IMPORTANT: This jewel is limited based on the small quantity of stones we have in the studio and we do not know if they'll be available again in the future. We recommend Express Shipping with signature required upon delivery to make sure it arrives safely into your hands. 

Please note: You must either leave your ring size in the notes section while going through the check out process or reach out to us via email ~ bloodmilkjewels@gmail.com ~ after placing your order to confirm your ring size. We cannot begin creating your ring until your ring size is confirmed. 

At the time of my writing this, Spring has arrived in Philadelphia. My indoor Datura plant is thriving despite the odds, as the Cherry Blossom trees our city is known for, have shed their tiny petals into pink rivers that swim along the edges of the streets. Persephone has returned and with her ascent to the land of the living, her mother, Demeter has breathed life back into the earth. 

Representing the Mother, Demeter, ( or the Mother Wound ) in this ring, is the Mother of Pearl egg shaped 'stone'. Mother of Pearl is the 'Mother" or the skin of the shell that creates the cradle from which pearls are born, out of protection. Much like Demeter 'wounded' the world out of her grief for the loss of her daughter Persephone to the Underworld, a period of time which is marked by Autumn and Winter and which we observe as the colder Seasons here where I live in Philadelphia.

The ring features a Mother of Pearl in a uniquely large, oval, egg shape Cradled in life cast bones from a bat’s wings, legs and claws, the setting draws inspiration from the Art Nouveau period as well as the bone “cathedrals” of Europe. 

Designed to be highly tactile ( wear it on your pointer finger to rub the bones with your thumb like a worry stone ) as well as talismanic, this ring holds with it the story of Persephone, a Goddess who’s able to travel between worlds, a liminal goddess who belongs to the seasons, the marking of time, to the dead, as well as to the concept of grief and other inky emotions such as melancholy, feeling trapped, feeling out of time or place. 

To be worn as a comfort or companion for liminal folks - those who move between worlds, between emotions, between people & places. For those who feel they don't belong anywhere...and yet somehow, also everywhere. 

Bats and their cast wing and leg bones have long been a component I’ve used in my visual library as a way of creating a personal visual language. As nocturnal creatures, I feel a kinship with their natural predilection for the night time hours, but I’m also interested in how they use sonar to ‘see’, how as a metaphor bats as liminal creatures also remind us to look closer with our other senses, a way of ‘seeing the unseen.’ It’s my hope and intention that pairing them with other chthonic imagery and myth further adds to the visual meaning I’m aiming for, creating a collage of personal ideas while also tethering these physical jeweled objects to the spirit of the bat ( and other natural objects in the case of other jewels in my collection ) and to the spirit of the myths I’m invoking.

The Descent Ring is oxidized to achieve our favorite shade of stormy gray and then hand finished to reveal the bright luminous silver highlights.

*Details*:

-23 mm wide

-sits 9 mm off of the finger

-solid sterling silver 

-20 mm x 30 mm Mother of Pearl cabochon oval stone

The Descent Ring is oxidized to achieve our favorite shade of stormy gray and then hand finished to reveal the bright luminous silver highlights.

*Details*:

Pearls

Have an ancient history of reverence as well as a long legacy of beauty. Pearls are formed when an external irritant, like a grain of sand, breaches the shell of an oyster or shelled mollusk. Once this irritant has gained entrance within the dark fleshy confines of the oyster, it goes to work protecting itself. If this irritant can’t be expelled, it begins to ‘bandage’ the grain, coating it with concentric rings of calcium carbonate, named ‘narce.’ Each layer that is built up forms the shape of the pearl, awash in a brilliant iridescence, a beauty born of a tiny trespass. Thusly, a pearl has at its center, the object of its creation, a foreign intruder.

I associate the pearl and its strange construction to so many things: the jellied caterpillar struggling within a chrysalis, its liquefied body form a new winged shape. An embedded star smoldering within the shell of our hearts. An ink dot, a pin prick, a moon in miniature. History, who has always loved and revered the pearl, writes that we once believed pearls were the result of lightning striking the shell and penetrating the inner skins of the oyster. A small beauty made in duress, a ‘stone’ of initiation. To possess a pearl means to own something that is hidden, sacred.

Lore has it that Cleopatra, to win a wager with Antony, dissolved a large, exquisite pearl in her drinking glass. She swallowed it in one sip. I wonder about her dreams that night.

These pearls are hand /shapedcut and therefore may have very slight differences in size and may have small signs of the carver's hands along the edges. These are not fabricated by a machine, they are made by hand and therefore aren't uniformly perfect.

The photographs accurately portray the quality of the stones and the cuts. Please note they range in color from a creamy ivory base color often associated with Mother of Pearl to traditional subtle iridescence tones of pink, blue, and green when turned in the light as well as to just containing a white 'flash.'

***IMPORTANT***

This jewel is handmade to order, just for you, with care and focus. Please allow approximately 6-8 weeks for creation before shipping.                   

Visit the Policy Page to make an educated and informed purchase HERE.

If you have further questions, we are always here to serve you in a kind and timely manner: via bloodmilkjewels@gmail.com