Sunday, May 27, 2018

Anansi...the storyteller body necklace. Handcrafted links of brass connect chucks of coral, reconstituted coral, Aventine, jasper, glass trade beads and African resin. Here is an example of an Anansi story...

Szarka and her Family business...Magpie Gemstones have been a consistent resource since I started working with stone and wire

In this video she shares what is going on in the hand crafted jewelry industry with the production of "fake" gemstones. As she says in the video, whatever they are made of just say so." Using what I believed to be real gemstones has always been a part of Spirit Dance Adornments. I thought I could "eyeball" the real thing. I thought I could trust when I was told by a seller that the beads they were selling were real. Now I know different. Watch this video. Me, I'm finding the nearest "local gem and mineral club."

Talking Adornments

When your spirit speaks let it use the Adinkra language of the Akan people of West Africa. The Adinkra language is an ancient symbol system, today it is primarily found in Ghana. At Spirit Dance we have added a Diaspora element to the interpretation of the language. When creating our adornments we conceptualize each piece considering two methods of interpreting the symbolic representation of the Adinkra language. First, we employ the ideal of “Sankofa.” Like the mythical bird flying forward while looking back, we endeavor to fearlessly remember the siprit of the past while employing craft techniques of different times and different lands where the children of Africa have traveled and settled.