Tribal Jewelry, Part 1

Rings & Things' Dave asked in my comments the other day if I'd combined my love of beading and dancing yet. Inspired by that, I figured I'd do a little tour of my love affair with tribal jewelry to wear when dancing. The above is Avatar of the Moon Goddess, which happens to be today's Daily Special, and also very much inspired by the tribal aesthetic.


This untitled necklace is one of my first tribal creations (and also desperately in need of a better picture, but that's beside the point). It features a lampworked fish by an Australian artist whose name I lost long ago, some gorgeous carved jade fish that I bought from a tie-dye vendor at one of the "metaphysical row" gem shows, tiny Afghani jade beads leftover from a past BFAC kit, faceted jade beads from a New York shopping trip, and Bali silver fish from when Marilee still sold Bali beads.


I have waist-length hair. It's good to be able to pull it back when I dance (though sometimes I leave it down and do some head-tossing moves). This pair of hairsticks features some of my first tassels (I need to find my how-to book and make more!), made out of embroidery yarn from the thrift store.


The Belt of DOOOOM! I started this belt long before I was dancing, quickly got bored of it, and didn't restart it until I thought of how awesome it would be to wear while dancing. It's an African helix in black and many shades of green, adorned with peridot, dark green aventurine, and lots of jingly bells. It's currently in need of repair.

Called simply Tribal Strands, this is one of my favorite tribal necklaces. I went through my collection and picked out a crazy variety of gorgeous beads to create this multi-strand beauty, which I frequently wear to Renaissance Faires, for dancing, or just for fun. It has so many colors that it goes with just about everything. I made a variety of woven and strung bracelets to go with it as well, but I couldn't find a picture of them.

In fact, I have a lot more tribal jewelry that I want to share with you, and more detailed thoughts on dancing and adornment, so this is going to be a little series of posts. I'll probably spread them out over the next week or two, so it doesn't get monotonous and so that I have time to photograph a few more things :)