Hearts #1

Once a week, I will share a selection of handmade goodies I find on Etsy and elsewhere that I think are incredible and worth checking out! This weeks theme: WILD, UNFETTERED, AND FERAL.

Tribal Hoop Feather Earrings by Radhas Love Designs


Now, I don't mean to get all Clarissa Pinkola Estés on your asses, but when it comes to crafts, I really appreciate the wild side. So often, the art and craft world seems monopolized by an older generation making safe, cutesy things like cinnamon wreathes and plush toys. God love em, I am not saying I don't loves me a cinammon wreathe as much as the next person with a nose, but once in awhile I just want to see people break through and make something that surprises me, even shocks me:


"Torro," by Masha Vereshchenko


Oh my, look at that! O gorgeously dark and bizarre genius. Keep your fairies and barbie faced disney mermaids, give me the tortured girl who is half creepy caterpillar, half tattooed darkness, taunting the huge fly with her imaginary horns. Is that even a fly? What is that? Is that what she is destined to transform into? Yes, please. Give me all the girls who see themselves as half bug or beast, at least sometimes. I love art that dares to be bizarre, borders on terrifying while maintaining the tension with beauty to give a complete, complex perspective. So often we are afraid to give all of ourselves in art, but, like it or not, everyone has a shadow side. Like it a lot, that shadow side is usually way more interesting.


Pincushion Doll by Mercury Rusting


I've followed this artist's work for awhile now and I am sad to see him selling less on etsy. Has he given up? Has the mass obsession with pretty, happy crap pushed his eerily beautiful and dark works of madness aside? I hope not, because I appreciate his pieces so much and each one has a very interesting story to go with it. That brings up the best part of handmade- you are not buying something mass produced on a machine in a factory somewhere far away. You are getting something made by hands that truly loved each detail. A pincushion becomes a work of art with an irresistibly weird story.


Finally, another Pittsburgh based artist:


Quill Dangle Earrings by CrossFox


I love the whole aesthetic of this shop. I love the sharpness of these earrings against the soft beauty of the model. I love their wild, rustic feel. I love to see people connecting with the earth through natural adornment. I would want earrings like these over designer diamond and gold earrings any day of the week. I find the assignment of value to materials to be so arbitrary. Sure, sure- there is Mohs scale hardness and rarity and all of that, but to me the most basic mud and water, rock and bone materials are often far more alluring than the most expensive precious metals and stones. Not that I don't love sapphires and rubies, but you get me.

When I say, "Wild," I don't mean "Tribal." One day I will tackle the problematic usage of catch phrases like, "tribal," and "gypsy" and how, although they are loaded and perpetuate stereotypes and are sometimes plainly racist, they are also hard to not use when marketing jewelry if you want to reach your target audience and make it in the relevancy searches and actually keep yourself afloat financially as a jewelry artist. All of that in due time.

For now, if you are interested in any or all of these artists and some other picks, check out the Feral Treasury List I curated over there at Etsy. Click on some of the pics, too, because this increases our "hotness" and gives these deserving artists a chance of appearing on the front page via the featured treasury.

Wild Love,
Davka