Living in Florida, I once went on a "see the turtles make their nest" full moon tour.This moving experience where you get to see Mama Turtle emerge from the sea onto a moonlit beach, painstakingly looking for a suitable area to digg her nest and laying eggs, reminded me of the unshakable life force that drives these creatures to reproduce more than twice a year and for decades of their existence...It also reminds us of the harsh realities of natural selection & cosmic balance as, out of hundreds of laid eggs, only a few will make it to adult turtles that will in turn have to perpetuate the species by doing the same ritual.

That's how the Turtle necklace was born: I wanted to feature Mama Turtle & a few of her children on a tribal, beach like setting: although it's a fiction - as Mama Turtle swims back to the ocean right after laying her eggs, leaving behind  the babies 2 feet under the sand hatch & then crawl to the vast ocean by themselves weeks later among all surrounding threats & predators- I wanted to symbolize this lifecycle on the same piece. It's called creative license...

I knew which tribal symbolic shape I had in mind for the base but had to explore many options for the materials before setting down I experimented on various sorts of wood, natural palm pod shells , coral cast in silver and last but not least, natural pod seeds from the tropical Flamboyant (Poinciana) tree...which I ended up going for.

The shell of Mama Turtle is a beautiful Larimar cabochon that I carved & polished myself while the backs of the babies are just natural cowry shells. The pearl strands complete the neck piece while symbolizing the hundreds of ping-pong ball shaped eggs that Mama Turtle lays out in the sand each time.

This piece is dedicated to the universal miracle of mother nature and its resilience , courage & fragility all together encompassed in this family portrait.

It's a statement piece not designed for the demure Lady who likes skinny, subdued Jewelry... don't ask me to make it smaller or smaller or more functional, clearly this is not that kind of piece or simply the point here...!