**PLEASE NOTE**

Because of the nature of these keys, for the first time in many years, we’ll be offering the key earrings as singles, or as pairs. Please use the drop down menu to select whether you want one key, or a pair. This will allow you to mix & match as you so choose.

In honor of our 14th anniversary I wanted to revisit some themes from the earlier years of BloodMilk. The Key of Endless Night is an homage to the crescent moon nesting rings of the same name, which is a love letter to the lines of the poem in ‘Auguries of Innocence’ written by William Blake:

Some are Born to sweet delight

 Some are Born to endless night

and which pair with our beloved ‘Belonging to the Darkness’ rings ~ rings that I made ten years ago as an act of self-acceptance for the gloomy and ‘extra’ parts of myself ~ as a way to admit that it was ok to be out of step with the world and ok to belong/ to have been born to ‘Endless Night’. Despite these rings having been made years ago, I still feel these sentiments ringing true now, I still feel the need for touchstones to soothe and remind me that I belong though I although I may always feel outside of the wider world of things; a key to remind me I feel inside of my own world, a world I have and am continually creating for myself. 

The design of the small circle indents within the stars within the crescent of the keys mirrors the row 'stars' of stones set in the original Endless Night rings, adding a small conversation between the key and the ring. Please note the crescents are ever so slightly sharp, a small signature of a lot of our designs ~ a reminder that while the world may be a little sharp edged, that you have talismanic objects to soothe you.

Keys: 

Skeleton keys have long been an obsession of mine. My godmother is an auctioneer and took me along to auctions and estate sales. Treasure for me were always the wooden boxes filled with greasy and dirt caked keys, beautiful with their time earned patina, with their memories and silent stories. She has gifted me special ones over time; one I wore for many years around my neck and one especially meaningful Art Deco one I used as a size and design reference for this collection.  As a kid, I imagined every beautiful key I came across no matter how small or large, belonged to a haunted house. Even the tiny keys that came with my school fair diary were special to me. Keys have that sort of resiliency that many other sorts of old objects don’t, they survive the wear and tear of misuse, they surface like relics from the muck of time. 

Keys are an ancient tool, created first by the Ancient Egyptians in wood and modified by the Romans in metal and made small enough to be kept on a person, coined as the first ‘skeleton keys’. These were used, as now, to lock doors and boxes or 'safes', to protect precious objects and people. Thusly one of the mundane and ubiquitous tool has also come to garner potent symbolism over time and has been woven into a current everyday object that even digital technology can’t seem to make obsolete. At the time of my writing this, I still use metal keys to gain entrance to my apartment and studio; I moved out of a house in Philadelphia in 2020 in one of the oldest parts of the city that still employed the use of skeleton keys. Perhaps the key is an object where the old world and the new continually shoulder up against each other, no matter how much modern technology tries to replace them.

As a talismanic jewel the key is a liminal object representing a potent tension and duality as it can both lock and unlock, making the person who holds the key one on a threshold.

*For locking: Being able to lock something behind you will always give the power and feeling of protection, therefore keys will always have the symbolism of protection embedded in them. The first key I can remember owning was a tiny key that fit to a tiny lock that latched onto a diary I owned in elementary school where I kept all of my secrets. This consisted of all of the titles of the books I’d write, but they sounded like spells, things I desperately wanted to change about myself; revenge I’d like to take on bullies. These days, protecting my loved ones, my heart, and extending protection to those I can feels most important to me. Feeling safe and helping others feel safe in my presence is something I'm always thinking about, and the presence of a key against my body helps remind me of these tenants and makes me feel safe.

For unlocking: Keys as objects that can 'unlock' show up as symbols across cultures. It’s a symbol of gaining access: for some it's about knowledge and wisdom or about gaining access to higher or unearthly realms: Saint Peter was known to hold the keys to heaven while Hecate is known to hold the keys to the unseen world/ the gates of death. As an initiatory symbol, it suggests garnering levels of knowledge that lead upwards on your path, or crossing thresholds of the unconscious. It also suggests the ability of survival, of being able to find 'a way out', of reaching a place where you are able to unlock or solve an obstacle that was complex or troubling, such as a Sphinx's riddle.  

Details:

- 15mm at it's widest 

- Hangs just under 4 1/2 inches including the hook 

- Solid Sterling Silver  

- Each earring is hand oxidized to achieve our favorite shade of stormy gray and then highlighted to reveal the bright luminous silver beneath.

Each of the keys in this series was based on drawings made by my husband, Aaron Horkey, as I peered over his shoulder and requested my 'dream' keys, making them even more special to me.  

***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