From the Birds
By TwistieI love macaws.
Even if they aren’t Norweigian Blues, they still have beautiful plumage.
And now one enterprising artist has started using their (the macaws, not Monty Python) lovely feathers to make rather stunning jewelry.
You see, this unidentified artist from Minnesota (What? The site has not given us a name to work with; just a location) did some work with Habitat for Humanity down in Central America (Again, the site does not specify any further as to location or other identifying details) and became fascinated with the feathers of the macaws in the area.
Now this artist creates beautiful jewelry using macaw feathers supplied by a bird sanctuary in New Mexico, which sends the feathers their macaws molt on their own, as nature intended.
The necklace is made by sandwiching a single feather between two pieces of glass, soldered together by hand with lead-free silver. Then the adjustable chain (14″ – 22″, so it will fit most throats nicely with room to spare) and wire-wrapped beads are added. Oh, and since the macaw feather is yellow-green on one side and a deep blue on the other, this piece is fully reversible, so it goes with a wide variety of clothes.
All that for just $139.99 from Modern Artisans.
Best of all, no parrots were harmed in the making of this necklace.
I’ll definitely miss you and your take on the world. Best of...
May 1st, 2011 at 5:29 pm
My sister lives in Minnesota. Several years ago she gave me a necklace made by one of her artist friends – a little flower pressed in glass with this same technique. It looks very similar.
I don’t know the artist’s name, but I’ve emailed my sister asking if it could be the same person. I’ll let you know what I find out.
May 1st, 2011 at 5:39 pm
Thanks, BSAG! I’d love to know.
May 2nd, 2011 at 5:15 am
Sorry, no help from my sister. She says when she found my necklace (I guess she didn’t know the artist after all) it was unique, but in the last couple of years she’s seen many people making things like this. She suspects there must have been a how-to class that was popular. It’s still beautiful though!
May 2nd, 2011 at 9:15 am
Ah well, thanks for trying. And you’re right: it’s still beautiful.