Little Mirrors That Penetrate

Summers on the Cape, with my grandmother, were for crafting. We’d sit for hours together, not saying a single word, painting birdhouses or sewing reusable shopping bags. My grandfather thought he was just taking my grandmother’s home away, when he forced her to sell long after their divorce. But he also took the pine trees, the spools of thread, the morning hoots from the owls, the tall flowers, and my adolescence. I didn’t speak to him after that.

I started noticing the exquisite beauty and diversity of flowers in my late twenties. It must have been about the same time I took my face out of my iPhone. I started making my own floral arrangements and even interned with a florist. That’s how my joy for making earrings out of real dried flowers was born.

I discovered my off-beat craft by accident. I just didn’t want to throw my flowers away. I started hanging them in bunches, held together with rubber bands and before I knew it, they were hanging from every door frame and window sill in the house. I had to start doing something with them before I became the “weird flower lady.”

I was holding 2 dried “antique carnation” flower buds that had broken off from the bunch. The pink petals swirled around each other, cupped by sweet little leaves. I thought, these would look beautiful hanging from my ears. They had plenty of stem to work with, so I decided to ignore my apprehensions and give it a shot…with the help of some of my favorite songs.

“LISTEN TO YOUR HEART": After visiting my local bead shop, I laid out my materials: 2 dried carnation buds, 2 looped earring studs, 2 looped crimp tubes, crimping pliers, standard pliers, a pair of scissors and 2 handfuls of unbridled excitement. I usually feel a little creative anxiety when I start a new project, but I listened to my heart, and it said…

“DON’T STOP BELIEVIN”: I put my fingers through the iconic orange handles of the Fiskar scissors handed down to me by my grandmother and snipped the stems of my dried carnations to a suitable length. I thought, how lovely for the women in my family to find new uses for these scissors throughout the generations. I wondered what my daughter might use them for one day. I didn’t stop believin’, as I slipped the stems into the crimp tubes and cinched the gold metal tight with special crimping pliers. I was one step away from being able to…

“EXPRESS YOURSELF”: I fastened the crimped carnations to the earring studs I chose from the bead shop. In no more than 15 minutes, I was expressing myself with my first ever pair of “Ear-rangements!”

I’m not an overtly confident person; I was almost debilitatingly shy growing up. But seeing the alchemy of these dried flowers into beautiful, one of a kind jewelry made me proud. As artists, our most prized tools are our hands and our minds. One day our hands will tremble and our minds will become hazy, as my grandmother’s did from old age. So DON’T WAIT. Don’t put your ideas off for an ideal time; when the kids are grown or it’s time to retire from your job. Don’t let the insecurity of results stifle your creativity. Take this advice from a notorious procrasti-cleaner. Make a mess! It will always be worth it.

STEP “YOU’LL ALWAYS BE MY BABY”: In an effort to extend these delicate bud’s new lives, hanging from my ears, I went to my local art store and picked up a couple products. At home, I carefully combined these secret ingredients, formulating a mixture to spray onto my Earrangements, like invisible armor. The urge to protect what we love is so primal. My first pair (pictured here) has lasted 3 years, surviving the occasional hugs. They will always be my babies.

My Earrangements have evolved with me over the years; experimenting with different varieties and combinations of flora. Just like us, I cherish that no two are the same. More than a hobby or trade, making my Earrangements is my meditation. Often times, I see my subconscious mind manifest in my creations through color and texture. It’s a self nourishing and self informing process. They are little mirrors, that penetrate the flesh and reflect my soul.