Who will you honor on the Day of the Dead?

The Day of the Dead is a celebration of life! It is a celebration of our lives and the lives of the loved ones and ancestors that have passed before us. In preparation for the Day graves sites and altars are cleaned up and decorated. Feats are prepared, usually featuring favorite foods and dinks of those who have passed before us. On the Day of the Dead feasts and parties are held at the gravesides of the relatives and loved ones. Food and drink are offered to the spirits of the dead and candles lit to light the darkness and help everyone see their way.

This Day of the Dead we will be having a celebration at Conspire Gallery, 5^th Street and Roosevelt in downtown Phoenix. The date is still being determined at this writing. However I am busily creating pieces so you can get your Dead on! The jewelry will be laden with carved bone and wood skulls. To some these skulls are seemingly morbid, but I prefer to see the skulls as representations of our ancestors looking out for us; their ever and eternal presence in our lives and hearts.

I‘ve created a necklace that has incorporated bone and wood skulls with glass beads and lava. I see the lava as grounding and transforming as it comes from deep in the ground, enters in this plain in molten form and crystallizes into rock. Combined with the skulls you have your ancestors watching over your transformation from hot molten liquid to a perfectly crystallized enlightened being. Additionally I’ve made several sets of earrings with skulls. One pair features three successively smaller skulls hang from one another. These look like a Tantric crown upside down. Another has one of my favorite carved bone skulls, they are elongated and remind me of Tiki statues. A couple of bracelet and malas have been made mixing bone skulls with carnelian, horn and wood. With the celebrations coming up at the beginning of November I will be busy with these skull creations.