The Day of the Dead is a celebration of life not death! It is a celebration of our lives and the lives of the loved ones and ancestors that have gone on before us. To prepare for the Day graves sites, cemetaries and altars are cleaned up and decorated with flowers and colorful statues of saints. Feats with great quantities of food are prepared which usually feature the favorite foods and dinks of those who have passed on before us. On the Day of the Dead feasts and parties are held at the gravesides recently cleaned and decorated of the relatives and loved ones. Food and drink are offered to the spirits of the dead and candles lit to light the darkness and help everyone see their way. This day of the dead I will be in a 5 star Singapore hotel far from the action of the day. This Day of the Dead there will be having a celebration at Conspire Gallery, 5th Street and Roosevelt in downtown Phoenix. The date is still being determined at this writing. However I am busily creating pieces so you can get your Dead on! The jewelry will be laden with carved bone and wood skulls. To some these skulls are seemingly morbid, but I prefer to see the skulls as representations of our ancestors looking out for us; their ever and eternal presence in our lives and hearts.
I‘ve created a necklace that has incorporated bone and wood skulls with glass beads and lava. I see the lava as grounding and transforming as it comes from deep in the ground, enters in this plain in molten form and crystallizes into rock. Combined with the skulls you have your ancestors watching over your transformation from hot molten liquid to a perfectly crystallized enlightened being. Additionally I’ve made several sets of earrings with skulls. One pair features three successively smaller skulls hang from one another. These look like a Tantric crown upside down. Another has one of my favorite carved bone skulls, they are elongated and remind me of Tiki statues. A couple of bracelet and malas have been made mixing bone skulls with carnelian, horn and wood. With the celebrations coming up at the beginning of November I will be busy with these skull creations.
