IMPORTANT: This jewel is limited 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 : This necklace will be created with an 18" bar link chain. If you desire a different chain length you must reach out to us immediately after placing your order. Because these stones are very limited, we are not able to accommodate any requests for specific stone color preferences. This collection of purple labradorite stones range in color from pale to dark lavender and also pink and orange hues. The majority include dark "freckles", striations, and some have "glitter" within the stone. They range from translucent to opaque. 

Lethe which is one of five rivers that moved through the Underworld and that the ferryman Charon would pass the newly dead over. In myth, to drink from the River Lethe meant you would experience forgetfulness of your previous life, often preparing your soul for reincarnation. Lethe is also the Goddess of oblivion, for whom the river is named. 

Sometimes at night when I'm trying to settle my thoughts and fall asleep, all of my worst memories surface, and I'm haunted by all my past mistakes. I often wish there was a way to erase these memories, that seem to transform and intensify any time they materialize. This is a talisman for this strange kind of time travel, and a wish for making peace with those moments in our past lives we wish to be free from and healed.

Here, bat bones have been molded from real life, carefully manipulated in wax, and cast in silver to create this necklace.

Bats:

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.

*Details* : 

- 46 mm from top to bottom 

- Solid Sterling Silver  

- Seen on Jess on a 16" chain

- Both pendant and chain are hand oxidized to achieve our favorite shade of stormy gray and then highlighted to reveal the bright luminous silver beneath

- Set with one 7 x 10 mm pear cut Purple Labradorite   

Purple Labradorite: 

Labradorite with a ‘full range’ of colors, including purple, has also been called ‘Spectrolite’ ~ though over the years these more colorful iterations have been given many other names depending on the range of colors captured in the specific cuts we’ve been able to collect in our “special jewels”, and now, in our specific ring cuts. Sometimes they are called ‘Sunset Labs’ for the way they appear to hold the melting colors of the sun setting - pinks and lavenders as well as even hints of flaming reds and deep purples, are all married within one stone. Other stones under the name ‘Belladonna’ vary from the purples of wet oyster shells to the pale lavender of the petals of belladonna flowers - each stone is unique and carries with it, its time underground - where under pressure, its glorious colors bloomed within. Interestingly, it’s light that enables its range of colors to be reveled - turning it in the light, while on the finger or in ones hand - creates a kind of ‘shapeshifting’ effect - the internal fractures and layers within the stone allow for different colors within the stone shift, flash, and to reveal themselves differently. I’m sure there is more science and scientific words at play here that I could be using more effectively and may be able to as my knowledge expands, but as someone who has been wearing and has been interested in labradorite since I was a child - it is a pleasure and a joy to be able to be working with this beautiful earth made material, to be able to offer it here, now, to you, in these beautiful cuts.

Please keep in mind that these stones are ‘earth made’ and then each one is hand cut and hand formed, to specifically fit our rings. You will see the earth’s inclusions inside and outside each ring - some of which I call ‘eye freckles’ or ‘witch hairs’ ~ ‘tiger stripes’ and ‘crystal glitter or mini galaxies’ these are associative names that I’ve assigned these ‘imperfections’ meaning to, that run alongside the scientific designations of what these inclusions are and why they occur ( perhaps more heat or pressure the stone was under  - apt metaphor for these times ? )  Nothing is imperfect to me. I see evidence of a jeweler’s or a stone cutter’s hand and I think of Rodin, and how his sculptures included the evidence of his hands - from a hundred plus years ago - and how that connects me and my team, to this lineage of hand-making, in a time when machinated ‘perfect’ work is becoming more and more normalized. I am trying to resist this idea of ‘perfection’, and I implore the same of you. These are all hand made, and earth made beautiful objects, so inherently, by today’s standards, they are ‘imperfect’ - because humans had their hands, and more importantly, their hearts on them.

These purple labradorite stones range in color from light grey purple, to deep purple, as well as pink and orange tones. As mentioned above, because we have such a limited amount, specific preferences can not be accommodated but each stone is chosen by hand for its beauty.

***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