The Making of The Fossil Collection

I certainly took my sweet time with this collection but it is finally completed. Lately, I was always feeling rushed to accomplish all the things that need to get done in order to keep my little business up and running.

I wear all the hats at LjBjewelry. Creator, photographer, accountant (worst part), marketing, teaching and so on. I struggle with finding time to just "create" with no pressure of a deadline. This is one of the reasons so much time has passed since my last collection. I tend to go into panic mode if I don't finish a project on time.

I had to accept the fact that  I would not be able to work every day on the fossil collection. Too many other things pulling me in other directions. I wanted this collection to evolve naturally.  I had no plans or drawings of jewelry designs. I knew just one thing, I was diving into my fossil stone collection that I have been hoarding for a while. It was time to create homes for these amazing fossils. 

I always start with the stone when the pieces have no beginning. Meaning, I didn't sketch out any drawing or plan the design. Some form of nautical inspiration always seems to make it's way in, I guess that is natural with living on Cape Cod. I also dive into my silver scrap bin looking for pieces of sterling silver from previous creations. That is how the jellyfish pendants evolved.

I had prepared the bezels for the Coral fossil stones and put them aside. Some pieces of bent and curved silver wire were on my bench and it instantly made me think of a jellyfish.  This may sound a little crazy but I do ask the stones what they want to be. Obviously I do not get a straight answer, but when the piece starts to come together naturally and I am liking how it is going, I know they have answered me. It is the same when a stone fights me, and everything that could go wrong with the fabrication goes wrong, that is when I know I need to change my design or a part of it.

Not one piece fought me in this collection. No soldering blunders, no fabrication mishaps, they slowly came together. That is what I was missing lately, the slow handmade with no pressure. Taking the time to step back and look at the jewelry piece to discover how it wants to evolve. By the way, I rarely go in the water at the beaches here, I am very afraid of jellyfish and a few other big fish that lurk in these waters. However I do love my beach strolls.

 

Here is a little fossil information............

For me, fossils are evidence of ancient life that was preserved by a natural process. When an organism dies, it leaves the bones of the skeleton (or shells) and as time goes by sediment builds up over the skeleton and hardens into rock. It takes a minimum of 10,000 years to make a fossil which is so amazing. In this collection I used different kinds of fossils. The jellyfish inspired pendants are made with coral fossils. The small round pendants are created with orthoceras and coral  fossils. The large statement pendant with 18 prongs has an amazing ammonite fossil, this one is my favorite. It is safe to say that no coral or ammonites were hurt in making these jewels, they are all well over 10,000 years old.

 

                       You can find our new fossil jewelry collection HERE