burnt orange and the maroon reds of the robes with black dashed lines connecting the forms as if they were floating bubbles of sacred knowledge. The tiger's-eye stones will help the wearer to see with clear inner vision.

The warp is made of silk ribbon and natural linen.

$1008