Much of the original writing for this ring still resonates with me today, so the only things I wanted to add now, 10 years later, were some words on coral. 

Akin to how the blood from the severed head of Medusa birthed Pegasus, red coral is also thought to be the hardened blood of Medusa - linking coral forever with one of the Goddesses I honor often in my work.

This life cast piece of coral is actually from a piece of white coral, which is thought to be talismanic through ancient times. The ancient Egyptians used it in tomb goods or wore it in jewelry, there is even a cited instance of an entire tomb having been built from white coral. Sailors would wear white coral to protect themselves from both pirates and sea monsters.

Re-releasing & revisiting this first Sea Witch collection has also been a study of my memory for me; I’ve been holding the dueling felt senses in my body since the choice was finalized ~ of an odd kind of dread and also, a kind of wonder as I actually started excavating. It became : a way of looking back as a way of moving forward. Being haunted as a way to confront oneself.

This collection was finished and released 10 years ago in the same space I write from now, a loft that feels more like a living thing than creaky old floors that can make it sound like I'm living inside an old wooden ship, in a Victorian era building that I love the way one might love a person in terms of the things you can come to expect/accept, especially in its mercurial natures that can be timed almost like the tides. It has been the locus for many subsequent collections and errant pieces of jewelry that never quite made but live in my sketchbooks. People who have become the most important to me have crossed its threshold or have lived under the building’s same massive roof. I left for awhile, I returned last year; my feet walk the same paths and I sleep in the same room, but outside the world has changed; I have changed, as so many of us have, as you may have too.

10 years ago I was also changing - I was reassembling myself after a particularly intense sea-change and psychic zip code relocation. I was dreaming of the sea, haunted by it almost, if one can be haunted by something they were born to love, born so close to I feel brine runs in my blood and salt is ever present in the seemingly daily tangles I contend with in my hair. I was dreaming of my father ~ a man who very much feels like an has felt like Prospero to me, complicated, nuanced, a little terrifying, but magical. The storm in The Tempest was one I was living in, and like Miranda, I was in awe of love, and like Ferdinand, I was carrying my grief stricken heart around wrapped in satin. It was a piece of worn sea glass, smooth but still sharp. Like Ariel, I had felt the freedom of being newly released from a cage ( tree ) of a previous situation but longing to feel even freer, freer from the past, as I understand it now. This is where these reference points of inspiration were coming from for my back then, even if I couldn’t fully articulate it then.  I’m adding in some new inspiration to these pieces, since that’s what makes it interesting for me now, 10 years later, struggling to heal from a series of storms, weathering this same strange world with so many of you, and choosing hope each morning, with a heart filled with wonder that I offer to you in hopes that in doing so, you may find something that resonates or speaks to you, and perhaps in feeling so, you’ll maybe feel less alone.

Original writing from 2012 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Inspired by my love of the magic of the sea, Hans Christian Andersen's 'The Little Mermaid', Sylvia Plath and Shakespeare's 'The Tempest,' this ring is composed of natural elements forged into new objects. 

From Ariel's song - The Tempest:

Full fathom five thy father lies;
Of his bones are coral made;
Those are pearls that were his eyes:
Nothing of him that doth fade,
But doth suffer a sea-change
Into something rich and strange.
Sea-nymphs hourly ring his knell

Of all the pieces from the 'Sea Witch' series, this is the most personal. In 'The Tempest', Ariel, a spirit being that serves the magician Propsero, sings this song to Ferdinand as a lure to lead him to Miranda, with whom he will fall in love with. Ferdinand has just thought he has suffered the loss of his father to the sea and now finds himself shipwrecked on this magical island.

After the passing of my own father, I dreamed of meeting him on the cusp of a night sea. In the dream our shoulders touch before he begins to wade in. I want to follow, but know that I can not. In this way I feel connected to not only Ferdinand's grief, but of the healing the sea can bring; the notion of a "sea-change."

This ring symbolizes both of these things, these threads of life and death. Made from a small casting of a piece of coral I found near the sea at a happy time in my life, this ring features a wide shank and hugs the finger, featuring an (ever ever so slightly) adjustable gap. It is not advisable to continue to open and close this ring, you will compromise the integrity of the metal and it *will* break. If you want to adjust it, we advise doing so once, and only if you can still slide the ring off of your finger without opening/bending it.

Solid sterling silver, the piece retains all the small frecklings and texture of the coral and is oxidized to achieve our favorite shade of gloomy grey.

The last image was shot by Ellen Rogers.


Details:

- Approximately 38mm at its widest

- Approximately 24mm from knuckle to fingertip

- Sits approximately 8mm off of the finger 

- Solid Sterling Silver 

- Hand oxidized to our favorite shade of gloomy grey and finished to reveal the silvery highlights beneath

***IMPORTANT***

This jewel is handmade to order, just for you, with care and focus. Please allow approximately 5 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